IndianRingNeck.com

Hi all

About a month ago I "adopted" a little yellow ringneck, saved him from a crappy petshop is more accurate i guess. Ziggy is my first parrot. He will be 8 months old on the 27th. The girl working in the shop said she was terrified of him...wouldn't even take him out of the cage (way to small) to sell him to me. She also admitted to me that no one had spent anytime handling him, a case of to many birds to take care of and not enough staff. (no excuse, as far as I'm concerned)
Turns out Ziggy was not in fact a devil bird; and just as i suspected, more space, some entertainment, and clean food and water improved his demenor almost instantly.

Over the past few weeks Mr Ziggy and I have made great progress. He eats out of my hand, enjoys a tummy rub(on his terms), goes where I ask him during our daily routine, is responding well to the early stages of clicker training, mimics human sounds a little better everyday...I've even recently started letting him climb out of his cage to the play top. I keep a close watch but he gets a bit of freedom (cliped) and I'd like to allow him more.

Which brings me to my problem. Ziggy is a biter. He hasnt drawn blood in a week or two, and I can read him well enough to get out of his way. He's a bit agressive about his cage which makes adding/removing toys and perches from his cage a headache. He's fine when I change his food but absolutely hates it if I go near his water, so much so that I wonder if it's still a bit of residual petshop trama. Ultimately, this makes the "step up" idea very intimidating, and I'm not sure how to get around it...

It's my first time and i would be really greatful for any advice...

lol my bird hardly touches his water container , birds are really different from one another

Hi

It sounds like you and Ziggy are doing pretty well. You've achieved a lot in a small amount of time.

woodpeckergirl wrote:Which brings me to my problem. Ziggy is a biter. He hasnt drawn blood in a week or two, and I can read him well enough to get out of his way. He's a bit agressive about his cage which makes adding/removing toys and perches from his cage a headache. He's fine when I change his food but absolutely hates it if I go near his water, so much so that I wonder if it's still a bit of residual petshop trama. Ultimately, this makes the "step up" idea very intimidating, and I'm not sure how to get around it...

I like what you've said about being able to "read him well" because this is an important part of bird taming - understanding and responding to your bird's body language.

It is quite natural for birds to be territorial around their cage. Perhaps you should consider having an area where the two of you interact a little away from his cage - a t-stand or a birdie gym or something. You can try having it directly beside the cage so that he can get there himself and see if he is still territorial... if that doesn't work, try moving it further away.

My two are very tame but I don't do their food when they are closeby as they are likely to lunge at me and bite me.

This article could help too:
http://goodbirdinc.blogspot.com.au/2009 ... up_28.html

Best wishes and welcome to the forum! Ellie.

thanks ell!

I love the link...that was just the kind of thing I was looking for

Great! I hope it helps. Keep up the good work.

Ellie.

my bird is named ziggy tooo