What a cute baby!!!!
You don't have to follow it to a T on the 15min deal. It can be longer then that. I actually handle them a lot longer and more times during the beginning to get them used to the idea.
Yeah, actually, I don't know where this 15 minute rule even comes from.
My rule of thumb with new birds who demonstrate that they actually want to be handled, are ready to be handled. Period!
They acclimate better when they bond to you, i.e. get handled more, not less. So handling them less means they acclimate less quickly... so I'm not sure about that advice. "Settling in period" always went against my gut instinct. I always erred on the side of interaction. You can always leave them alone if they are acting like they just don't like it.
A bird in a new place will be apprehensive. So the sooner he is shown "the rules, and the routine" the sooner he gets in the swing of things. The more he is allowed to fester, the more he interacts on his own terms, and not on the basis of how things are going to be here. (i.e. they are more prone to "argue" about things.) To me, the first few days in a new place, are the EASIEST time to change behaviors. New place = fresh start. I don't know how things were before bird, BUT THIS IS HOW THEY ARE DONE HERE! For the most part, I've found they accept it if done in a patient, and gentle but firm manner...
What you don't want to do is handle them all the time, so they expect to be handled all the time.
What you also want to do is to structure the interaction with them, and set up a routine for them, so that they "get a flow" for the pattern of the day. Once that routine is set, the bird will just automatically adjust to it.
This is when we eat. This is our set play time. This is when we just sit and watch TV, or interact. This is the time you have to entertain yourself and play on your own. And this is our set training time, where I teach you all sorts of new and wonderful things... (that's the one I keep down to 15 minutes or so a day. After that they start losing interest.)
As a rule of thumb, set things up the way you want it to be in the future. Don't hold the bird a lot now, and then lose interest later on... that's how screamers are created!!!
Conures are shrunken macaws, which means they are one of the most attention oriented creatures on the face of this planet...
If they don't get the good kind of attention, they will do something to create the bad kind of attention... because any attention is better than no attention!
AND BEWARE OF CONURE SPOILED BIRD SYNDROME!!!
IT CAN BE ALMOST AS BAD AS A TOO WITH SPOILED BIRD SYNDROME...
That is something that can be hard to "un-do" once it starts. So don't start!
