IndianRingNeck.com

And I see TONS of great IRN 'parents'... I have a basic question... We (my parents and I) have our boy Pete... but we hardly ever get him out for two reasons: 1) we have a cocker spaniel dog and we're afraid that he could get hurt by our dog because he does fly away constantly. Secondly, and the main reason, he bites a lot... and HARD too... what can we do so that he becomes 'nicer'. We used to have another IRN before (Pete #1) and he was the most adorable baby! He was such a flirt... but this new Pete is such a crab! What can I do? Help!! We want him to be able to be on my shoulder at all times and hang out like we used to with our old Pete... ANY help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

An Indian Ringneck MUST be handled DAILY, even when tame or they revert back to wild within days... literally.

We cant vacation long for this very reason. Im sure many on the board too have this problem.

You must take the bites and get him out of that cage. I know you are thinking 'This chick is nuts' but all of us here took the bites and we now have tame, loving birds.

Or your other option is to get a different type bird (cockatiel for example) that is natured differently. These are not 'nice' birds. These are challenging birds.

You have your work cut out for you if he is cage bound. Especially if you never taught him to step up. God bless you and good luck.

And remember... you MUST take the bites to show them you dont care because bite or not, they are going to do what YOU say. You own the bird, not the other way around.

It saddens me to think of cage bound birds. Please heed our advice and start working with the bird. If you are too afraid of the bites, this IS NOT the bird for you. Because until you take close to 1000 of them, the bird will have no respect for you until you show him his bites do not even phase you... useless waste of energy.

Furthermore, everytime you draw back from a bite, it instills the wild instinct to strike out at you. Why? Because it is effective. It gets him what he wants... to be left alone. The sad part is these bird dont want to be left alone, they just dont trust people... wise in my opinion.

You must earn his trust and respect. Until then, he will always be cage bound and that is cruel. He would be better off traded to a breeder (good one, of course) for a bird that you will handle.

If it sounds like I am being harsh, I assure you Im not. Im being real. I dont sugar coat... havent the time.

Good luck and dont give up if you are committed to this bird WE CAN AND WILL hold your hand through all the bites and the laughter. But first we have to get to that point.

Please begin by typing in 'bite' biting' into our search engine and read every single post concerning biters.

Post any question or comment you have, no matter how petty you may see the question.

There are no dumb questions, only dumb people to egotistical to ask them.

Wow Mikaela! You hit the nail square on the head.

Yes the bites WILL hurt and yes you do have to take them...it seems crazy in the beginning but after a few months of showing your bird who is boss you will see a whole new bird emerge. Once they know their place they will be content to stay there. They may 'pass' through the "bluffing stage" but no IRN really stops bluffing. It is just the nature of this bird...

No IRN are the same. Your old Pete was just himself. Your new Pete is a whole new bird. You can't change him into something he isn't. These are not cockatiels...(which on my experience are all the same ) Sorry but Pete #2 may never be the nice gnetle bird the first one was. Accept this and love him for the Pete HE is...

Dani and Prinny

Ditto to all of the above



The above are the emotions you will feel "every" day with your IRN.

sigh! roller coaster love affair is what it is honestly. Great fun though, never boring.

Cheers!

Please dont take this as me sounding nasty, but if people researched a bit before they got the bird they wouldnt have to go through such hassles with their birds.

Trying to tame a wild indian is really really hard. Even hand raised birds take alot of work to become used to people. You NEED to find out HOW they were hand raised before you get them.

My Advice for getting these birds, is only buy from a breeder who really takes the time to tame the birds they sell. Really do your research or you might end up in an unhappy situation with an unhappy bird.

The breeder I go to doesnt have time to spend with each bird so I finished hand raising them myself. I think it's only bad to buy an unweaned bird from a pet store, If a breeder is willing to teach you and take your calls after then It's the best way to go.

Neither of my ringnecks have any biting or behavioural problems. I couldnt even tell you if/when they went through a bluffing stage. They always step up unless they know you got something bad planned for them, and believe me they know. And they are always happy to spend time with me, sleep on my shouler or chest.

Now before I get flame posts, I just really feel bad for the people who have problems with their birds and I'm writing this to help others thinking of buying a bird. Dont be fooled into buying a wild bird. There ARE breeders who tame the birds first if not in your area consider weaning it yourself.

From 4 weeks old to weaning is a critical time in the birds life when it comes to socialisation and learning how to be a bird's bird or a human's bird. If you want a tame bird make sure your bird has been socialised and trained by people, not spent all it's time with other birds where the only contact with humans is a tube down it's throat at feeding times.

A well socialised bird will step up before you buy it, it wont object or bite when being held. This makes your life and the birds life alot easier.

Neokireina...there had better not be ANY flame posts! You are completely right! I am in total agreement with everything you have said but sadly most first time buyers DON'T bother to research or even worse make on the whim purchases. We have to be here to help those people. Atleast there are some of us who did research and can help. Yes research is the best before purchase but sometimes you walk into a shop and you fall in love. I'm not saying this is right but this IS what happens 8 out of 10 times...

Dani and Prinny

Thank you all for your replies! I have told my parents everything you have said and we have agreed on taking him out little bit by little bit until we can have him out all the time. Rachel (our dog) will have to go outside when we have Pete out. We do have a cockateil (sp?) and she is super tame so we can have them both out at the same time, we hope. Thank you all, again, for all your advice! I will keep posting and sharing stories about our little guy. He has been talking so much lately! He laughs with us too, which makes us laugh even more! I should (and will) record him!

I have four birds, 1 Indian Ringneck, 2 Cockatiels, and 1 Nanday Conure and my Indian Ringneck, Tiki, who is a very loving bird (He was hand raised properly by the breeder and has been a love bug ever since I brought him home at 8 1/2 weeks old- he is now 8 months old.) does NOT like any of the other birds. Once when one of my cockatiels flight feathers grew in, I had opened the cage and he flew over and landed on Tiki's cage. Tiki was inside his cage, but he made a bee line for Tinkerbell's (my cockatiel) feet. Luckily I was able to grab Tinkerbell off Tiki's cage, before he could take a bite! Then I just now adopted this 2 1/2 year old Conure, who I named Emmy, about 2 weeks ago. Well Emmy was playing on the bird tree gym and Tiki climbed onto the gym as well. Emmy now could have cared less about Tiki, but Tiki did not like the idea of Emmy. At first he would climb over just close enough to bite Emmy's tail feathers - and he would do this as soon as I would turn my back - the little joker knows when I am not watching! Then I left both of them surpervised by my husband and I walked into the kitchen. Well I guess Tiki figured "Ah Hah! Mom's not watching, Dad won't stop me!" and he climbed over and started a fight with Emmy even though Emmy is larger than him and has a larger beak! I got to them before my husband did and luckily both birds were fine, but now only one at a time is allowed onto the play gym.

I am telling you all of this so you won't have an accident with your cockatiel, because an Indian Ringneck is ALOT bigger than a cockatiel and could do major damage if not kill the cockatiel. Just please keep the two birds away from each other, especially if Pete is acting the way he is.

Neo is right.

But then there are alot of great older birds out there for those willing and knowing of ringnecks. For newbies it is best to leave those older birds to the experience, what I want to point out is that no matter the hand rearing from a baby the IRNs personality is testing and each bird has a different one.

They are not easy snuggly sit on the perch and chirp types of bird.

These birds are characters, they are full on and need lots of attention, they have moods and are extremely adventurous curious and feisty. A real Handful. But a great deal of fun if thats the kind of bird you want.

Cheers !