Greenhouseparrots
Well-known member
- Nov 27, 2022
- 337
- 466
- Parrots
-
Crimson bellied conure- Tequila
Greencheek conure- Sierra
Pearled cockatiel- Malibu
Cockatiel- Volkan
Yellow budgies- Pina Colada and Houdini
Blue budgie- Lightning
White and blue budgie- Ciroc
I've posted about my crimson bellied conure, Tequila, a few times before as I've had so many problems with her for the three years I've had her, but not with my other birds. I tried everything I came across in the hopes that it would help her behaviour problems, but nothing helped at all. She screamed all day long, in or out of the cage, inside or out in the aviary. She wouldn't play with toys, would only interact with me if I had treats and would either fly away or try to attack me at all other times (or scream at me). She was the same whether she was getting 8, 12 even 14 hours of sleep, I tried covered and uncovered, in a dark room with nothing to disturb her as well. Even when she had 10 hours out of the cage she would still scream all day. Even when she had to forage for her food she would scream, and of course she never played with her toys (and I got her new ones and rotated them a lot) so they would remain untouched and she'd only interact with foraging toys to get the food but would be very unhappy about it. I gave her training sessions each day but she still wasn't happy. I tried different types of pellets, varying amounts of seeds, loads of fresh chop, but none of it worked.
Finally I put her on a diet that I thought would work. 90% pellets with 10% chop, no seeds, no fruits, basically what they recommend on the pellet instructions. I felt a bit mean doing it because she loves fruit, and she loves seeds. Well she got 10x worse on that diet. Then I realised that apart from the first few weeks I had her, she has always had pellets in her diet daily. So I decided to cut them out of her diet and see what happened since nothing I had tried had ever worked.
It's now a month later and it's like I've swapped her out for a new bird. She's amazing now. She doesn't scream all day anymore and she's actually been playing with her toys which she would never previously do. She sits near me and makes happy sounds which she has never done before. She jumped onto my head the other day which some of my other birds do but she's never done before even with treats. I can't tell you the relief I have now that I can just hang out with the birds and not have her screeching the entire time. I can come home from work and relax now instead of stressing about what I'm doing wrong with her and worrying about why she's so unhappy. I've been told a lot that conures scream and maybe that's just her and she is happy but I'm so glad I didn't listen and I figured out what was making her so unhappy all the time.
She still gets pellets twice a week and she seems okay with that amount but I'm never giving them to her everyday like I was before. I don't know what it was that was affecting her so badly. She was on harrisons which is organic, and then also pretty bird. She's been on one and not the other and still had the same issues so it's not about colours or sugars or any of that. I suspect it might be the soy as that's the only thing they both have in common.
I'm amazed at how different she is. I really thought I was going to have to rehome her because I couldn't handle her, but now she's so easy to care for and I'm enjoying owning her again. I think I've bonded with her more in the last month than in the previous three years of having her. Every evening she comes and sits next to me and watches and sings to me in the cage and I'm so happy that she's finally a happy bird ❤️
Finally I put her on a diet that I thought would work. 90% pellets with 10% chop, no seeds, no fruits, basically what they recommend on the pellet instructions. I felt a bit mean doing it because she loves fruit, and she loves seeds. Well she got 10x worse on that diet. Then I realised that apart from the first few weeks I had her, she has always had pellets in her diet daily. So I decided to cut them out of her diet and see what happened since nothing I had tried had ever worked.
It's now a month later and it's like I've swapped her out for a new bird. She's amazing now. She doesn't scream all day anymore and she's actually been playing with her toys which she would never previously do. She sits near me and makes happy sounds which she has never done before. She jumped onto my head the other day which some of my other birds do but she's never done before even with treats. I can't tell you the relief I have now that I can just hang out with the birds and not have her screeching the entire time. I can come home from work and relax now instead of stressing about what I'm doing wrong with her and worrying about why she's so unhappy. I've been told a lot that conures scream and maybe that's just her and she is happy but I'm so glad I didn't listen and I figured out what was making her so unhappy all the time.
She still gets pellets twice a week and she seems okay with that amount but I'm never giving them to her everyday like I was before. I don't know what it was that was affecting her so badly. She was on harrisons which is organic, and then also pretty bird. She's been on one and not the other and still had the same issues so it's not about colours or sugars or any of that. I suspect it might be the soy as that's the only thing they both have in common.
I'm amazed at how different she is. I really thought I was going to have to rehome her because I couldn't handle her, but now she's so easy to care for and I'm enjoying owning her again. I think I've bonded with her more in the last month than in the previous three years of having her. Every evening she comes and sits next to me and watches and sings to me in the cage and I'm so happy that she's finally a happy bird ❤️
