Bringing a one-year-old home soon! Suggestions?

[Gillis]

Hello! I have been browsing the forum and finding lots of useful information! I'm very excited to be receiving my very first ever bird friend on Tuesday. I work professionally with wild birds (seabirds) but have never owned a parrot and am looking forward to creating a bond with my conure.

"Peanut" is a DNAd male regular GCC who is a little over one year old. Most people seem to adopt babies, but when I fell in love with Peanut I got him instead. What can I expect from a conure who has a little bit of life under his belt already? Is he going to be more difficult to train/bond with than a baby? Maybe a little less nervous since this will be his third (and hopefully final) household? I'm told he is extremely social and may already be potty trained.

My biggest concern before he arrives is where to put his cage. I've gone back and forth about this a lot - the problem is that I have four young cats who will probably be very interested in my new feathered friend. Especially since Peanut is supposed to be very social I don't want to place his cage in a room away from where I spend my time, and yet, that room is also the only guaranteed safe place from the cats. I wondered about the possibility of having him around (in or out of the cage) only when he can be supervised, then moving him/cage to the isolated room when he can't be supervised? I don't know if that might cause behavioral problems. If anyone has ANY advice at all on introducing a conure to a household with cats, I would love to hear it. I don't plan on my cats and birds becoming friends, but I would like for them to live peacefully with one another.

I've also heard that conures in general love toys and things that they can shred. I have his cage all set up for him with some toys etc but I wondered if anyone has any good suggestions for home-made toys, especially the shreddable kind?

Thanks!

 

[SilverSage]

First, the binding and training shouldn't be more difficult at a year old, just be aware he is likely smack dab in the middle of hitting sexual maturity. Fun times. Not. Just do research, be patient, and don't get discouraged.

As for the cage, having two is a good idea anyway, especially if you are going to be up late watching tv, or have guests over late, etc. I think it is fine to leave his cage in a room with cats, BUT you must make sure there is NO WAY ON EARTH that they can knock it over or get their paws into it. Get your cats a bunch of their favorite things to distract them in a good way, and use loud noises, tape, spray bottles, or whatever works with your cats, to teach them to leave the cage area alone. Teach them, but never trust them. Cats are not dogs, they don't operate on obedience or anything like that, and they are not to be trusted, in my opinion. My cat agrees with me!

 

[Gillis]

I am definitely looking into getting two cages, but for now just have the one. I would never trust my cats - they are little balls of devious energy and I'm sure would do everything in their power to misbehave when my back is turned. The bars on the cage do have narrow spacing and I've provided a few places for the conure to hide so i'm *fairly* confident that if something were to happen the bird would be ok. I'll definitely have my spray bottle at the ready!

 

[ManuIki]

With four highly efficient, instinctive bird killers in the home, how will you manage Peanut's daily time out of the cage for socializing, training, play, cuddling while you read/watch TV, and so forth? Will the kitties mind being pushed outside for a couple of hours a day, or do you have other plans?

I love cats but haven't had one since getting Pepe a couple of weeks ago (my last cat died several years ago). I'm curious as to how people manage having kitties around their birds. Good luck with everything!

Edited to add: I just realized this sounds a little judgmental, but I don't mean it that way. I'm honestly curious about how to keep birds with other animals, particularly cats because I hope to have another one someday! I appreciate your and others' input and experience.

 

[MonicaMc]

"Peanut" is a DNAd male regular GCC who is a little over one year old. Most people seem to adopt babies, but when I fell in love with Peanut I got him instead. What can I expect from a conure who has a little bit of life under his belt already? Is he going to be more difficult to train/bond with than a baby? Maybe a little less nervous since this will be his third (and hopefully final) household?

My first conure was Noel, a cherry headed conure. I was told he was around 9 years old, but for all I knew, he could have been older than myself! (I was rather young at the time! Was in middle school...) Noel was not the kind of bird to allow a young child to have and care for, but somehow we survived. He was previously attacked by a ferret, partially blind in one eye due to the attack, had feathers missing on the back of his head and stomach, mutilated, couldn't fly, had health issues and ended up going blind due to cataracts. I had him for 8 years before he passed on, and in that time, he was never what most people think of as a conure. He wasn't cuddly, he wasn't "sweet", he didn't enjoy spending time with me (for more than a few moments, at best), didn't talk... still, Noel was a very special bird to me.

Charlie, my second conure, I got 3 years before Noel's passing. He is a mitred conure, came to me at the age of 12 years old and he's 21 now. Except for coloration, he's been the complete opposite of Noel! From likes to dislikes, health, personality, loudness, friendliness, attention, cuddles, etc! Although not a fan of strangers, he's everything I thought conures should be. If it was up to him, he'd be living either on my arms or in a carrier! Although Charlie wanted nothing to do with me in his foster home, as soon as he was home with me, he clung to me.

