About a month ago I "adopted" a little yellow ringneck, saved him from a crappy petshop is more accurate i guess. Ziggy is my first parrot. He will be 8 months old on the 27th. The girl working in the shop said she was terrified of him...wouldn't even take him out of the cage (way to small) to sell him to me. She also admitted to me that no one had spent anytime handling him, a case of to many birds to take care of and not enough staff. (no excuse, as far as I'm concerned)
Turns out Ziggy was not in fact a devil bird; and just as i suspected, more space, some entertainment, and clean food and water improved his demenor almost instantly.
Over the past few weeks Mr Ziggy and I have made great progress. He eats out of my hand, enjoys a tummy rub(on his terms), goes where I ask him during our daily routine, is responding well to the early stages of clicker training, mimics human sounds a little better everyday...I've even recently started letting him climb out of his cage to the play top. I keep a close watch but he gets a bit of freedom (cliped) and I'd like to allow him more.
Which brings me to my problem. Ziggy is a biter. He hasnt drawn blood in a week or two, and I can read him well enough to get out of his way. He's a bit agressive about his cage which makes adding/removing toys and perches from his cage a headache. He's fine when I change his food but absolutely hates it if I go near his water, so much so that I wonder if it's still a bit of residual petshop trama. Ultimately, this makes the "step up" idea very intimidating, and I'm not sure how to get around it...
It's my first time and i would be really greatful for any advice...