Considering Sun Conure addition to family

Hi everyone.

As the title suggests, I am considering getting a sun conure to add to the family primarily as my own personal pet (mum is a bit skittish around birds).

I have been down at my local bird shop (I'm in Australia) quite a lot asking questions but I wanted to get some more insight from all those conure owners out there.

My main point of concern at the moment is appropriate cage size. I am a bit constrained for space in my house so I need a cage that will both allow my conure room to stretch and play with toys but also fit into the spaces I have available.

My preferred location is backed against a wall and a cupboard in my dining room, however, this area can only accommodate a cage that's 18x18x25 (which is what my bird store has available for small/medium birds). Would this cage be too small for a sun conure?

The next size up is about 4" larger all round so it won't be able to fit in my ideal location BUT it could fit in my second location preference in the same room if I moved the furniture around (but I don't really want to have to negotiate moving lots of large furniture in an already space restricted room).

Any advice from all you conure owners out there would be greatly appreciated!

Hiya!
The link hasn't worked for me so I'm not sure what cage you're talking about. And I have an IRN, not a conure, so you haven't asked for my opinion. But I'm going to give it anyway
I live in a smallish house, on a very large section. I work from home and have two kids, so space and organisation are premium. I have Henry in a cage that measures 65 X 43 X 77. Converted you're talking 45 X 45 X 63 - I think that'd be slightly too small, but you don't have to worry about the tail I do!
Henry's is probably considered too small, but he was a few hanging and foraging toys, and 4 perches. He can spin, fly, stretch etc etc.
By buying a cage that fit's the space and he can function in, I was able to use the money saved to design some pretty cool areas for him around the house. He has a couple of untreated wood stands, there are boings from the roof etc...he's pretty lucky really! But me being home so much means he's really in his cage...

I'm sure she meant rarely. I don't have a conure either but she does raise a good point. You can consider how much time your baby will be confined to the cage. If he she will be out a lot maybe a smaller cage will be OK.

If conure owners disagree they are probably right. I have tiels and keets who basically only sleep in their cages.

That's a rather small size cage for a sun. The recommended 'minimum' size is 20x22x30. That is the 'bare minimum'. The recommended minimum is actually 24x24x30. Bigger is always better. If your sun is going to spend more than a 1/3 of the day in its cage, you can't skimp on size.

Skittles is out of the cage 95% of the time. But he still has a huge cage despite the fact that I have a very small apartment.

I had to get rid of my couch in order to make room for Skittles. Suns are going to require you to make a lot of adjustments and sacrifices, so you may as well get used to it.

Yeah, I don't want the bird to feel cramped when it's inside the cage. My local bird store told me that they have a cage that is 22x22x31 that they say will be suitable to balance cage time and out of cage time.

My problem is that although still live at home in a semi house my mum is very resistant and complains about anything being out of place. I'm trying to avoid a big fight whilst not skimping on cage size as much as I can.

My mum also thinks that the bird should be confined to the cage 24/7, which I think is very cruel for any parrot! Ideally the parrot would be out of the cage hanging out with me playing and doing some tricks/training for most of the evening, and over the next 2 years during the day sometimes because I will doing masters at uni. Once I get full time work it will have to stay in the cage during the day with toys and fun things until I get back in the evening.
I am really trying to educate her and my grandparents about conures and parrots because they just don't get it

Unfortunately, some people just don't get it. You're right about that.

Suns are wonderful companions, but they are not for people who can't deal with noise. They are LOUD and their screech is piercing. They aren't all necessarily noisy, but they are all loud. So I would make sure that everyone who will share space with the bird is properly educated and on board with it.