IndianRingNeck.com

Hi there.

I was given a Indian ring neck as a birthday present recently. And have a few questions regarding him/her (I think he's a he)

I have had him about two months now, and he is about 3 months old so ive been told. I'm having problems with him warming up to me. He is happy for me too pick him up and place him on my shoulder. but he is still very eager to get away and do his own thing and always prefers to be left alone. What can i do to get him too want to be with me?

Is it normal for birds to be scared of a certain color? He seems too be afraid of red and pink, If the hot water bottle is out (It's red/pinkish), he will start screaming till it's out of site. If i try give him some pomegranate he flips out. ( But he loves the berries in it). And anyone wearing that color shirt. Should i avoid the color all together. Or should i try get him used too it.

One of his claws looks like it's out of place. It was like that when we got him. It does not seen too be any discomfort for him, but it has not started healing. A friend of mine who is learning to be a veterinarian said it should grow out. But it still has not. I'm planning on taking him to a vet. But was wondering if this was normal for a young bird.

Discipline. He keeps climbing the curtains, and chewing cords. I keep my cords hidden, but he always finds a way. i have plenty of toys for him too chew on. but he likes chew everything else!!!!. But the curtains are the bigger problem. Is there any way i can train him to know that that is one thing he isn't allowed to climb.

Last question. At what age will he pick up on words and when can i start teaching him tricks?

Thanks

Klusta wrote:He is happy for me too pick him up and place him on my shoulder. but he is still very eager to get away and do his own thing and always prefers to be left alone. What can i do to get him too want to be with me?

If you can pick your bird up and put him on your shoulder, that's a great start. IRNs generally liked to be kept amused. Some of them will get bored easily. Of our two, Janey (our 2.5 year old blue), is generally happy watching what I do (if I'm doing something interesting) or trying to get involved in what I do but Charlie (our 1 year old lutino) gets bored very quickly and is just as likely to fly off my shoulder, pick a fight with Janey whilst sitting on my shoulder or bite my ear (as a result, I don't let them on the shoulder very often anymore).

Klusta wrote:Is it normal for birds to be scared of a certain color? He seems too be afraid of red and pink, If the hot water bottle is out (It's red/pinkish), he will start screaming till it's out of site.

I have read that some birds will get scared of a certain colour. When we first brought Janey home she didn't like red. I stopped wearing red around her for a bit, although it doesn't seem to bother her now. I do notice that red wood tends to get chewed first.

Klusta wrote:Discipline. He keeps climbing the curtains, and chewing cords. I keep my cords hidden, but he always finds a way. i have plenty of toys for him too chew on. but he likes chew everything else!!!!. But the curtains are the bigger problem. Is there any way i can train him to know that that is one thing he isn't allowed to climb.

I still have trouble with the climbing the curtains! Although I mostly try to keep them out of their reach. We removed one curtain all together - not because of the climbing but because their fruit and veg kept getting splattered on it and was hard to keep clean. Our curtains are quite thick, so I don't think they've damaged the curtains - just dirtied them. Our birds have chewed right through a cord from a blind. I have now wound the cord and tied it in a knot around the top of the blind so that it is usually out of their reach. I also provide several different perching spots for them in the house. I have some suction cup perches that can attach to windows or sliding glass doors for them to sit on. I also have a T-perch that I can carry onto the kitchen bench of into any room I go to. Is your bird flighted? If so, I've read about having several places you "want" them to perch and training them to just use these by rewarding them every time they use them. Ours have trimmed wings (although they can still fly reasonably well) so for us, it's more about keeping them out of the way of things we don't want.

Janey loved chewing electrical cables when she was younger.... but doesn't seem to do that now. Not sure if it's because she knows we'll do everything we can to stop her doing it or what it is.

Klusta wrote:Last question. At what age will he pick up on words and when can i start teaching him tricks?

I think I started training Janey when she was about your bird's age... and I know I started training Charlie at about that age. I started with the turnaround. As for speaking, i think you could try that too. Probably starting with whistling is a good idea - they seem to pick up wolf whistling ok. Janey learnt that when we sent her to the father-in-laws for one-week whilst we were away on holidays. She also learnt to say "beautiful, beautiful bird".

Best wishes!

Ellie.

Hane doesn't fuss so much about red anymore but every once in a while someone with a red shirt will trigger a shout. When he was younger he HATED red. Even toys that had big red parts scared him.

Tsume would freak out if my sister wore her red striped pajama pants.

There is some colors that trigger other reactions too. One of my breeding birds has a weird thing with black t shirts if i wear a black shirt into the avairy he comes up to me and makes this weird noise and grabs my shirt and lifts it like he is trying to see up my shirt. Other colors he backs away.

Hane LOVES green. Wear green and he sings and asks you to have his babies.