Jayde, my third conure, is a 5 year old red throated conure. She's been with me for a little over 2 years now, and came to me 3 years after Noel's passing. (she was born the year Noel passed on) Jayde is a little spit-fire! She's *very* social, particularly with older women who just gush all over her, but she also tends to bite anyone she doesn't know. Doesn't appear to be a fan of men, however... Her foster mom was barely able to interact with her in the 6 months that Jayde was with her, and I can easily see why! Jayde desperately wanted attention, but was afraid of it at the same time. I think it took two or three weeks of her being with me before she got brave enough to climb onto me, and ever since then, she's become a cling-on! Charlie is my arm bird and Jayde is my shoulder bird! Although they don't get along, both enjoy preening my face at the same time (with small amounts of qualms between the two...), which makes watching TV rather difficult!


Finn may be my fourth conure. He's supposedly around a year old, and truth be honest, I'm not entirely sure what he is! I have a pretty good guess (one of two species, and I'm leaning more heavily towards one over the other), but I wont know for sure unless I can track down his breeder *OR* he feathers out more (which could take around 6 years to do! But should know by 2-3 years of age) In short, he's a greener version of Jayde. Judging by his behavior and mannerisms, I have no doubt that he's a young conure, and considering all my other conures have been adults (the majority of my birds are second hand, plus, rehomes), his young behavior is rather refreshing! He's friendly and will step up to anyone, doesn't really bite, enjoys trying new foods and can be quite demanding if his food dish is empty! His only "problem" that I can see is that he's loud, but he's a conure! What do you expect??? LOL

Although Jayde and Charlie are more bonded to me than Finn is (at least at this moment), Finn is more easy going and accepting of things. Prior to Finn, the youngest conure I ever had was Jayde, and at 3 years old, they're not exactly babies anymore! But adults!


Noel had at least two homes prior to myself, and the only reason she was rehomed in the first place is because her first home couldn't afford the care that was required after their ferret had attacked Noel. They told the vet to put him down, but he couldn't do it, so he went to a friend of one of the vet techs.

Charlie lived with a man for the first 10 years of his life, then he was in a pet store for about a year, then in a foster home for a year before coming to me. He was offered to me because his foster mom thought he was a cherry head and I had a cherry head. It didn't help any that Charlie bossed around her 3 amazon parrots then tried to bully the blind ruby macaw and got the short end of the stick. Although he was one of the smaller parrots in the home, he was the loudest! In my home, he is by far the largest bird!

Jayde had a home for at least a year or two of her life before she went back to her breeders, then in foster care for 6 months before making her way to me.

Finn was sold on Craigslist twice, and I got him from the niece of the guy who last purchased him off of Craigslist... so he's been in at least 3 homes and his care has changed by at least 4 people before coming to me... and he's supposedly about a year old.



It's sad to think that my youngest conure has had more homes than my older conures have had...

My biggest concern before he arrives is where to put his cage. I've gone back and forth about this a lot - the problem is that I have four young cats who will probably be very interested in my new feathered friend. Especially since Peanut is supposed to be very social I don't want to place his cage in a room away from where I spend my time, and yet, that room is also the only guaranteed safe place from the cats. I wondered about the possibility of having him around (in or out of the cage) only when he can be supervised, then moving him/cage to the isolated room when he can't be supervised? I don't know if that might cause behavioral problems.

Due to lack of space in my home, as well as having two cats and a dog (to a lesser or greater degree, I "trust" the dog and one of the cats around the birds, but the other cat is a hunter without a doubt!), I have a "bird room" for my birds. This keeps them safe.

I go into the room to interact with my birds in there, and I will bring out a select few (please note, not all of my birds are tame and friendly! I have an ex-breeder and a young wild caught parrot! although all my guys are on the small side; 80 to 250+ grams). I have occasionally locked up the cats when I didn't feel comfortable keeping an eye on them, but generally, they leave me alone when I have birds with me. The closest interaction that Charlie has had with the hunter cat, he was with me in my room when he decided to take off flying into the living room (an unusual behavior for him) and land on the back of the couch. The hunter cat jumped up on the back of the couch and went to chase him down, but Charlie turned around and chased him right back off the couch! This same cat bullies my poor 80 lb dog who's half akita, and quite possibly half pit! (dog is a wuss... cats are at least a year older than he is, so he learned early on as a pup not to mess with them!)


In other words, I have birds that chase the cats, a cat(s) who chases the dog, then the dog gives me a pitiful look as if I'm supposed to help him in some way... I do try and stop the cat from bullying him, but he wont stand up for himself.


