IndianRingNeck.com

I just bought an african ringneck about a week ago. He is about a year and half old. he does come on my hand but only if i force him. I know i am suppose to reward him when he does something good and i figured out he loves peanuts a lot. everytime i try to offer him peanuts, he runs away while he is sitting on my hand like he is scared of the peanut. how do i get him to take the reward when he does something good? thanks for any help

I put peanuts in his food tray and he seems to eat the seeds and everything else that is in there but usually, he just grabs the big peanut and goes back up to his perch with it in his mouth and eats it up there.

anyone?

Hi Kratos, I think your answer is patience. I am currently running round the house trying to catch 3 of my 8 fledlings that have just started flying lol. But I'm pretty sure I'm going to get their wings clipped. It's just too hard.

Keep persevering, it will happen! Sorry I can't offer more help

Here are some ideas for you.

Firstly, if you're sure that peanuts are his favourite and he knows what they look like, remove them from his everyday diet. (Peanuts aren't healthy foods for birds anyway, so its not going to hurt him to just get a few as treats) If your bird _loves_ peanuts and he isn't getting them anywhere else, it will make them harder to resist when they come from you.

Secondy, start by offering them to him through the cage bars. This won't happen immediately... but look for little signs of encouragement. (eg. he took one step closer to the food today) With time and patience, it will happen.

You are right, though, training them to accept treats from your hand is probably the first thing you need to train the bird to do.

Another thing we did with Charlie when we get him home was to give him his treats on a plastic baby spoon... when he saw is fav treat on the baby spoon, he wasn't scared of it. However, this technique doesn't work for everyone. Some birds may be scared of the spoon and it is just as hard to get them used to the spoon as it is your hand. Depends on the bird. Anyway, as I treated Charlie using the spoon, I gradually moved my hand further up the spoon (over a period of say, a week)... and eventually I could get him taking treats from my hand.

Charlie now sits at the cage door every morning and afternoon waiting for me to get him out of the cage.

Good luck... it's all about time, patience and regular training times.

Ellie.

P.S. Personally, I wouldn't force the stepping up until, at the very least until you have him taking treats from your hand... otherwise he will continue to be frightened of your hand.

okay thank you, I will do that. The peanuts are in the diet that i get from him and what the previous owner was feeding so i didn't want to change his diet all of a sudden. i put in a peanut or 2 once in awhile into his food tray but i will stop doing so and try your method.