Bringing Home Baby (New GCC, and New owner)

[bugbabe623]

Ok so I have posted my introduction and I've done my research and the baby is coming home tonight!

So currently what my plan has been, is that I have a Critter Nation cage (freshly power-washed and all the plastic pieces tossed and shelves taken out). I wanted to turn the top half of it into a "day cage"and keep it in the living room area by my large fish tank so he has plenty of things to watch and be interested in. He is coming home with a rather small cage (in my opinion), its 15 by 15 by 19. I figured this would be a good sleep cage... however I do kind of worry about it being so small, should I look into getting a larger sleep cage?

I read that sleep/roost cages can help with cage aggression and also sometimes we have late nights here and I want to make sure my baby gets his beauty rest away from noise and distraction in the second bedroom. Who else has experience with sleep cages?

Also I know my baby is going to need his space for a bit while he gets adjusted to my routine (and I to his of course ), house, and potential guests. My biggest question is should I just leave him in his "sleep cage" until I gain his trust? I don't want to cause unnecessary drama/fear of me with day cage to sleep cage transitions within the first week unless it will be ultimately beneficial to get him started on the routine. Should I wait til I can get him to step up to start him on the transitions routine?

I think that is all the questions I have for right now. Just my immediate concerns for the first few days of him coming home! I would appreciate all the advice and feedback! Thank you all!

 

[jugoya]

I have Porter's travel cage as a sleep cage.

Its just a cat carrier..

I think the sleep cage idea is a good one; it means he can 'sleep' with you in a way knowing you are in the same room.

^^

 

[MissTaz]

First of all CONGRATS!!!! Conures are the best birds ever!! I know everyone says they need time to adjust. But from the minute we brought him home we treated him like he has been part of our family forever, loving him cuddling with him holding him close and telling him how much we loved him. In return we have a sweet little boy who is not scared of anything. He loves to be with us and has no cage aggression. I tried to keep him out of his cage as much as possible when we first got him. Animals feed off energy so make sure your energy is centered and calm. As for sleep cages he sleeps in his cage we do not have a sleep cage. Every bird is different and my way might not work for you. So read everyone's advice and try it all out. Good luck with your new baby I wish you a long happy life with him/her.

 

[bugbabe623]

Well! After a long 5 hr round trip to the breeders location I have my baby! He is such a good and pretty boy! I cant wait to see him blossom into a fantastic companion! He is a little iffy in cage covering but I'm sure he will get used to it soon now for a name...

 

[KeroRocks]

Congrats on your baby. I don't cover any of my birds..never have and don't need to. So if you don't want to cover the cage you don't have to.

Can I ask what you are feeding? It looks like seed in your picture. Parrots should be fed pellet food and fresh food, very little seed. You can buy pellet food at any of the big chain pet stores. Zupreem, Harrisons.. there are a lot of pellet type foods.

Fresh foods; broccoli, grapes, carrots, apple...

 

[bugbabe623]

Yes I am aware of the seed vs pellet issue. I just have a little of both pellet and seed from the breeder. I'm ordering some pellets tonight. I actually studied bird and animal nutrition in college so I can be a bit of a pet nutrition snob which is why im doing the research to find a great food for him.

We just gave him seeds as a treat since he had a big past few days traveling to my house!

 

[bugbabe623]

So today I took my baby up to a quiet room, shut the door, turned on some soft music for noise and took the top of the cage off to begin the process of trust training. I didn't push my luck, and let him kind of explore a bit and figure out what he wanted to do. I try to keep his cage close to me all the time so I can talk to him and let him get to know the house and his new momma and he loves sitting closest to me but once a hand goes near the cage he starts to get a little skittish, so baby steps . Then I decided to take some photos of him since my big camera was within reach. Got some good ones, my favorite is showing off his beautiful blue wings!






I found out his hatch date is my birthday! So now I know it was meant to be with this little bundle of joy. He is almost 5 months old, and I tried to see if he liked the Zupreem Naturals today and he dove in immediately! So glad I got him on a good diet and I didn't have to deal with the potential headache of switching from seed to pellet. I saw somewhere on here that someone's baby likes bottle caps and I happened to have one around, and you would have thought that Christmas had come early for this little guy! He was having a blast with it!

Also I am going to get him DNA tested soonish... once I know what exactly he is then I'm going to give him a real name other than pretty bird

 

[bob1]

Can't wait to here if he is a boy or girl! keep us posted. Great photos! I too loved the wing shot.

 

[bugbabe623]

Well I'm learning his routine now. At about 9pm every night he starts going crazy, running all over the cage making a racket (a cute racket), and if it gets close to 10pm he starts screaming. I started equating this to a temper tantrum that he wants to go to the quiet room to go to bed, and as soon as I put him in his quiet room and tell him "Night night" he gets all cozy and drifts off right then. He also seems to get up at 9am so I figure this is his old schedule.

He also has adopted my dog as part of his flock and flock calls the dog whenever he is gone for a bit! Good thing my dog learned about it quickly, cause whenever the call sounds out the dog comes from where ever he was and goes over to the cage to lie down and the baby stops screaming and goes about his normal activities. Its for this reason we are thinking if we confirm he is a male of calling him Hermes since my pup is Zeus.

Also we are making some progress! He has started taking some treats from my hand! I am preparing a platter of different fresh fruits and veggies to let him get some samples and then start working out his favorites, dislikes and etc.

I do have one question. He does seem to get kind of agitated here and there for no apparent reason. He goes over to the far side of the cage, rubs his beak on the perch, sometimes bobs his head, and lifts up a foot but puts it down gently. I read that this can be a threat/territorial display... but what purpose would it serve when he is looking at no one? Not even me, I mean he does it to me sometimes but its all on that side of the cage. Could this just be a young bird trying to figure out things? He used to live with his clutch mate could that have anything to do with it? Also if he is starting to get territorial this early in the game, should I think about setting up his permanent downstairs cage? I initially wanted to work with him in this cage since its portable and small and I can work on taming him better this way. But if he is getting too attached to his cage should I get him into his bigger cage?