If your cats show too much interest in your bird, keep them separated! And hey, it may be a good idea to put him in the room safe away from the cats so he can settle in in a quiet area! Putting him in a busier part of the home might be too overwhelming at first!

I've also heard that conures in general love toys and things that they can shred. I have his cage all set up for him with some toys etc but I wondered if anyone has any good suggestions for home-made toys, especially the shreddable kind?

There's a lot of great DIY foraging toys out there! Anything from phone books to adding machine tape, toilet paper, popsicle sticks or craft sticks, etc! Here's a couple of sites to start with!

Parrot Enrichment
Foraging for Parrots

 

[Gillis]

With four highly efficient, instinctive bird killers in the home, how will you manage Peanut's daily time out of the cage for socializing, training, play, cuddling while you read/watch TV, and so forth? Will the kitties mind being pushed outside for a couple of hours a day, or do you have other plans?

I love cats but haven't had one since getting Pepe a couple of weeks ago (my last cat died several years ago). I'm curious as to how people manage having kitties around their birds. Good luck with everything!

Edited to add: I just realized this sounds a little judgmental, but I don't mean it that way. I'm honestly curious about how to keep birds with other animals, particularly cats because I hope to have another one someday! I appreciate your and others' input and experience.

That's a great question and definitely something I was concerned about when I first brought Peanut home. Now that I've had him here for about three weeks I feel like I can give you some pointers from what we've been doing.

So I live here alone with my four cats and two birds that definitely adds a different dynamic because I need to be extra careful. It took a lot of waiting and watching at first. I had the birds in their cages and I was in the same room. Cats would periodically stroll through the room and then become fixated on the birds in their cages. I used a squirt bottle and told them no when they began to get "too" interested. I basically had to teach them that they could watch but that the birds are MY toys, not theirs. Because that's how they see them, as toys.

Then I progressed with them to teaching them that when I had the birds out they were still mine, not theirs. At first when the birds were out I kept them far away from the cats. No cats on laps, no cats within a good 5-ft radius of birds. Then slowly I began holding the birds in a controlled manner closer to the cats when the cats were lounging and relaxed. I never went far enough to be within striking distance and I never will except for one cat.

It really depends on their personalities. Three of my cats I can never trust, one of them I can. I had that one on my lap while the bird was on my shoulder and the cat wasn't in the least interested. But that's as far as they will ever get to one another.

The birds are almost always within reach when I have them out. I never leave them unattended in any part of the house where the cats have access to them. That's just going to have to be how we do things for now.

 

[Gillis]

Monica, what fun to hear about all your birds! I'm sad to know that your youngest has had so many homes. This is similar to Peanut. Peanut was bred, sent to a pet store, purchased, sold to a breeder, then sold to me, and he is just over one year. That's a lot for him. Thankfully he has been really social (a little TOO social) and has been very friendly and loving to everyone he's met so far. He's even gone with me to a few stores and loved it. He is a really special guy. But he does hate my African Grey!


Thanks for the links about the parrot enrichment and toys! They look really helpful and I can't wait to dive into them. So far, no luck getting Peanut to play with any toys, he only attacks tissue out of anger for some reason, but I am working with him and hopefully in time he will learn to play with toys in his cage instead of looking miserable and waiting for me to get him out!

 

[MonicaMc]

So far, no luck getting Peanut to play with any toys, he only attacks tissue out of anger for some reason, but I am working with him and hopefully in time he will learn to play with toys in his cage instead of looking miserable and waiting for me to get him out!

So what about stuffing tissue in his toys???


Maybe he'll like some balsa wood or yucca??? You can easily stuff seeds into these two soft woods! Or getting a phone book and bolting it, through the spine of the book, to the cage?

 

[Kyoto]

Personally, I keep my Gcc in her own room away from our cats because i know when we aren't home they would terrorize her. And if we let her out outside of her room, the cats get locked in the basement. I just wouldn't take any kind of risks.

 

[Gillis]

So far, no luck getting Peanut to play with any toys, he only attacks tissue out of anger for some reason, but I am working with him and hopefully in time he will learn to play with toys in his cage instead of looking miserable and waiting for me to get him out!

So what about stuffing tissue in his toys???

Maybe he'll like some balsa wood or yucca??? You can easily stuff seeds into these two soft woods! Or getting a phone book and bolting it, through the spine of the book, to the cage?

I've tried! He his terrified of tissue, the only thing besides his reflection he seems to be afraid of. I stuffed some millets and a soft wood kabob in a paper towel roll but so far in the last few days he hasn't even explored it and touched the millet, which is his favorite. He literally just sits on his perch and waits. I'm going to bring it out and see if he will touch it when we "play" together outside the cage.