IndianRingNeck.com

Hello, I just adopted a female IRN that the person before me had owned for at least 4 years, and according to her, the bird was tame and would let you hold her. I have owned two cockatiels and a quaker, so this is the largest bird I have owned. I have had the bird a couple days now, and she is very hostile. She'll eat out of my hand, and I scared her off the top of her cage once when I came in the room so she got on my finger then, but she clamped down unusually hard stepping on to my finger with her beak. I was wondering if this is normal for ringnecks? If she is on or in her cage, she wants nothing but to bite a chunk of meat off my finger. Also, if anyone has any "re-taming" tips, that'd be good too I know time is what's most important for trust. She was previously living in a basement with a lot of other birds in other cages, and she looks pretty rough and dirty, so I hope she isn't in terrible health. Thanks.

cabaretcalamity wrote:Hello, I just adopted a female IRN that the person before me had owned for at least 4 years, and according to her, the bird was tame and would let you hold her. I have owned two cockatiels and a quaker, so this is the largest bird I have owned. I have had the bird a couple days now, and she is very hostile. She'll eat out of my hand, and I scared her off the top of her cage once when I came in the room so she got on my finger then, but she clamped down unusually hard stepping on to my finger with her beak. I was wondering if this is normal for ringnecks? If she is on or in her cage, she wants nothing but to bite a chunk of meat off my finger. Also, if anyone has any "re-taming" tips, that'd be good too I know time is what's most important for trust. She was previously living in a basement with a lot of other birds in other cages, and she looks pretty rough and dirty, so I hope she isn't in terrible health. Thanks.

You already answered it.

When I got my Nala, it took me six months to get her to trust me enough to not take a chunk out of me!!! And I worked with her nearly every day for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. I thought she'd NEVER be nice. I took so many bites ...

But once she finally decided she loved me, now she is my lover bird!! It took a lot of hard work and a lot of time, but it paid off! Now she's such a sweetie .... she is now sitting on four eggs (no male, so no babies ) and will let me come near, but she won't let even me mess with the eggs much .... once she loses interest, I'll take them away, but for now, it is just so sweet to hear her little whimper when I peer into her cage and talk to her ... she still loves me

Time, time, time .... keep working with her ... patience, patience, patience .... and LOTS OF BANAIDS!!!