What can I do to stop "Luna" My IRN biting the family?

[Ben.G]

Luna is biting everyone when they try to pet her or try to get her to "step up". The thing is She will not nor has she ever bitten me. I can approach her anywhere in the house and ask her to "step up" and she will,(without even using her beak) in fact when she is on her perch and I approach her she will lift her leg wanting to come to me.

we have tried treats as a distraction but she just throws them away unless I give them to her.

does anyone have any suggestions?

[Ben.G]

I forgot to mention....Once I have her she is fine, she will go to anyone.

??????

[MissK]

Ben,

Sounds like Luna is defending herself against a perceived threat from people who are not you. So, congrats, you are doing great with her. The rest of the people should back off and try to learn from your methods and success. Teach them to do as you have done, and don't let them try to touch her before she's ready. Sure, it would be swell if she were handleable for everyone, but you're her main man, and her champion. Look out for her.

-MissK

[ellieelectrons]

MissK could be right but it could also be that Luna is establishing a pair bond with you... and if that is the case, you want to discourage it. It is not healthy for a bird to have a pair bond with a human. Don't panic though, you haven't given enough information to indicate that is definitely a pair bond. Does your bird ever attack you or others if other people approach you?

I've found with my ringnecks that they exhibit very different behaviours to different people. For example, if Janey is wandering around the floor, she will ALWAYS step up for me and will NEVER step up for my husband. She prefers to run around the room chasing him. At some point in their relationship he has done something to reinforce this behaviour. I'm sure we could change her behaviour with some work, but I'm not sure my husband has the patience for it. My husband mimcking my behaviour would not be enough to correct the problems because they have already established a routine of interacting.

Is there a family member who would be more willing to do some work with your bird? If so, would you mind going into detail of one incident where that family member has received a bite? What happened immediately preceding and describe the behaviour and then what happened directly after?

Does your bird accept treats from them?

I would also recommend that for now your other family members don't attempt to pet her. Many ringnecks don't like it anyway - but some do.

Ellie.

[Ben.G]

MissK could be right but it could also be that Luna is establishing a pair bond with you... and if that is the case, you want to discourage it. It is not healthy for a bird to have a pair bond with a human. Don't panic though, you haven't given enough information to indicate that is definitely a pair bond. Does your bird ever attack you or others if other people approach you?

Is there a family member who would be more willing to do some work with your bird? If so, would you mind going into detail of one incident where that family member has received a bite? What happened immediately preceding and describe the behaviour and then what happened directly after?

Does your bird accept treats from them?

Ellie.

Luna has never bitten me, she does have her moments when she doesn't want to come to me, when that happens she will hold my finger and push it away with her beak or walk away from me, rarely she will fly away(I try not to push her to that extent). she does not bite me at all.
Once I have her on me whether she is on my finger, or she decides to go to my shoulder she will step up for anyone and does not bite and does not defend me, therefore I don't believe that she has a paired bond with me.

The problem is more when the family tries to get her to step up Luna will strike and bite, she draws blood .
Everyone is very patient with her and we have tried different approaches, using treats (but she just throws the treat), pulling their sleeve over their hand but she still bites or she will fly away.

Luna will take treats from the family if she is on me, or if she wants something that someone has and goes to them and take it when offered, then quickly retreats.

I just want the family to be able to pick her up without being bitten

[ellieelectrons]

My Janey engaged in similar lashing out at people who offered her treats. It has almost been eliminated by increasing foraging. Please check out these links:
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

I learnt about a technique called Applied Behaviour Analysis that can be used to help stop birds biting. I'm not an expert in it but I'd be interested in trying to work through it with you if you like. However I would need some more information. It would require detailed information about one incident (not generalisations about how things regularly occur but one incident). I would want to know:
- exactly what happened prior to the behaviour (eg. my dad put his finger in front of Luna's chest)
- the behaviour that occurred (eg. Luna bit my dad's finger)
- what happened next (eg. Dad screamed and ran away).

I would also need to know general information about how your bird is kept including:
- physical environment and enrichment: eg. cage size and cage location, how much time out of the cage your bird gets
- diet
- any guidance or training you do with her
- social relationships.

You've already provided a good amount of information on social relationships, so information on the other three would be good too.

Let me know if you'd like to proceed.

Ellie.