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New Ringneck Help!

Marcel

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Marcel
Hi!

So this is my first post and first ever bird because I couldn’t find any threads that would help me enough.

Two months ago I bought a IRN who I was told is a 4 month old male. the first few weeks were pretty difficult for both of us but we did get through. We are at a stage where I really don’t know what to do. I’ve been as slow, cautious and respectful of Rolexe’s territory as I possibly can but I feel like we’re not making any progress. As soon as I come into the room and he hears my voice he looks interested but if I get any closed than 5ft he turns his back, as I get closer and talk to him he moves to the right of the perch and puts one leg up to run away thats when i stop and carry on talking calmly, he then turns around and faces me which I think is a great sign anyway. So thats that I can come up to the cage but when ever I bring my hand up he runs to the back of the cage and depending on what mood hes in he might jump back on the perch facing me. Now, as from today I’ve thought it might be a good idea for him to step out the cage for the first time since i felt bad for him sitting in there for two months. Because hes clipped i need to put his cage on the floor so he knows he has a safe place to escape to, I have a sofa next to the cage to be as close as possible so that he can get used to my presence but he decides to sit in the other side of the room on the keyboard, he loves that keyboard. I try grapes because he loves them to get him used to hands but he will not move towards is only when I move away will he take the fruit and we just move in a circle. Am I doing anything wrong? Is there anything I should be doing? Please help because I don’t want to put any pressure on him, also his feathers look a little concerning sometimes because of all the flapping around when I put my hand close his tail feather breaks or sticks out of the wing. I have read a lot on how to tame but I feel like I still have no idea about this hence why I write this post.

Thank you :)
 

aqualover9

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Do you wear a certain color or do you know if your IRN has something he strongly dislikes? If you eliminate those, he might be able to come closer to you.
Another suggestion is putting his favorite food (the grapes) in a bowl like anywhere in the room where he is most comfortable, like the keyboard. If he eats them, you could slowly move it towards you day after day and maybe he could get used to your presence. Hope this helps! :)
 

Marcel

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No I don’t wear any colours in particular, and I have no idea what he doesn’t like I don’t think we’re at that stage yet
 

aqualover9

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No I don’t wear any colours in particular, and I have no idea what he doesn’t like I don’t think we’re at that stage yet
Does he dislike you or anyone in general?
 

Marcel

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I don’t think so, only I am allowed in the room until he trusts me and becomes comfortable.
 

aqualover9

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If you sit by the keyboard would he still go to the keyboard?
 

Marcel

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No, if i come close and hes out of the cage like he is now he will fly off
 

aqualover9

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I think you should take things a bit slower if he doesn't even tolerate your voice. Maybe you could just like sit in the room where you keep his cage and don't really do anything to him. I would think over time, he would get used to your presence and then you could try talking to him and continue regularly taming him.
 

Marcel

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So the fact that he turns to face me sometimes doesn’t necessarily mean he’s becoming comfortable with me?
 

aqualover9

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So the fact that he turns to face me sometimes doesn’t necessarily mean he’s becoming comfortable with me?
He might be becoming comfortable with you but I'm not sure since I have no birding experience. If he shows any signs of aggression, it might be because he is territorial. Still, he is trying to avoid you by going to the opposite side of the room so just get him accustomed to your presence by sitting around. Like I said before, put the grapes where the keyboard is and slowly inch it towards the couch since that's where you sit most of the time. It would most likely take several weeks are even months before you could train him to perch on your finger.
 

aqualover9

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Your welcome! Best of luck to you and your IRN! :D
 

Marcel

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So I have no idea what is wrong with this bird but hes been stearing out that window since he got up there after 45min of attempts and has watched out of it at least one hour
 

Fuzzy

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:welcome2: Marcel and Rolexe!

Just noticed that candle. Please don't light it or any other candles with Rolexe in the apartment/house. The fumes and smoke are dangerous for a parrot's delicate respiratory system and could kill.

I think him turning to face you is a great! Love that you heed his body language and back off when he turns his back to you. Fantastic too that you have found a food he especially likes. Keep leaving the grapes for him... then get gradually slower and slower at moving away, so that he gradually gets closer to you. You are doing the right things.... pairing your presence with something awesome (the grapes in this case).

