From experienced parents -- am I kidding myself?

[wildside50]

I wrote a whole flourey ode to my best friend Sol in the form of a question about his behavior, but skew it, I'm going with the direct approach instead.

I have a 5 month old Sun Conure. He's extremely loud, very opinionated, and has a very active beak, the subject of which is usually my left ear (why always the left Sol? Why!?!)

Absolutely none of this behavior bothers me. He's only loud when he's greeting me or my family (he knows when my wife leaves for work at 6 am, it isnt time to get up, nor when my daughter gets ready for school at 8 am is it time to make noise. Not until daddy gets up at anywhere from 9 am to noon is it time to make noise. Usually only when the bathroom door squeeks signifying shower time!)

As soon as he's out of his cage and firmly pressed against my chest to go about the usual routine, he's the perfect gentleman.

All in all I'd describe his general behavior as atypical of his species. He bites when it's appropriate, screams when it makes sense.

So my question is, am I deluding myself in thinking Sol is just an awesome bird who behaves in a manner that fits our family and at some point the worm will turn and all of the sun conure horror stories will come to fruition?

 

[itchyfeet]

LOVE this post!
I felt much the same with my IRN.

I reckon you just chose well, and are in tune with your bird.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Sounds all good, don't knock it. He seems a happy bird.

My friends Sun only made lots of noise when it felt it needed to and was very affectionate to the chosen ones. Which didn't include her husband unfortunately.

 

[Leaf]

I kind of have this fear myself, lol. My own bird, Auri, bit me a bunch on the first day, but I seemed to put a quick stop to that by impressing her with piano. She went from biting fingers, to being more shy and respectful around them, and now on this fourth day she's revealed herself to be a total cuddle bug. I went in to hand her a treat while she was chilling on her platform hammock and she snuggled herself right into the palm of my hand. Then later she snuggled aggressively enough that as I pulled my hand away she plopped and snuggled on my palm and I was able to bring her out of the cage and pet her for nearly ten minutes before *I* got tired of it and decided to place her back inside.

I'm seriously afraid she'll go into terrible twos mode soon, or maybe even a few months or a year from now she'll hit the rebellious teen stage and that's when I'll find myself typing out the same conure horror stories I see around the web. It's just strange that I went in expecting the worst and here I am with a bird that has so far been easy to tame and readily communicates affection.

 

[wrench13]

Know how you feel. Salty, not a conure but a small species of amazon, is almost a perfect parrot. Always steps up, handle able by the whole family,doesn't fling food, never screams, talks well for a 1 year old, plays by himself, has learned 18 tricks so far and does them with gusto, and while he nips he gives ample warning, loves his scratches, likes to wrestle but never goes into amazon overload, eats everything, likes meeting new people, waits quietly til he is uncovered in the morning and even then is totally quiet, has his loud time in the afternoons, and in general is a real gentleman. Just ask galeriagila,Gail, whose has Skype us for his b day party. What's wrong? He he , I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. If it does, well we will love him anyway. But right now, he is the perfect parrot.

 

[Terry57]

I also love this post! Our BHP, Talli, is 4 1/2 now, and we have had him for 3 years. He is as close to perfect as a bird can get

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

I wouldn't worry too much. I recently took in a sun conure, he's about 8 years old. He really isn't that loud. He will make some noise, but not like the sun horror stories you hear. He is slightly cage aggressive, but he is getting much better with it. His previous home thought he was aggressive and untame so he wasn't handled. At all. I think he just got used to being a brat because he got away with it. He will step up for anyone. Overall, he is a great bird.

 

[SirEdwin89]

Sometimes we get lucky, and our fids are just really in tune with us. I'm not sure when exactly suns usually hit puberty, but that's the most likely time to see much of a change "just because". That however doesn't mean he *will* change at all, puberty hits every bird in its own way.

 

[Anansi]

It's possible puberty might bring a few changes personality-wise, but I can tell you from experience (Maya is a member of the much-maligned female eclectus group) that the stereotype does not always reflect the reality. The hell-on-earth stories tend to be the ones most often told and repeated until they become legends. A story about a bird that screams like a banshee or routinely attempts to eat your face probably gets more play than one about a bird that is well-behaved, quiet, and eats all of his veggies.

And I really do think there is something to be said for birds who are just in sync with their human flock.

 

[snowflake311]

You get what you put into an animal same goes for children. The more training, love, time spend, playing, interacting, learning, and the more time you take to understand the pet. The more you get out of them.

The people that don't do much with a pet are the ones that have the problem animal. People that just expect the animal to be a good pet but do not put in the time are sadly mistaken.

Your bird sounds great and just know it might be the fact that you care so much. Again these are birds and well they live a long time and can go threw changes over the corse of a life.

 

[LaurenB]

In my experience...

Sun conures are just the bomb. Mine is the same way. A perfect angel! (Knock on wood). Like I've said in another post - without him showing me what a truly wonderful creature conures can be, I may have given up on my Green Cheek Monster!

 

[GaleriaGila]

LOVE your attitude. Yeah, you're delusional, in a delightful way. I relate!

My happiness with my alien has come from my having giving up on a lot of my desires/expectations. After years of battle, I surrendered. I don't do stuff that gets me bitten. I don't scratch his head much, ever... tail is okay, feet are good. I swallow my disappointment at having a pet that bites me and screams at me. Hey, wherever the dust settles... it's okay. It's s PARROT!

*saluting you*