CYCK22
New member
Hello All
My name is Cory. My wife and I have two adorable little birds, Pico and Monty.
Pico (de gallo) is a 1-1/2 year old male parrotlet. He came from a breeder and though he wasn’t hand tame when we got him (mother raised..?) he has come a long way and after a year, has really begun to warm up to my wife and I. He now steps right up out of his cage (he used to only step up once outside of his cage and hands entering his cage sent him flying in every direction) and he even take treats from our hand. He seems to be better at dicing fruit then actually eating it though! Lol. He is a good bird and is living in a nice 18x18x24 “E-Z care bowfront with playtop”.
Monty (Monterey Jack from Rescue Rangers – yea, Im an 80’s kid..) is a 2 year old male Green Cheek Conure. We got him from the same breeder as the parrotlet but Monty came to us a year after Pico. We brought Monty to our home only a few weeks ago so by all rights he is still adjusting. I should also mention that though we got him from the same breeder he was bred by somebody else. Monty already knew the step up command and does not fear hands. He still isn’t 100% though; he loves to be on my shoulder and usually refuses to step up once he makes it there! Over the first few days I didn’t know how to get him off without getting nipped so I would have to take my shirt off then hold my shirt in his cage for him to climb off hahaha, it was funny, a little ridiculous, but funny none the less. As a side note my new technique is to slowly back up against a wall which prompts him to move to the front of my shoulders or chest. After taking away his hiding spot behind my neck I’m able to get him to step up no problem! Now to work on the nipping… While he’s on my should I often try to go about my business. After all I want him to be out of his cage as often as possible so if I have things to do around the house I try to take him with me. Well, If I forget he’s on my shoulder for more than a few minutes he tends to remind me with a little nip on the neck or ear. I’ve been trying to let him know what hurts me by yipping or squeaking real loud (very manly…) when it happens. Since I started doing that I’ve noticed ( I think) that his nips have become “softer”, but frequency has remained the same. It’s a work in progress.. But I’m digressing here - the point is that he’s a great bird. My wife and I were both surprised and happy at how tame he was when we got him. He is in a prevue flight cage (35x20x40” or something close to that..)
Past bird experience – My intro into birds, like so many, was a parakeet. I got the parakeet when I was in 2nd grade from a breeder down the street that I used to pet sit for. The nice thing about watching somebody else’s pets is that they come back, lol. Needless to say 2nd grade Cory wasn’t ready for the responsibility of a bird. Too young to take pride in my work, cage cleaning felt like more of a punishment than an improvement. So, still in love with birds (bald eagles in particular I might add) I swore off owning them forever. Fast forward to 2010. 2nd grade Cory is now married Cory. My wife fell in love with and wanted a sun conure from Petco. I fell in love with and wanted to keep my $600!!!!! (…We didn’t have $600 anyways and I knew they would be cheaper from a breeder, but thats besides the point) Drawing on my childhood experience with birds I fought this one for a while. Finally, realizing that I was losing the battle I had to do the married thing and make a play for a compromise. Parakett. No disrespect to the birds or the owners, but for several reasons I consider a parakeet to be the best introduction into bird keeping. So we got a parakeet and learned a few things really quick. (1) I was correct in assuming that I would get stuck cage cleaning even though my wife wanted the bird! lol, I love her anyways! and (2) I didn’t mind cage cleaning as much as I did 20 years ago. The parakeet was very well cared for, I can assure you, but it left us wanting more. I found a great home for the parakeet - a local woman who’s parakeet had just passed away. I gave her a great deal on the cage, food, and bird, but the important thing was that I found him a nice home! Then I began conure research.. While scouring the internet I came across parrotlets. A full blown parrot but in a parakeet sized body and with parakeet sized poop… perfect!!!! After having the parrotlet for a year we started to look at conures again. I was able to convince the wife to go with a gcc instead of a sunny for the obvious benefits of noise, size, and “droppings” size (that’s a recurring theme with me lol, cleaning poop isn’t my favorite thing but its part of the package and I get over it).
Other than that, my wife and I have two dogs, two geckos, and I have three dart frogs. We joke a lot about all the creatures in our “zoo”. Anyways, I look forward to being a part of the community here at the Parrot Forums. There is a lot of great information here and I’ll do the best I can to give back when I’m able!
