IndianRingNeck.com

Hey,
I recently bought an indian ringneck named Boo. He is five months old, has been with me since he was three. The matter is that I bought it from a breeder that didn't handle him, so he was completely untamed. He has a great nature, doesn't bite, doesn't make much of a mess, eats all the veggies I give him, doesn't mind toweling and all. Currently, I haven't made much of a progress on taming even though I spend one hour per day or more with him. I can make him hop into my hand (he doesn't stands up, he simply jumps), and take a few things of his interest from my hand. So far he doesn't talk, though he does try to mimic the sound from my cockatiels. I feel he is afraid of my hand, so I can't pet him. I really could use some tips from people who were successful taming wild ringnecks.

a) What is the best way to teach him talk? Everyday I repeat the same words, but so far he has only interest on the sounds the cockatiels make.

b) How can I approach him to petting? While he picks toys from my hand, he is afraid of picking food.

c) Is a daily hour enough? If not, how much time I should spend with him?

d) So far I've given him apples, bananas and carrots. What are your IRN favourite foods?

e) While he is comfortable around me, when he sees another person he freezes or scream and fly away. Is this normal?

Lovely little fellow, oyu willfind most of oyur answers on the forum, post searchfor them/

In my experience it's a real tossup on teaching him to talk. In order for him to mimic you he has to find you extremely interesting.
To become extremely interesting to him you need to spend as much time as you possibly can with him. There is no number, no amount of hours to answer your question. .. The answer is spend as much time with him as possible. Talk to him a lot, interact with him and share his experiences with him.

Freaking out when he sees other people... not sure what to say about that except that he's young and it may just take his brain a while to process the idea that strangers are harmless.

My birds favorite foods seem to be changing constantly. Currently he loves peppers of all kinds.. apples, blueberries, bread, and peanuts. He also likes fresh spinach, collard greens, and cauliflower, but not as much.

I can't help you with teaching him to be petted and touched. How does he react when you attempt to touch him?
I can help with getting them to take food or objects from you, but yours is already doing that.

Something I tried for a short time with my bird, and i'm sure it would have worked if I had continued trying, was I kept a small handful of tiny morsels of his favorite treat in my hand. I would attempt to touch him, and he would attempt to get away from me. If i managed to touch the side of his neck I would praise him and give him one of those treats.

Also, before he could fly, if I tried to pet him he would jump away and try to fly. He would just hit the floor but he was determined to not be petted. Oddly though my friend's 8yo daughter could pet him. She came over every day for a few months to see the bird and let him be on her finger and she would actually pet him without him flying away. I'm not sure how that worked except that I figure he just knew he couldn't get away so he let it happen. When his flight feathers finally grew in he tolerated nothing of the sort ever again .

So, i have a bird i can't pet.. probably because i didn't follow up on the touching for treats thing.

Talking: It's really too soon for him to be talking. My little guy was precocious and he said something very mumbly at 7 months. You can look for my thread of Fats videos in the video section of the forum. There are comments as to his age and his proficiency.
Petting: This could take some time. My guy has hated being stroked or tickled on his belly or back of the neck. I have always been able to stick my nose in his feathers while he's preening--desparate to touch little soft bird feathers. It's only now that he is approaching a year old that he lets me pet him. I would attempt to pet him a couple times a week since I got him... he clearly didn't like it and would growl. eventually I could touch his belly. a month ago he lets me scritch the back of his neck and even seemed to enjoy it for a little while. Now I can give him scritches 60% of the time without a fuss. He does cluck and make cute noises when I scritch--he likes it now.
Other people: Oh he's just ababy and he's scared. He probably only barely trusts you--it'll take a while before he trusts other people in general. Make an effort to familiarize him with some strangers. Once he meets and gains a very basic trust of some people he doesn't currently know then he'll be more at ease with strangers. This is useful particularly when you have people come to your house to do work or housesit. It should not be a scream and flap fest.
Time: Give him as much time as you can. He's a baby so and hour might be all he's comfortable with. Several small intervals would be good too. Enjoy his baby time! They are so cute. He's going to grow soon and start to test bite things. This is normal. He wants to experience things. Right now, he's probably even still making the cute baby mewing noise. once that goes away he'll become more adventurous.
Food: search the forum--there is a wealth of info here. my guy likes pistachio nuts ;)