IndianRingNeck.com

Hi everyone,

so I need some advice on my IRN's behaviour.
*I'm assuming he's a male due to his 'displaying' behaviour*
To break things down, he is a wild rescue that came into my care at about 2months old after being attacked and grounded by crows. I took him to an avian vet who reccomended I keep him, so I weaned him (I've dont it before so I knew how to) and he was the most tame and lovable little parrot ever. He would never bite, and never react aggresivley. He would let me do anything, from petting to picking him up. But then after about a month of having him, he suddenly became terrified of everything and extremely skittish overnight. He also decided that I was more terrifying then my mother (whom he previously disliked) and wouldn't let me get near. He became especially terrified of hands, but despite his fear he still wouldn't bite, even if I grabbed him (which I unfortunately had to do in order to get him back into his cage)...
I asked about it on this forum when it started and I was told that it wasn't bluffing (as I suspected).
It's been about two months since he became skittish, and it's became worse in the meantime. He not only doesn't tollerate hands, but he's turned very possesive and aggresive, not hesitating to bite me when he doesn't approve of something (eg. me getting to close to his cage, his out-of-cage toys, his food, my pencil, etc etc), basically he's become very dominant. But what confuses me is that my mom (as I said he used to hate her/was afraid of her) can take him out of his cage (he lounges right for my face when I try to take him out, once he's done butchering my fingers) with nothing but eye pinning and angry screeching. Same goes for taking his 'toys' (which is usually just knick-nacks he finds around the house), or getting him back into his cage.
What I find even stranger is that once I do take him out, he flies around a bit (after attempting to attack my face/hands) but then comes back to me right away. And god forbid I'd leave the room. He keeps flying after me, comes whenever I call and sits happily on my shoulder. But as soon as I get my hands near him he freaks out, usualy flying away or biting (i don't try to touch/grab him, just put them close). But right away he returns to my shoulder.
Then at other times he comes when called and starts 'displaying' to me in the typical heart shape pose the males have. And at those times I can actually pet him without a problem, I can even pick him up.
But the phases seem completely random, because one minute he may be allowing me to pet him, but the next he notices his ball and decides I'm too close and starts butchering my hands again and screaming. He honestly goes from, I hate you I want to kill you, to I love you let me feed you to die bitch die in 10mins. Which frustrates me as you can imagine.
So I'm wondering if anyone else has had problems like this...
I doubt it's actually bluffing (though I'd love to think it is and that it will just stop on day...), but I was wondering if it could be hormones that are making him THIS crazy...

He's also trained for some basic tricks (recall, shake 'paw', fetch, etc), but ever since he's turned so possesive I can't train him anymore, because as soon as he sees that I have treats, he's gonna attack my hands until he manages to get them from me, and if he doesn't he flies up onto the shelf and glares at me angrily. So I'm really stuck as to where to start rebuilding our relationship, considering I can't use positive reinforcement training.
Luckily he goes back into his cage by himself (well you have to bring him over to the cage and order him inside... he never goes in fully on his own), so I don't have to chase him or grab him to put him away, which I think has helped a little... but as soon as I close the cage doors he jumps at me and fluffls up, pins his eyes and screams like a mad...parrot? XD

So yes, I'd REALLY appreaciate ANY help.
And I'm very sorry for this loooong essay-like entry, but I figured I'd get all the details in at the beggining.
I'm desperate for some help so any replies would be greatly appreciated!

I'm sorry to hear about your problems. Doesn't sound like fun at all!

If you were willing to clip his wings I think that would help; although I understand that you may not want to do that. You could try clipping his wings for one season to tame him down again and if he was ok next season you could let them grow back. There is at least one other instance on this forum where clipping the wings has completely restored the personality of the bird back to what it was before.

Sorry that's not particularly helpful. If I think of anything else, I will let you know.

Good luck.

Ellie.

i agree with Ellie, I was given a wild green male out of an aviary and i tried months unsuccessfully to tame him, i got bitten and screeched at and glared at, eventually i decided to take him to have his wings clipped and bought a strong pair of gloves, and from that day i gave him no choice, 5 - 10 min a day on my lap, being held, and he used to scream, and squeal like i was murdering him, i just used to chat to him nicely tell him it was ok and give him a treat when i put him back in his cage, now 3 months later, i put my hand into his cage, he steps up straight away, talks like crazy and sits on my shoulder. you can always let his wings grow out again, which is the nice thing. Another thing i found that worked for discipline, when he's naughty, he goes back in the cage, when mine were young and terribly naughty and used to scream and throw things at us when we went past, we would cover them with a blanket, for 1 min, if they did it again within the hour we'd cover them for 2 min, they learnt within 2 weeks, if they were naughty they 'went to bed'. its like disciplinging a young child, sepnding a minute in the corner for the severity of their offense, i couldnt ask for more beautiful and loving birds now.

