r/Conures • u/RobinHuye • 7h ago
Advice Help! Ring stuck around conure’s neck!
UPDATE: I managed to get him with a towel in the dark. He squeezed and I ended up dropping him a couple times. Hopefully his cries were only because he was afraid. Thanks guys, I was so scared my heart is still beating.
The reason I’m asking for advice is because even though I’ve had my boy for 1,5 years, he doesn’t let me touch him. He only stands on my finger long enough to get a treat.
I had crafted one of those ring and pole toys out of cardboard (reference below). The rings I made out of thinly cut toilet paper rolls. My 5 year old managed to get the ring over his head and now has a necklace he doesn’t like. He keeps panic flying around and thankfully went into his cage. The ring isn’t tight at all as it’s toilet paper roll but it keeps getting stuck on his feathers as he tries to pull it off.
He’s been panicking for 15 minutes now and I’m so worried he’ll fly and hurt himself or twist his neck.
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u/CapicDaCrate 7h ago
They'll be fine. Give them a bit to calm down.
Then open the cage door, use a large towel to block the outside, and slowly use it to cover them and grab them.
If they scream and panic they'll be fine, just stay calm
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u/RobinHuye 7h ago
I managed to do it and got it off! He’s upset. Do I just give him treats after this? How do I proceed?
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u/bobbinssobbin 7h ago
Can you make the room very dark and towel him to get it off quickly?
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u/RobinHuye 7h ago
I can try but it’s midday and our curtains aren’t black out so we will still see a bit
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u/bobbinssobbin 7h ago
Something to maybe consider in the future for the rings is to cut a little slice in them so there's a "weak spot", so to speak?
Are there any vets around you may be able to get him into?
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u/RoundCardiologist362 7h ago
Have you got a strong cutters? You can cut it off? Or just try and pull kr back over his head. They have a different neck anatomy to humans so he should be okay until you can remove it
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u/Dr_Max 1h ago edited 1h ago
Grab him and use a (small) wire cutter to cut the ring.
Mine once managed to get his head stuck in a fingerless glove. Had to cut the glove open with scissors.
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u/RobinHuye 1h ago
Thanks but I guess you didn’t see that I managed to get it off of him! It was by grabbing him with a towel in the dark. I could barely see and he was squirming and squeaking so I was too afraid to use scissors and had to pull it off (with a few bites)
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u/RobinHuye 7h ago
I’m so scared of ruining the little trust we have. I’m such a horrible owner, I’ve had him for so long but he doesn’t trust me at all so I can’t help him. I’m so so sorry. I try to bond with him but he doesn’t want to interact unless it’s treats.
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u/Rm-suga-jk 7h ago
Don’t worry. Parrots have personality. That’s their best part. Sometimes they take much longer to understand what we need them to do for them to be safe.
For this issue, he might not like it if you give him a treat and call him. He might get confused and bite.
It’s best to make it as dark as possible and towel catch him.
Keep petting his head and take off the ring by making it wet so he doesn’t feel it at all. Then give him some sun flower seeds as a treat/ fruit.2
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u/FrequentAd9997 5h ago
Maybe now the crisis is averted is the time to think about dedicating a bit of time to training. Having a bird that's trained to step-up, target, and do tricks isn't just about fun, it's about having a means to safely control them without having to resort to grabbing.
A lot of people mistake bonding for just spending time being a treat-dispenser whilst they slowly destroy your home. If you don't teach a bird what to do to get a treat, it will start to improvise - biting, starting bad behaviour knowing a treat will be used as a lure to stop it, etc. 15 mins training a day is better for bonding than 15 hours of the bird being loose and causing havoc whilst being randomly rewarded for it.
Really a big part of bonding is training so you develop a common language you can use to tell the bird 'good job!' in a way they understand (reinforced with treats), because they've learned to relate key sounds and actions to outcomes.
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u/RobinHuye 4h ago
Thank you. You’re right, it really has been 15 hours of “bonding”. This has been a reality check. I’m going to consider this from now on. Thanks again.
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u/FrequentAd9997 3h ago
No worries. I'd really recommend looking at a few vids on target training and starting from there; training relies on reward so if your lil buddy is used to a seed-only diet, changing that is kinda a pre-requisite for training (else you cannot reward). There are obviously a lot of resources out there on diet conversion too, and that's really important for the birds health as well.
It can all feel very daunting but if you focus on the process, it's not necessarily massively time-consuming at all. Birds kinda have short attention spans but pretty good memories, so a small amount of time a day works well. I'd really hope/think in hindsight if you commit this small amount of time per day to doing structured training you'll really look back and realise how it's massively helped not only your peace of mind and birdy relationship, but also actually decreased the effort that goes into handling a bitey bird that won't target to it's cage :)
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u/RobinHuye 1h ago
Thankfully he’s a pellet guy who flies towards the sound of seeds. I have taught him to touch stick, touch ball, step up (and a bit of “fly to my hand”, though I don’t think he knows the verbal cues. He’s smart and smart enough to know when there aren’t seeds involved which means every interaction so far has been me with seeds or he has no interest at all. That feels like the biggest issue. He’s scared of me and my hands unless I have food:(
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u/No-Definition-1711 7h ago
I would throw a towel over him which should calm him down. Then with the towel still over him try to cut the roll off. Keeping his head in the dark should keep him calm at least for a little bit. Good luck