My IRN has just turned aggressive, please help?

[OllyGreen]

So I've had my ringneck for about a week now, he is about 13 weeks old, he was lovely and tame, so friendly, I could hold him all day and he was just generally so nice. Well yesterday, I stopped at my boyfriends place so my nan kept an eye on him while I was gone but today, he has turned really aggressive. He is just biting me and going for me everytime I try and pick him up. I usually spend a lot of time with him, he's always on my shoulder and that but it's hard to spend a lot of time with him now because I can't pick him up or anything, only when I am holding food. He used to let me stroke his back and now he goes for me if I try that. What happened to my lovely friendly bird? I still love him and all but I miss my companion, he's changed, what have I done wrong?

He is also started to chew the wallpaper and can't get him to stop, has anyone got any tips? Please help me, I just hope he is going through a phase and it doesn't last. I will continue to spend as much time as possible with him but those bites are getting sharp now.

Has anyone got any tips on how to play with him or anything? I have just ordered a book that helps with training parrots so I hope he hurries up and arrives.

[sanjays mummi]

Firstly, ignore bad behaviour and do'nt try and pick him up, do'nt even make eye contact. If he is being loveable reward him and try to approach him, otherwise teach him that naughty behavior gets him nowhere.

[ellieelectrons]

Hi

Sanjay's Mummi has some good points there for you.

What you are talking about sounds a bit like bluffing. See this article for more details:
http://www.indianringneck.com/bluffing/

Another thing I'd like you to know is that your relationship will evolve all the time - it will keep changing... This has probably been the biggest thing that I have learnt about IRNs. I was similar to you, when we get Janey I had a very cuddly baby who used to mewl at me all the time and then one day, I got the shock of my life when she ran at me and tried to bite me when I had her on her play bench. It seemed so out of character... I like to think of that as the rebellious teenage years, hormones running wild, etc. Since that day our relationship keeps changing. We are currently going through nesting behaviour which has been an experience too.

I would encourage you to keep interacting with your bird but try to be proactive and avoid things that will get you bitten. If you can figure out what is triggering the bite, and there will be a trigger that makes perfect sense to your bird, but may not make sense to you, avoid being in that situation again. For example, yesterday my husband get a nasty bite to his thumb and we realised it was because he opened a particular cupboard that Janey has a nesting interest in. I know to us that doesn't make any sense, but she has bird instincts and it makes sense to her... so now we know to avoid that cupboard when she is out and about. If we needed to use that cupboard regularly, then instead of avoiding it, I would try to set up a training program that would reward Janey for being calm when we open the cupboard.

The only other things I can suggest are increasing the amount of time your bird spends foraging for food. This dramatically improved our Janey's biting behaviour. Here are some links that I regularly copy and paste for people to find more information on foraging:
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... 01&p=69400
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =4&t=13466
http://www.parrotenrichment.com/ - this site has some free ebooks to download

Also, if you don't already do trick training, I would suggest you start. You will need a birdie gym play area or a t-perch or equivalent. Here are some links for teaching the first trick I start with with my birds:
Turnarounds
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... und#p68244
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... und#p65327

I've posted some of my youtube vids of my guys doing tricks here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ellieelectr ... ture=guide

Good luck!

Ellie.

[BirdCompanion]

My 2 ringnecks are nearly 4 months old. They've been DNA tested, so I know that Gabby Renee is a girl and Chauncey is a boy. Both of them were hand-reared by me since age 3 weeks, and I cuddled them, rocked them, fed them, snuggled them, and so on - the tenderest care they could ever have received.

Then, once they took their first flight, they both became aggressive. I remained patient and talk sweetly to them even when they lunged to bite. Gabby never became a real biter, but she's very shy. Chauncey is a serious biter, and you can tell that he's just doing it for fun. I never scolded or punished him for biting. I just kept talking sweetly to him and ignored the biting. He's doing a whole lot better now. If he starts nibbling on my finger or my ear, he's a lot gentler. And when he presses too hard, nearly biting, I just whine 'ow, ow, ow!!' and he stops.

I give all my birds lots of praise, regardless of what they're doing. I end up with very gentle and affectionate companions. Gabby and Chauncey are my very first ringnecks, and I can sure attest to the fact that they do behave differently from any other type of bird I ever had. But, I am discovering that patience, affection and praise are working wonders. I had been very fearful of Gabby and Chauncey getting too close to my cockatiel Misty, but now all of my birds play very happily together on their playpen.

It just takes a lot of patience to help a ringneck overcome bluffing. But, it's well-worth it for these lovely birds.