Hello,
I'm a first time Indian ringneck owner and I have a female that will be turning one on the fourth of April.
Overall she's been a very well behaved bird. Very sweet towards me, wary but warming up to strangers. Almost never nips or bites. Ive dealing with some hormonal behavior for a few months (eye pinning, wings out, body almost laying down etc). Usually I just wait for her to be done and when she stands up I give her attention.
Within the past week, this behavior has gotten a lot more intense. She will do this hormonal behavior for long periods of time (more than ten minutes straight) and cannot be easily distracted from it, even by food. She'll accept food but will just hold it in her mouth and continue. I'll continue to ignore this behavior, but when I do ignore her, she puffs up and gets just like a kid throwing a tantrum. Nothing makes her happy, doesn't want to play, will not calm down from a heightened state, will even attempt to lure you in by relaxing her feathers and making cute noises (but her eyes remain half pinned in her normal angry look so I don't fall for it). During this display I usually just ignore her. Before this week, she'd calm down after a bit and I can interact with her. Now, if I walk away she just launches into a screaming fit. I've tried ignoring her, (I grew up in a very chaotic house so it's not hard for me to just tune out the screaming) but she will continue for literal hours, doing nothing but standing and screaming.
What can I do? I understand she's acting out and should probably be ignored, but so far it's not decreasing the behavior and it's almost impossible to have any positive interaction with her in this state. I don't want to ignore her for hours a day, I want to continue training and having positive interactions and attention.
Also probably important to note: as far as I know, I'm not going anything to encourage mating behavior. She only gets pet on the top of her head. I also don't let her nest in my clothes and she doesn't have any enclosed spaces in her cage
I'm a first time Indian ringneck owner and I have a female that will be turning one on the fourth of April.
Overall she's been a very well behaved bird. Very sweet towards me, wary but warming up to strangers. Almost never nips or bites. Ive dealing with some hormonal behavior for a few months (eye pinning, wings out, body almost laying down etc). Usually I just wait for her to be done and when she stands up I give her attention.
Within the past week, this behavior has gotten a lot more intense. She will do this hormonal behavior for long periods of time (more than ten minutes straight) and cannot be easily distracted from it, even by food. She'll accept food but will just hold it in her mouth and continue. I'll continue to ignore this behavior, but when I do ignore her, she puffs up and gets just like a kid throwing a tantrum. Nothing makes her happy, doesn't want to play, will not calm down from a heightened state, will even attempt to lure you in by relaxing her feathers and making cute noises (but her eyes remain half pinned in her normal angry look so I don't fall for it). During this display I usually just ignore her. Before this week, she'd calm down after a bit and I can interact with her. Now, if I walk away she just launches into a screaming fit. I've tried ignoring her, (I grew up in a very chaotic house so it's not hard for me to just tune out the screaming) but she will continue for literal hours, doing nothing but standing and screaming.
What can I do? I understand she's acting out and should probably be ignored, but so far it's not decreasing the behavior and it's almost impossible to have any positive interaction with her in this state. I don't want to ignore her for hours a day, I want to continue training and having positive interactions and attention.
Also probably important to note: as far as I know, I'm not going anything to encourage mating behavior. She only gets pet on the top of her head. I also don't let her nest in my clothes and she doesn't have any enclosed spaces in her cage
