Red fingernail polish

[adamsfamily531]

Hello! I'm fairly new to the board, but have read and read it until my eyes hurt! I thought I remembered reading somewhere that some IRN's were afraid of red fingernails-- and I experienced this today with "my" IRN. We are making payments on her, so she's not technically ours yet, but we went to visit her at the pet shop.

My daughter and I were both in a wedding this weekend, and both had to have our nails painted red. Layla (our bird) usually comes right up to the front of the cage when she sees us come in the pet store, and cuddles my daughter and tilts her head when my daughter talks to her.

Today, however, she came up to us in the cage, but then when my daughter tried to take her out, she was scared of her hands. This has never happened before! I was shocked! Then, I stuck my hand in there and she bit me (not hard at all, just a little nip) before stepping up. I realized very quick that she was terrified of our fingernails!

She seemed happy to be with us, as she is starting to recognize us from our frequent visits... BUT, she did NOT like the fingernails. She kept looking at them, and would bite our fingers a few times if we moved them the wrong way. Like I said, it wasn't hard, just like she was trying to keep them away from her. We ended up making fists with our hands, and she just walked up to our heads and started preening us and "kissing" us on the face. She even tried to preen my daughter's eyelashes! If we had our hands in a tight fist, she would step right up on our wrists when we put them out to her, but whenever she saw our fingernails, she bit right at them like she was afraid. Poor baby!

[ellieelectrons]

I'm glad you realised what the problem was. Birds generally tend to be scared of new things. It doesn't mean you shouldn't introduce them to new things though, quite the opposite, but you do need to do it gently. Most likely Layla would get used to the finger nail polish over time.

Also, be aware when you get her home, it may take her a little while to settle in to her new surroundings so it might be good to prepare your daughter for that. Layla may appear to be scared of her for a bit until she gets to used to her new place.

Ellie.

[adamsfamily531]

Hi everyone! I'm back with more questions -- Just wondering how I should treat our new baby when we get her home. I've read a few places that you should leave them in their cage for a few days to let them get used to their surroundings. However, it seems to me (NOT a bird expert) that we should allow her to come out and explore within a few hours of her arrival so that she gets used to us, not just being in her cage. Am I way off-base here? I also have another question-- she is already hand-tame, and loves people. However, she is still very wary of hands, and will bite very gently if she is startled, or if you are petting her and she doesn't want to be petted. I am very aware of the techniques and tricks for hand-taming a bird, but I guess there's not much out there to tell me what to do after a bird is already hand-tame, in order to get her to where she will allow us to pet her and snuggle her and give her little scratches on her neck. Any tips for birds who are already hand-tame. I fear that we will take advantage of her already tame nature, and make her not trust us by moving too fast. Thank you all for the help.

[sanjays mummi]

I am impressed, you have answered your own questions with common sense. Sanjay doesn't object to nail polish. Parrots see colours differently to us, they see colours as psychedelic, and they see red as yellow. You will need to reinforce the taming 24 seven, as they can revert back at the drop of a hat, in fact, as a species parrots are very fickle, love you one minute, then want to tear chunks out of you the next!. Good luck with your chickster!

[adamsfamily531]

Thank you! I feel like I want to go crazy because I do have common sense, but I don't want to mess up! With our budgie, Aussie, I have found that he is very moody, and so I tend to just leave him alone if he's in one of his moods, or I will mess with him just to let him know that he's not the boss of me, but the other way around. He is starting to bond to me, so I have really been trying to get my two kids and husband to hold him as much as possible. I guess I just was looking for a few tips to help me with her since she is already so tame-- there's really nothing out there about further training once they are already hand-tame. Thanks again!

[ellieelectrons]

When you get her home, let her behaviour be your guide. If she seems unsure of herself or disoriented, then it might be good to leave her in her cage... But if she seems okay, then by all means start interacting with her. Just go at the bird's own pace.

Just because she is hand-tame, it doesn't necessarily mean that she will exhibit these same qualities when you get her home. In a new environment, with new people she may behave differently... or she may not, it depends on the bird. However, even if she seems a bit "wild" when you get her home, it shouldn't take too much for her to warm to you and your family again.

Despite being handraised, our Charlie probably took a good month before he was comfortable with us.

If you want to know what to do beyond 'taming', then I can recommend trick training and foraging. Trick training helps deepen the bond with your bird, and they really enjoy it. If your bird is young, you may also like to consider harness training.

Ellie.

[BluringN]

I actually have worn bright red nail polish a couple if times, it normally takes Blu about a day to get used to them. But he does & then plays with them.
I think because it's something new & there not used to it, that's why they get a bit of a schock. If I knew how to add a photo I wld add 1 of Blu & my red nails!!!!