Cheers!
c -
My name is Cory. My wife and I have two adorable little birds, Pico and Monty.
Pico (de gallo) is a 1-1/2 year old male parrotlet. He came from a breeder and though he wasn’t hand tame when we got him (mother raised..?) he has come a long way and after a year, has really begun to warm up to my wife and I. He now steps right up out of his cage (he used to only step up once outside of his cage and hands entering his cage sent him flying in every direction) and he even take treats from our hand. He seems to be better at dicing fruit then actually eating it though! Lol. He is a good bird and is living in a nice 18x18x24 “E-Z care bowfront with playtop”.
Monty (Monterey Jack from Rescue Rangers – yea, Im an 80’s kid..) is a 2 year old male Green Cheek Conure. We got him from the same breeder as the parrotlet but Monty came to us a year after Pico. We brought Monty to our home only a few weeks ago so by all rights he is still adjusting. I should also mention that though we got him from the same breeder he was bred by somebody else. Monty already knew the step up command and does not fear hands. He still isn’t 100% though; he loves to be on my shoulder and usually refuses to step up once he makes it there! Over the first few days I didn’t know how to get him off without getting nipped so I would have to take my shirt off then hold my shirt in his cage for him to climb off hahaha, it was funny, a little ridiculous, but funny none the less. As a side note my new technique is to slowly back up against a wall which prompts him to move to the front of my shoulders or chest. After taking away his hiding spot behind my neck I’m able to get him to step up no problem! Now to work on the nipping… While he’s on my should I often try to go about my business. After all I want him to be out of his cage as often as possible so if I have things to do around the house I try to take him with me. Well, If I forget he’s on my shoulder for more than a few minutes he tends to remind me with a little nip on the neck or ear. I’ve been trying to let him know what hurts me by yipping or squeaking real loud (very manly…) when it happens. Since I started doing that I’ve noticed ( I think) that his nips have become “softer”, but frequency has remained the same. It’s a work in progress.. But I’m digressing here - the point is that he’s a great bird. My wife and I were both surprised and happy at how tame he was when we got him. He is in a prevue flight cage (35x20x40” or something close to that..)
Past bird experience – My intro into birds, like so many, was a parakeet. I got the parakeet when I was in 2nd grade from a breeder down the street that I used to pet sit for. The nice thing about watching somebody else’s pets is that they come back, lol. Needless to say 2nd grade Cory wasn’t ready for the responsibility of a bird. Too young to take pride in my work, cage cleaning felt like more of a punishment than an improvement. So, still in love with birds (bald eagles in particular I might add) I swore off owning them forever. Fast forward to 2010. 2nd grade Cory is now married Cory. My wife fell in love with and wanted a sun conure from Petco. I fell in love with and wanted to keep my $600!!!!! (…We didn’t have $600 anyways and I knew they would be cheaper from a breeder, but thats besides the point) Drawing on my childhood experience with birds I fought this one for a while. Finally, realizing that I was losing the battle I had to do the married thing and make a play for a compromise. Parakett. No disrespect to the birds or the owners, but for several reasons I consider a parakeet to be the best introduction into bird keeping. So we got a parakeet and learned a few things really quick. (1) I was correct in assuming that I would get stuck cage cleaning even though my wife wanted the bird! lol, I love her anyways! and (2) I didn’t mind cage cleaning as much as I did 20 years ago. The parakeet was very well cared for, I can assure you, but it left us wanting more. I found a great home for the parakeet - a local woman who’s parakeet had just passed away. I gave her a great deal on the cage, food, and bird, but the important thing was that I found him a nice home! Then I began conure research.. While scouring the internet I came across parrotlets. A full blown parrot but in a parakeet sized body and with parakeet sized poop… perfect!!!! After having the parrotlet for a year we started to look at conures again. I was able to convince the wife to go with a gcc instead of a sunny for the obvious benefits of noise, size, and “droppings” size (that’s a recurring theme with me lol, cleaning poop isn’t my favorite thing but its part of the package and I get over it).
Other than that, my wife and I have two dogs, two geckos, and I have three dart frogs. We joke a lot about all the creatures in our “zoo”. Anyways, I look forward to being a part of the community here at the Parrot Forums. There is a lot of great information here and I’ll do the best I can to give back when I’m able!
Cheers!
c -
