Scared IRN, crashed into windows

[davo84]

Hi there!

My girlfriend and I have recently adopted a 9 months old blue indian ringneck .
The parrot is not tamed, but doesn't go crazy if we stay near him and I take it as a good sign.
After two days it also took some nuts from our hands.

We are trying to give it some time to get used to us, we eat and sleep in front of it and I try to make it see from its cage what we do during the day.

The problem is the parrot is still visibly scared. When we go visit it it stays at the center of the cage, in a tiny ball-shaped position and doesn't move.
Normally it takes a while but eventually gets used to us, becomes slimmer and starts jumping, eating and so on.

He seems more scared by me,rather than my girlfriend (I guess because she stays at home during the day)

It doesn't eat anything but seeds, although we tried with banana, apple, pear, lettuce, carrots and nuts. Just seeds (seems to like a lot sunflower seeds).

We got it a toy, but seemed scared and I decided to take it out this morning. To make things worse, while removing the toy the bird escaped and started to fly around the room. It took us a while to get it and now it's even more scared than before. It stays at the center of the cage all the time, doesn't move or squawks anymore. He also crashed into the windows few times, but doesn't seem badly hurt (was still flying well,climbing on cage bars, perching on one foot)

Has anyone any suggestion on how to make it less scared of us and on how to make it eat something else but the seeds? Is it the case we should bring him to the vet because he hit the windows?

Any help would be very much appreciated.
Cheers

[pennyandrocky]

first change his diet to pellets with fuits and vegtables. seeds especially sunflower seeds are junk food for birds they are high fat and should be for treats only.how long have you had him? you have to give him time to get used to you and your girlfriend before you try to handle him. cover the windows when he's out to prevent crashes, once you get him used to being handled show him the windows tap on them let him tap them so he knows they are solid. what i do when i get a new bird is wait a day or 2 for them to settle. then i open the door to let them out i lay my hand out so they can explore to see it's not some monster that's going to hurt him or force him to do anything he doesn't want to. until you get him used to being handled only feed inside cage that way you can get him to go back on his own. this helps him to trust you and see his cage as a good place to go. give him the pellets if he doesn't want to try them some people put fruit juice on them. i would try without the juice first maybe eat one or 2 making it look really good they are flock animals so they will at least try to eat what you as one of their flock are willing to eat.

[Cockatielsongs]

Have you checked over your to see if it had any injuries? If so, it would probably be best to take him to the vet.

If your gets uncomfortable when you go near the cage, stay at a distance where your is comfortable with. Read books, eat, do something calm and quiet. Work from there, over time gradually edge closer until you is fine with you near. You have to show that you won't hurt him. Once you can get to his cage without him getting scared, offer nuts through the bars of the cage, encourage it gently. Make it feel that he doesn't need to be forced to do anything.

As for the toys, all parrots need toys so if he is scared of them just leave them out of his cage in his view so he can observe them without him thinking that the toys are invading his comfort zone, over time he'll learn to accept the toys and enjoy them.

Now for food, keep sunflower seeds to a minimal because as you probably already know, its high in fat. Try converting your to pellets, there are lots of threads around here on different methods on how to do it. It may take a while but with patience it will happen.

So far you're doing the right things in regards to eating, sleeping and so on where your can see you. Try avoid sticking you hand inside its cage or do fast movements, avoid anything that would possible frighten your

All the best

[davo84]

He seems ok.

Was very sleepy but I think was due to the stress, he has now eaten and jumped a little bit from side of the cage to the perches, is there something I should check?

I will try with the fruit juice to make him try the pellets, what about understanding if he is comfortable with us? Most of the time he stays still with fairly dilated pupil but after a while start moving and making himself slimmer, jumping back and forth from side to side of the cage or clinging around the sides. To be fair I am confused and don't understand if he stay still because he is calm or afraid therefore don't know how to reward him!

[marie83]

Right go slow with the taming.
Keep him inside his cage for a few days.
Just sit outside his cage and talk to him as often as you can, dont stare at him too much.
When he gets comfortable feed him treats through the bars, he wont take them to start with but be patient. Let him come to get the treats, dont go waving them in front of him.

Once he is comfortable with taking treats from you you can either begin target training or move on to feeding him treats with the door open, then lure him onto a perch outside the cage, then on to you. Personally I would go with the target training as it will be more benficial to you when he starts coming out his cage and allows you to build up a bond at a distance.