Conures: a good pet?

[kcowmoo]

Hey,
I saw some conures for adoption near me. Can you tell me a little more about care, loudness, messiness, and how big conures are? They look really interesting

Thanks,
Kcow

 

[Chewy]

conures are a little bigger thena cockatiel..........not much but other people would be able to tell you more bout the messiness and loudness and care.

 

[Redballoon]

I dont know anything about conures.
I have heard they are banned in some states in America.
I am not sure why.
I think a conure may need a bigger cage than a budgie.

 

[TexDot33]

If you are concerned about noise and messiness ... then look somewhere else because a conure isn't for you! Conures are amazing birds, wonderful personalities and learn tricks very quickly.

Start off with the budgie, you (and your family) will be much happier.

 

[Redballoon]

But Tex,...They are free!

 

[Auggie's Dad]

I'm owned by a dusky conure... Conure's are great, but from reading your other posts a budgie or cockateil may be a better choice. Conures can be both very messy and loud. My Auggie can trash a home in no time, its hard to keep up cleaning after him.

There are MANY species of conures, some of them are quite diverse in size, volume, and temperment. What kind of conures are they?

Green Cheek conures for example are quite small and MAY be quieter than some others; though Tex can give first hand info on GCCs.

 

[TexDot33]

Green Cheek conures for example are quite small and MAY be quieter than some others; though Tex can give first hand info on GCCs.

Yes, GCCs are great small birds, They have all the attitude and playfulness of the larger macaws in a package the size of a small cockatiel. The one downfall of a GCC is that they tend to be very nippy - no matter how much you handle them. I'm not going to lie, if Mac bites he gets just the tip/side of my finger and has drawn blood before. It's not pleasant. It's so funny, he doesn't bite HARD, just in the right place to make it annoying. :12:

 

[kim]

Conures do make awesome pets, as long as you're able to tend to their needs.

Their noise level depends on the species, GCC being the quietest, loudest being the Dusky, Patagonian, sun conures, there's a couple of others too.

The GCC is the the second most popular because of it's playfulness, quietness & gentleness compared to the others. Sun Conures are the most popular because of their beautiful colours. Unfortunately they're one of the most re homed because of their noise level & people misunderstanding of them. Rather than the scream itself, it's the pitch of the scream that's deafening.

ALL conures are velcro birds. They will do anything to live on your shoulder 24/7. They will do anything for you & your attention. They're all very playful, very demanding on human interaction & all are chewers, they NEED loads of chew things or you'll end up with no clothes left!!

99% of the time conures only screams if encouraged by another bird, see a stranger in the yard, house or walk past or if they're lonely. You can't always get a loud conure to be 100% quiet but it's never impossible to keep them down to dull roar. Just keep them happy & occupied.

I have an adopted sun conure. She came to me a screamer & is now the quietest bird in the house 99% of the time. It didn't take much at all. All she needed was attention.

 

[TexDot33]

... velcro birds ...

Who are you, and why are you using my term? :33:

I have to agree with everything that Kim is saying here ... but I will add one more thing, the larger of the conures (Paddys, QOBs, Suns.) tend to be feather pickers/pluckers/destroyers when they get bored. Really focus on keeping them active and healthy. There is nothing that saddens me more than to see a beautiful bird with beautiful feathers, like the above mentioned with, feather issues and the owner not trying to do something about it.


:50:

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Better call them "hook an loop connector" birds or you'll both be paying royalty fees to the trademark owner

 

[TexDot33]

Velcro is like Tissue isn't it? It's a product and not a specific type of product, hence I can say "tissue" and not pay a royalty but once I say KLEENEX I have to open my wallet.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Nope Velcro is the brand. A quick wikipedia search confirmed it. I'd supply the link except I'm on my cell phone, though it does everything else I don't think I can copy + paste.

 

[TexDot33]

$*!T ... wait, better make sure the waste-water treatment plant doesn't have that marketed otherwise I will be paying out a lot of money!

 

[kim]

Here's the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velcro

 

[birdcrazy]

my jenday conure can scream loud enough to be heard outside my house I would not under any circumstance reccomend a jenday to anyone unless you are a die hard bird lover. Don't get me wrong I love Sidney but there are times I just want to pull my hair out. Right now we are having a star wars marathon and he hasn't shut up since vader blew up alderan.........

with that being said a green cheek will be my next bird after my teil passes

 

[kim]

I've found with just a little bit of noise, sometimes my sun can scream as well. Certain noises & noise levels can set them off pretty easy. Same goes for sudden movements from people. So if your playing a game, watching TV that's loud enough or has enough different sound effects, then yeah, your jenday will wanna join in. Conures just wanna join in & don't like missing out. For things like that, (before my sun gets the chance to scream) I take her to the lounge with me for about 20 mins then put her back with a treat & she's happy.

Most conures can be heard from outside. My sun has learnt what my car sounds like & I can hear her as I get around the corner, before I pull in the driveway. She's also learnt the microwave means a yummy warmed meal is coming so she started to scream every time she heard the d*mn thing on!

My point is they learn what things mean really fast, they NEED (not want) to join in the fun, they're NEVER afraid to express themselves in any way. Even if you're just sitting there watching star wars marathons, they learn bad habits from us even if we have no intentions of teaching them & didn't realize we'd done it. They're way to smart for their own good sometimes. They know exactly what makes us tick...& gets them some kind of attention, even if it does make our blood boil.

I hear where your coming from wanting to pull your hair out. I can feel the same with my sun, even though she is a very quiet bird now. She can still let loose at the worst times. But 'feeding' these screams does make them much worse. As ear piercing as they are, feeding them just once is enough for them to dig their heals in & keep trying for your attention or for something else. Even a look at them will be enough to convince them to keep screaming.

I can tell you though, I don't know which is worse sometimes, my sun or my ekkie. My ekkie has picked up the black cockatoo screams from outside so he can belt out a he** of a scream when he wants to! It has almost the same high pitch as a sun conure

 

[birdcrazy]

the worst scream i ever heard was from a nanday conure AHHHHH

 

[TexDot33]

My sun has learnt what my car sounds like & I can hear her as I get around the corner, before I pull in the driveway. She's also learnt the microwave means a yummy warmed meal is coming so she started to scream every time she heard the d*mn thing on!

And I always thought Hamlet mimicking the microwave *beep* was annoying, right pitch, right tone ... I can't tell the difference between her and the microwave. I will take that over screams of excitement anytime.

 

[kim]

My cockatiel used to mimic the phone perfectly. He'd forever have us running to the phone & we had to change the ring on it. That stopped him.

My eclectus will mimic my cats meow & has us opening the continually & looking for the a cat that isn't there! I'm sure he stirs us up when he does it LOL

I think I would prefer Squash to beep like the microwave than scream when it's on.

 

[birdcrazy]

ok so sidney screams when i handle anything electronic my lap top power tools anything - what's up with that?