Hello everyone! This is my first post here, and I am really hoping I can get some advice from you guys, because I am at my wits end…. I have to apologize up front, because this is going to be a long post, but if anyone has the time, please read.
A few months back, I was gifted a baby IRN from a loved one who got him from a breeder. Very quickly I figured out this breeder was lying when he said that he was hand tamed, parent fed and hand fed. Supposedly he is now around 7 months old. I don’t know under which circumstances he was raised really. I have had him now for about 3 months. I was also told that it is a male, however I am not aware of any DNA testing that was done to confirm that, and he is still too young for any ring to show up. He still has his flight feathers. I also very soon noticed he is missing one of his little “toe nails”… It doesn’t look like he came into the world with it missing… So that is the intro about my baby Pablo.
I have read so many forum posts here and on other sites on the internet, about advice how to tame your IRN. Watched so many videos. However, no matter what I have tried, he is still so wild and scared. I am not a fan of these techniques where you force your pet bird to anything (such as grabbing him in your hands and holding him until he learns that you will not harm him). I have tried feeding him through the cage bars, but he just steps away, even with his favorite foods. He gets all worked up and tries to “fly away” when I change his food/water. I have also tried the technique where I attempt to approach the cage, but then step back a bit once I see that he is ready to jump away, and then slowly attempt to approach again, etc., until he lets me come all the way. Most of the time, this also doesn’t work… He is very afraid of hands (even with thin gloves), or any objects that I might hold in my hand. The closest I can come to him is just with my face, when he is out chilling on the top of his cage all fluffed up, yet I still can’t come all the way to him. I never yell at him or speak in a loud voice, really doing my best to either engage him to interact or calm him down with whispers (he just recently said his first word btw, “hello”
).
He has the radio on all the time that I am at Uni. He gets plenty of time out of the cage every day, however he only flies to the highest point in the house and mostly chills there until he goes back in his house to eat/drink or sleep. He doesn’t seem to have any curiosity to investigate his surroundings and toys and nibble on stuff, or fly on his perches and play spots that I have set up for him around the apartment.
He has always been a screamer but the past week, he has started to scream most of the day, even when he is out, and I have also attempted to somehow teach him to not scream so much, because now it’s at the point where my head is starting to hurt and I can’t get much sleep. I have tried to ignore him (not even looking) when he screams, but he doesn’t stop. I have tried covering the cage until he is quiet and then when he starts chirping, I uncover him and praise him and talk/interact with him. But this also has not yet helped… He seems to enjoy interacting with me when I am a few metres away, but not when I come up closer. He doesn’t step up, and that part of the training has also failed miserably, as he only flies away…
I try to let him get about 10 hours of sleep each night, and he has plenty of toys and perches/ropes inside his cage (which is almost as big as I am). He has the radio on all the time that I am at Uni. He jumps around his cage and trains different sounds at some parts of the day, and he is not plucking his feathers so I am guessing he is neither unhappy nor bored. He seems quite content. He is a healthy little baby and he does truly live like a prince, however in these past 3 months, he hasn’t been very cooperative in wanting to socialize or train or bond with me. I am really doing my best to try to figure out what he wants, how he feels and to bond but he is just not interested… I don’t know if he experienced any type of trauma at the breeder’s, before he came to me. I have adapted my home to his needs (or at least what I think would be his needs). I am getting really sad and frustrated and I know we can’t go on like this, but I really, really, REALLY don’t want to give him up. Even though he doesn’t really love me right now, I am really invested and attached to him already and I want to keep him. I just wants us to be buddies. I have had birds many times in my life, and have managed to tame all of them completly. But this is my first IRN. I know they can be wild and scared and loud and stubborn… And I have a lot of patience and am willing to do anything. But I don’t know what I am doing wrong, so if you guys please have any advice for me, or any words of comfort, I would be so grateful to you. There are no bird trainers in my area, so I basically have to do this on my own. Is this even reversible?
Once again, I apologize for the long post… And Thank you in advance.
