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Aggressive Ringneck

Buganjimo

Meeting neighbors
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3/16/18
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If anyone can help me it would really be appreciated.
My IRN Rhea is about 3 years old, (she is technically male but I refer to her as female because I originally thought she was female when I got her, lol), just growing in her ring.
Recently shes been flying at my head aggressively. and I dont really know why. all of a sudden she flys at me and lands hard on the back of my head. I cant tell if she bites or if its just her nails but its hard every time and it hurts quite a bit. she makes her "angry sound" every time, sorry I dont really know how to describe it. Its between a call and a growl. she usually makes it at the toys shes frustrated at. she has landed on my head before by accident and this is nothing like that, she lands just long enough to dig her nails in and then flys away making the growl noise. its concerning to say the least.

I really dont understand whats happening. why is she frustrated and why is she taking it out on me?
other info, she eats TOPs pellets and fresh chop, large cage but she is out of her cage most of the day, she has lots of toys and we do lots of training, this started happening when I was trying to train her to go into her travel cage.
I have a spinal injury that extends up to my neck, so I really cant have her flying at my head this aggressively. what should I do??
 

Buganjimo

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update on this. I was pouring food into her bowl and she lunged at the bag, I pulled it back a little, not wanting to get bit, and she flew at my face, going for my eyes, and growling. it feels like this is coming out of nowhere, and its getting to the point where im scared to handle her at all because she's been so aggressive.
 

parrotman

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4/11/20
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Macedonia
It's most likely that she's being territorial, ringnecks are very territorial about their cage, toys, food bowl, food, basically anything, it sounds like bluffing, but bluffing only starts from 4 months to 1 year and only lasts about 3-4 weeks.

If you can please record the sound he makes, I may be able to tell you what it means, also to prevent being bitten often, wear gloves when handling her

If you can, ask a breeder about it, they probably will know better than me as I have kept my bird only for a year
 

Buganjimo

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thanks. I hope I can just wait this out because I really dont know how to train this out of her.
the noise she is making is similar to the sound in this video. (should I move this to behaviour byway?)
 

parrotman

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Macedonia
That most likely that means hormones are the culprit behind the behaviour, it is also their mating season, hormones are the most probable cause of the behaviour, it can also be sexual frustration, it is when they think you are their mate and are angry at you because you won't mate with them, this can be caused by scratching their body, cuddling below their neck, this can cause: Plucking, Aggression, randomly screaming, self-mutilation
 

Buganjimo

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okay thanks. I will just hope to wait this out.

I dont cuddle her, she doesnt like hands, so she definitely doesnt think im her mate, maybe just a friend. but she was pretty frustrated yesterday because she wasnt getting the treats from inside the cage (its a new travel cage shes scared of) so it might just be a combination. she has been calmer today, but I am giving her space
 

parrotman

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Okay, she might've bitten you because you put him in the travel cage, you need to place the travel cage next to her regular cage and she will become less scared of it or she bit you because you didn't give her treats from inside of the travel cage
 

Buganjimo

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I didnt put her in the travel cage. the cage was out in the open for about a week before I had her fly to me when I was standing next to the cage, the next day I had a bowl of seed on the ground near the cage, the and the day that she was dive bombing me I put a bowl of treats inside the door of the travel cage. I know how to desensitize her to things, she mightve gotten frustrated that I wasnt just giving her treats, I was making her go near the cage to get them, but I never forced her inside the cage.
 

parrotman

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Messages
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Location
Macedonia
It is most likely that she got frustrated and flew up to you and bit you, my female lovebird koki always does it if something isn't the way she wants it to be
 
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