IndianRingNeck.com

Hi everyone,

Lately Lutino has been in a mood lol. He/she has been lunging and doing this really scary growl/scream at me whenever i go near him/her, or his/her cage and toys! Lutino even throws toys over the edge of his play area (elevated off the floor) when i give them to him.
Hes not unwell or anything, so whats the deal??

from what you have told me.

welcome to the bluffing stage.

search the behaviour and taming board for bluffing.
there is lots of helpful info there on how to deal with this.

basic idea behind it from what i have seen:
as it gets a bit older if it were still in the nest the mother would still be trying to do the mother thing, so bluffing starts as an effort to weaken the bond between mother and baby and give him/her a chance to start being indapendant

Ignore all lunging/biting/screaming. This is the basics of stopping this behaviour. When Lutino lunges and bites, ignore it and continue to enforce the rules.. eg. step up. With screaming, (be careful, make sure you can tell when your birds in distress and calling for help but sounds surely not here) Ignore the screaming, dont even look at the bird, dont say 'shh, shut up..'. No reaction is the key.
Do understand, IRNs are moody. They have good days and bad days like any of us. Sometimes they just don't like what your wearing. Funny huh! My Yoda hates bedtime and lets me know by arguing with me, then 'stomping' around making short barking like sounds, when he doesnt get his way. Usually when I pick him up out of Jibbys cage and put him in his own cage for bed. This happens every night. Just gotta be persistant and not let them rule you. hehe.