A few months back, I was gifted a baby IRN from a loved one who got him from a breeder. Very quickly I figured out this breeder was lying when he said that he was hand tamed, parent fed and hand fed. Supposedly he is now around 7 months old. I don’t know under which circumstances he was raised really. I have had him now for about 3 months. I was also told that it is a male, however I am not aware of any DNA testing that was done to confirm that, and he is still too young for any ring to show up. He still has his flight feathers. I also very soon noticed he is missing one of his little “toe nails”… It doesn’t look like he came into the world with it missing… So that is the intro about my baby Pablo.
I have read so many forum posts here and on other sites on the internet, about advice how to tame your IRN. Watched so many videos. However, no matter what I have tried, he is still so wild and scared. I am not a fan of these techniques where you force your pet bird to anything (such as grabbing him in your hands and holding him until he learns that you will not harm him). I have tried feeding him through the cage bars, but he just steps away, even with his favorite foods. He gets all worked up and tries to “fly away” when I change his food/water. I have also tried the technique where I attempt to approach the cage, but then step back a bit once I see that he is ready to jump away, and then slowly attempt to approach again, etc., until he lets me come all the way. Most of the time, this also doesn’t work… He is very afraid of hands (even with thin gloves), or any objects that I might hold in my hand. The closest I can come to him is just with my face, when he is out chilling on the top of his cage all fluffed up, yet I still can’t come all the way to him. I never yell at him or speak in a loud voice, really doing my best to either engage him to interact or calm him down with whispers (he just recently said his first word btw, “hello”
He has the radio on all the time that I am at Uni. He gets plenty of time out of the cage every day, however he only flies to the highest point in the house and mostly chills there until he goes back in his house to eat/drink or sleep. He doesn’t seem to have any curiosity to investigate his surroundings and toys and nibble on stuff, or fly on his perches and play spots that I have set up for him around the apartment.
He has always been a screamer but the past week, he has started to scream most of the day, even when he is out, and I have also attempted to somehow teach him to not scream so much, because now it’s at the point where my head is starting to hurt and I can’t get much sleep. I have tried to ignore him (not even looking) when he screams, but he doesn’t stop. I have tried covering the cage until he is quiet and then when he starts chirping, I uncover him and praise him and talk/interact with him. But this also has not yet helped… He seems to enjoy interacting with me when I am a few metres away, but not when I come up closer. He doesn’t step up, and that part of the training has also failed miserably, as he only flies away…
I try to let him get about 10 hours of sleep each night, and he has plenty of toys and perches/ropes inside his cage (which is almost as big as I am). He has the radio on all the time that I am at Uni. He jumps around his cage and trains different sounds at some parts of the day, and he is not plucking his feathers so I am guessing he is neither unhappy nor bored. He seems quite content. He is a healthy little baby and he does truly live like a prince, however in these past 3 months, he hasn’t been very cooperative in wanting to socialize or train or bond with me. I am really doing my best to try to figure out what he wants, how he feels and to bond but he is just not interested… I don’t know if he experienced any type of trauma at the breeder’s, before he came to me. I have adapted my home to his needs (or at least what I think would be his needs). I am getting really sad and frustrated and I know we can’t go on like this, but I really, really, REALLY don’t want to give him up. Even though he doesn’t really love me right now, I am really invested and attached to him already and I want to keep him. I just wants us to be buddies. I have had birds many times in my life, and have managed to tame all of them completly. But this is my first IRN. I know they can be wild and scared and loud and stubborn… And I have a lot of patience and am willing to do anything. But I don’t know what I am doing wrong, so if you guys please have any advice for me, or any words of comfort, I would be so grateful to you. There are no bird trainers in my area, so I basically have to do this on my own. Is this even reversible?
Once again, I apologize for the long post… And Thank you in advance.
. I don't have an IRN or any IRN experience, just conures, cockatiels and Quakers (+ a noisy sun conure). You appear to be doing the right things and about the only suggestion I can make is to talk to Pablo and try to keep to a schedule. 
