I'm not an experienced bird owner, so I suppose it's my bad for buying a parrot for my 10 year old brother's birthday earlier this year. However, I'm trying my best to take proper care of the young birb.
So, let me give a brief history. For my brother's birthday, my dad and I went out to the market to find a bird for him (He's an avid fan of birds). I guess I should have thought about it then, but the store I bought Chilli the Indian Ringneck from was full of sick birds screaming with no end. They were placed in sad cages with no toys and would fight for the corners to hide from people approaching them. With this upbringing, I can understand Chilli's skittish behaviour. (yes, I understand how bad and irresponsible it was to buy a bird from such a pet store. But that's over and done now and I don't want to simply give up on Chilli because's from a pet shop.)
When we first brought Chilli home, you bet there was lots of bloody fingers. Plus, when we let him out, he flies around to upstairs and tends to hurt himself, so we had to clip his wings. He did not like that.
Now forwards six months, Chilli does not bite other than to hold onto you. But he goes to hide behind his toys (which doesn't hide him much) whenever someone is the room. Almost everyone is in the living room at most times other than morning, however. Also, only in morning (as long as no one was in the room), he would practice talking and get out on top of his cage. When someone comes in, he hides behind the cage.
Sometimes Chilli would get onto my hand and hop onto my shoulders, so I could take him around the house and let him explore my room. I try to do this at least once a day as long as I manage to get him on my hand. Otherwise he would hole himself up in his cage. He only ever gets onto my hand as well, because I'm the only one who tries to interact with him. My family is scared of Chilli biting them (And I assure you, he only ever bit my ear to try and get on top of my head. ow, thanks for the piercing.)
Now that I've done the introduction for that handsome birb, I have some questions.
1. How can I help Chilli not be so scared? I thought of having him a better hiding spot in his cage, like a hiding hole for him to sit in. Kind of like one of those bird boxes you'd hang outside. Or would that cause him to retreat from everyone and do the exact opposite of encouraging him to open up to people?
2. Would getting Chilli another bird friend make him feel much more comfortable? This is a suggestion my mum made. But then we might have to deal with two birds who are too scared to be around people...
3. Chilli won't eat fruit or large nuts. We tried to encourage Chilli to eat stuff other than small seeds by replacing his food bowl with only fruit and large nuts. He didn't eat anything that day, and we got scared so we put his usual food back in. He also won't eat pellets. He will only eat apples, and spits out the apple flesh once he's done with it. What a picky bird.
4. Chilli's tail feathers look terrible. Is that normal for a (i guess 10 month old) IRN? I noticed some feathers have been falling out, not in bunches but one at a time.
I know I said a lot, but I honestly do want to be good for Chilli. I'm more than happy to explain anything in detail and provide photos (if chilli stays still for it.)
Thank you!
So, let me give a brief history. For my brother's birthday, my dad and I went out to the market to find a bird for him (He's an avid fan of birds). I guess I should have thought about it then, but the store I bought Chilli the Indian Ringneck from was full of sick birds screaming with no end. They were placed in sad cages with no toys and would fight for the corners to hide from people approaching them. With this upbringing, I can understand Chilli's skittish behaviour. (yes, I understand how bad and irresponsible it was to buy a bird from such a pet store. But that's over and done now and I don't want to simply give up on Chilli because's from a pet shop.)
When we first brought Chilli home, you bet there was lots of bloody fingers. Plus, when we let him out, he flies around to upstairs and tends to hurt himself, so we had to clip his wings. He did not like that.
Now forwards six months, Chilli does not bite other than to hold onto you. But he goes to hide behind his toys (which doesn't hide him much) whenever someone is the room. Almost everyone is in the living room at most times other than morning, however. Also, only in morning (as long as no one was in the room), he would practice talking and get out on top of his cage. When someone comes in, he hides behind the cage.
Sometimes Chilli would get onto my hand and hop onto my shoulders, so I could take him around the house and let him explore my room. I try to do this at least once a day as long as I manage to get him on my hand. Otherwise he would hole himself up in his cage. He only ever gets onto my hand as well, because I'm the only one who tries to interact with him. My family is scared of Chilli biting them (And I assure you, he only ever bit my ear to try and get on top of my head. ow, thanks for the piercing.)
Now that I've done the introduction for that handsome birb, I have some questions.
1. How can I help Chilli not be so scared? I thought of having him a better hiding spot in his cage, like a hiding hole for him to sit in. Kind of like one of those bird boxes you'd hang outside. Or would that cause him to retreat from everyone and do the exact opposite of encouraging him to open up to people?
2. Would getting Chilli another bird friend make him feel much more comfortable? This is a suggestion my mum made. But then we might have to deal with two birds who are too scared to be around people...
3. Chilli won't eat fruit or large nuts. We tried to encourage Chilli to eat stuff other than small seeds by replacing his food bowl with only fruit and large nuts. He didn't eat anything that day, and we got scared so we put his usual food back in. He also won't eat pellets. He will only eat apples, and spits out the apple flesh once he's done with it. What a picky bird.
4. Chilli's tail feathers look terrible. Is that normal for a (i guess 10 month old) IRN? I noticed some feathers have been falling out, not in bunches but one at a time.
I know I said a lot, but I honestly do want to be good for Chilli. I'm more than happy to explain anything in detail and provide photos (if chilli stays still for it.)
Thank you!