pinesteins
Checking out the neighborhood
- Joined
- 11/13/20
- Messages
- 1
Hi there, I just got a 1.5 y/o indian ringneck male from a lady who had him for a few months. She said he was dna sexed and that he was incredibly sweet with her. He is tame and steps up readily but after a week of having him and he's gotten more comfortable, he's exhibiting aggressive behavior (ie. eye-pinning, head tilted down, and puffing up) along with high-pitched clucking directed at me (it sounds very sweet but I know it’s not). He does not have a ring yet and today he started exhibiting behavior similar to a female's mating dance, but with a clucking sound instead of the cooing. His eyes pin in and out and he's puffed up while doing this. I thought maybe he is a female and is exhibiting hormonal behavior but I am unsure as I've never had a ringneck before, only a macaw, and I heard the dna sexing is super accurate. Reasonably, I will get bit if I go near him while he does this behavior, but I can still usually pick him up and I've been pretending like I don't notice. He does it in his cage and on any of his outside perches (I’ve since removed the reflective steel tray from the perch in the first image). I've been including him in my activities anyway despite this and acting normal but I honestly don't know how to handle it. Could it be stress from the new environment? Since we haven't had him for long, I do not know him well enough to know what brought it on, but his owner say's she never had problems like this with him when she first got him. I give him the same seed mix she did and am trying to get him to eat some pellets to no avail. I give him 1/2 cup chopped veggies with some chia and hemp seed and some fruit daily which he likes and I've made sure there's nothing that could be made into a nest in his cage with mainly wood and bell toys. Target training is difficult when he is like this. Should I be interacting with him anyway? How should I handle this? Any advice is appreciated!
