IndianRingNeck.com

Hi All, thanks for reading.

I live in Dubai and got my first ever Parrot a week ago.
Teeto is an IRN and unfortunately Im not sure how old she is, after going through the forum I would guess he is a year old. I got her from the Sharjah Animal Market and trust me it could not have been pleasant for her there. There were vendors outside the place carrying IRNs around on their hands. I got her from such a person.

Anyways, the default food Ive kept in her cage are sun flower seeds and she likes Apples. I gave her a green bell pepper once and she picked it made motions withher beak showing that there was no pulp and then chucked it lol. I gave her a quarter of an apple with seeds and she seems happy with that lol.

I think she is a wild Parrott that was caught and had ger wings clipped. Thats probably the only reason she stayed on te guy's hands. I dont know when they were clipped though.

A week in now, she is comfy with me sitting next to her cage, I pretty much spend my whole day next to her. I eat next to her too and talk to her. She has started to try and talk by pushing her tongue and making clicking noises. She does the same just before sleeps.

Sooo my may concerns are as follows:

-Considering she is probably wild, will she ever be comfortable enough with my hands ?

- She scratches herself a lot , I know she grooms but to be safe Im taking her to the Vet tomorrow. Her feathers seem fine so I know its not molting.

- Why doesn't she make any sounds aside from her attempts at talking? She only makes a single squack if my hands get near her.

- For the last 3 days Ive let her out into the house so she can stretch and explore, even though her cage is of a decent size. Is that ok to let her out before taming ?

- How do I tame her if she avoids my hand under all circumstances? I dont have a perch for her but even if I did she would jump off of it if my hand ever came close.

PS - I didn't get Teeto to have a talking Parrot. I got a pet because I wanted the company. I dont mind devoting my time to her. But I am concerned about her and want to learn about her as much as I can.

Apple seeds are toxic, please read up on toxities. They contain cyanide. Sanjay Loves peppers, he relishes the seeds, they are mostly seed and not pulp eaters, introduce other fruits, veggies and nuts. Sanjay is semi feral and after seven years, is still not hand tame. They are usually very quiet for a few Weeks when we get them,

Agreed about avoiding the apple seeds. My boys also love all peppers and devour the flesh and seeds I scrape from the inside of squash. Keep on trying lots of different fruits and vegetables--variety is good for nutrition. Definitely no avocados though if you weren't already aware, and also avoid onions/garlic and tomatoes.

I don't know what to say about the whole wild vs aviary-raised. I got my boys from a breeder though and even then they weren't really hand tame. It took about a week before they calmed down with me. Like you, I sat outside their cage and talked to them so they could get comfortable. Have you tried feeding her with your hands/fingers through the cage? I found that this helped my boys get more used to my hands. With fingers, I taught them how to drink drops of water off of my fingers. If you can get your IRN comfortable to come over to you on its own, then you might try opening the door and seeing if it would come to you for some food. It might take a few tries, but I think it's important to let the bird come to you instead of forcing/scaring it to step up onto your hand. However, it would seem like the bird is already somewhat used to hands if it was spending the whole day ON a human before you got it