I would also let his wings grow out. It's a pity you have to put his cage on the floor (birds feel safer higher up where they can easily spot predators). Also if he could fly (can he fly?) you could arrange things so that you let him out an hour or two before meal times and he could take himself back into his cage when you slot in the food bowl. That's what I did with my Amazon Ollie before he was tame. I didn't have to touch him.

Some birds are afraid of hands. Keep pairing your hands with good things like the grapes. Does he like any toys that you could leave or hand him too? Maybe something like a soft piece of balsa wood?

It might help you if I told you how I began to work with Ollie:

Ollie came to me "untame", "cagebound" and afraid of humans, especially hands. He had very few reinforcers and certainly none where humans were concerned. I had to find a way to get close enough to then be able to offer positive reinforcement. My presence was an aversive. He was frightened of me. So I used negative reinforcement to be able to get increasingly closer to him, and it sounds like you are doing something similar with Rolexe.

Negative reinforcement (R-) is also known as escape/avoidance learning. The behaviour is strengthened (reinforced) by escaping an aversive (something the parrot doesn’t like). For example, pushing a hand into the bird’s chest to make it step up. The bird steps up to escape the sensation of being pushed in the chest. The bird has no choice but to step up… or may well learn to bite to make the hand go away. Not the best way of teaching a step up since you are also pairing yourself with an aversive, but you can use negative reinforcement in a more positive way when approaching an "untame" bird. Note that if you have to use negative reinforcement at any time, it should be immediately followed up with positive reinforcement. However normally, negative reinforcement should be avoided. This is how I used R- to approach Ollie:

I would walk towards his cage very slowly beginning from the far side of the room. When he showed slightly uneasy body language that was my starting point. I took a couple of steps back and waited for him to show relaxed body language (RBL) again. When I saw his RBL I took a slow step forward (introducing an aversive). His continued RBL then earned half a step back (removing the aversive). I’d wait a few seconds and then took another slow step forward. His RBL earned half a step back, and so on until I could get closer and closer to his cage without him freaking. I did this every time I had to approach his cage. If his body language changed at all, even slightly, then I would go back a couple of steps until I saw his RBL and then break the steps down even smaller. It took a couple of weeks to be able to walk right up to him. Otherwise I would crawl to his cage to service it, so that he would feel safer being higher than me. As soon as I could get close enough I would hand him a palm nut (the best treat in the world for him! - and that was the positive reinforcement.)

Then when I could approach him with no problem, I started working on a step up onto a hand held perch since he was (and still is) fearful of hands, using the palm nut to reinforce shaping the approximations (tiny steps) towards the step up. A palm nut is HUGE so it took many, many months to teach him the step up as he could only have one a day, therefore I could only ask for one approximation a day. When he discovered cashews I could break them down and training went much quicker!
 

Marcel

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Thank you so much for the reply and the fact you pointed out the candle i’ll make sure no one is lighting candles in this house haha! I will take everything you said and apply it to our taming and forming bond with Rolex. Again thank you, I’ll post back as soon as I see some good progress
 

Marcel

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He took a treat from my hand!

A massive thank you to Fuzzy! this morning Rolex took a berry from between my fingers gently biting a finger before he got the berry! Im so excited because we would never even move close to my hand. For the past two days I did exactly what Fuzzy did with Ollie (his bird) however what I also did is I played him a bob marley album when I got up and he seems to love it when I sing along. first time a approached to cage very very slowny with my hands behind my back, the second time i had a blueberry in my hand about chest level for him to see it he was still very curious but cautious go close to the berry but no close enough to grab. Third time lucky! thought ill sing some more so for about 15 min was just jamming to Bob woth Rolex and tried another time, also REALLY SLOW, I can not stress this enough I was approaching him too fast before which in my opining was still very very slow, but needs be slowe, any hesitation from him I stopped and talked, I’m so excited, thank you Fuzzy!!
 

fashionfobie

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:yah:



These little breakthroughs lead to a lifelong friend! Well done :)
 

Marcel

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so last time i posted Rolex took a grape from my hand and now i have no idea what up with him, he wont even attempt to take a treat from me, i dont see any progress, how long roughly does it take to tame a wild ringedneck? i bought him from a pet store
 
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