About a week and half ago I rescued an escaped (I presume) Indian Ringneck. She was in a tree beside the beach house we were staying in and we were able to lure her into a box with bird seed. She was very hungry. I put up signs, called vets in the area, notified the police and the animal shelter, and put posts on the internet - I have gotten absolutely no responses thus far.
I have owned parrots before - but never one as big as an Indian Ringneck. I have raised lovebirds and currently still have one of my babies who is now 15. In the past I have also owned Cockatiels and budgies, but Lovebirds are what I have the most experience with. So I know alot about parrots in general, but mostly small parrots. I'm just beginning to learn about IRNs.
I want to learn as much as I can about IRNs to give this girl a good life. I have a lot to learn.
My best guess is that this is a female, assuming she is mature. I understand that when they are less than three, they all look like females. Is there any way to determine age? My gut feeling is that she is mature, but I really don't know how to tell for sure. She is a blue mutation of some sort - She is an aqua blue or turquoise color - a blue with a lot of green in it. Her beak is mostly red but has some black on it especially near the tip of the top beak. The bottom beak is black and red. Her irises appear gray/blueish to me. (Most of the descriptions of blue mutations I've read say yellowish irises - so I don't know what this means???)
I have been calling her Neela. I have a good Avian Vet that I trust that I have been going to for years. She has an appointment this coming Monday. She's in a quarantine room now, but I hope to eventually keep her in the same room with George (the lovebird) and I hope they will enjoy each other's company.
My main concern for Neela is socializing her. She appears to be a biter. I'm wondering if someone let her go on purpose
Would somebody do that? The thought horrifies me but it would explain why I've not gotten any responses. She is very social in the cage. She is very responsive vocally and with her eyes. She is a good eater (better than my lovebird). She has eaten grapes, broccoli, ava cakes, zupreem pellets, and seed, and she loves pistachios. However, if fingers are put anywhere near the cage bars she will lunge or nip at them. She will however take seeds and other desired treats from fingers through the bars, which seems like a good sign. I have had her out of the cage a few times and have been trying to work on having her learn to step up on a stick and reinforcing it with giving her a sunflower seed, and also working on having her eating seeds from a bowl in my hand. The sessions started out going well but she seems to be getting bolder and has started trying to bite my hand holding the stick or bite my finger instead of taking the seed. Maybe I was trying to go too fast.
I really feel like she has a lot of potential because she is so social in the cage. If she was only ever comfortable being a cage bird, I'd be OK with that - I don't want to force her. But I think it will probably be better for her health and happiness if she could learn to interact in and out of the cage.
I'm guessing she has had bad experiences with fingers in the past......or could this be hormonal?? Are there any particular books that y'all would recommend about IRNs in general or behavior training? Do you recommend clicker training? I don't know much about it specifically but I understand the concept of behavioral reinforcement in general.
Thanks for any input. I'm happy to be here
Shannon