ellieelectrons wrote:I'm sorry to hear about your problems. Doesn't sound like fun at all!
If you were willing to clip his wings I think that would help; although I understand that you may not want to do that. You could try clipping his wings for one season to tame him down again and if he was ok next season you could let them grow back. There is at least one other instance on this forum where clipping the wings has completely restored the personality of the bird back to what it was before.
Sorry that's not particularly helpful. If I think of anything else, I will let you know.
Good luck.
Ellie.

Thanks for the reply!
Well I've been to a cuple different vets and so far all of them have advised me not to clip the wings, or said that they don't clip wings at all (I live in Slovenia where it's not that common of a procedure...), which I understand and am fine with.
My little deamon has been getting better, so I may try to hold out for another month or two, and if he still doesn't get any better by then, I'll probably take him to get his wings clipped to a specialist that I know (he also advised me not too lol...). The thing is that he is mostly aggresive around his cage (especially when I'm around it/try to get him out/in) and around his toys. He never dive bombs people like some that I've read about on the forum, so I don't know if clipping his wings would actually help that much. But I'm willing to try if things get worse
And don't worry about it! Any advice is much appreciated at this point haha!

SCB -SA wrote:i agree with Ellie, I was given a wild green male out of an aviary and i tried months unsuccessfully to tame him, i got bitten and screeched at and glared at, eventually i decided to take him to have his wings clipped and bought a strong pair of gloves, and from that day i gave him no choice, 5 - 10 min a day on my lap, being held, and he used to scream, and squeal like i was murdering him, i just used to chat to him nicely tell him it was ok and give him a treat when i put him back in his cage, now 3 months later, i put my hand into his cage, he steps up straight away, talks like crazy and sits on my shoulder. you can always let his wings grow out again, which is the nice thing. Another thing i found that worked for discipline, when he's naughty, he goes back in the cage, when mine were young and terribly naughty and used to scream and throw things at us when we went past, we would cover them with a blanket, for 1 min, if they did it again within the hour we'd cover them for 2 min, they learnt within 2 weeks, if they were naughty they 'went to bed'. its like disciplinging a young child, sepnding a minute in the corner for the severity of their offense, i couldnt ask for more beautiful and loving birds now.

Thanks for the info
Like I said to Ellie, I've been to a cuple vets and they all advised me not to clip the wings, so I decided not to at the time (he wasn't being such a bitch back then, but we we're going camping with him so I wanted to get him clipped just in case...). And also it's not that he's completely wild and untame, quite the opposite really, but he's very possesive of toys and stuff he finds around the house and often turns aggresive when you try to take something away from him or get to close so he gets the idea that you want to take his stuff. Once he's out and about he's mainly on my shoulder and always follows me from room to room and wants to be in on what I'm doing, so he's not afraid of me, just my hands XD It's confusing lol....
And I was thinking of using discipline myself, but it's so hard to get him into his cage by force that I doubt it would actually work. And he's usually even more aggresive when I try to take him out so I don't think that would really work... but I'll try

Thanks again

if he is that much scared of ur hands maybe u should consider getting ur hand fingers clipped?

i have had these cheeky little birdys for the last 13 yrs since i was 15 and i think it is bluffing 100% no doubt for sure. they are the most stubborn frustratingly adorable little monsters and will go to great lengths to eff with yr head and play games with u. i never have and never would get their wings clipped as i prefer to beat them mentally not physically but each to their own, i suggest to anyone with an aggressive bird to buy strong gloves and lots and lots of handling and they will be just like yr bird..luvin u long time...i use a small room like the bathroom to train them to me then introduce them to the rest of the house and my last bird chopper used to even come in the car with me just takes time and yes lots of grapes too haha

Sounds to me like he has developed a "dislike" to your hands as a result of your need to grab hold of him (hence feeling trapped and restricted temporarily) in order to re-cage him. A previous Hen I had was like that, but only after I handled her a couple of times forcing her back to her cage as punishment for biting my girlfriend. For months after she refused to have anything to do with my hands and would bite me, but would squawk and fly after me and insist on my shoulder if I walked away. As cheekiiestboii suggested, I too have found the bathroom to be a very effective training place (ensuring toilet lid is down, lol), and also took my IRN for drives and into shopping centers and everything.

My experience with males is very limited and I am having bulk trouble with my wimpy baby boy myself so.... all very suggestive I am affraid