Introduction

[Ariesbirdofwar]

Hi, I'm Andy and I have just purchased a 4 month old Yellow-Sided Green Cheek by the name of Aries. I'm from San Diego and I hope this place will help me find out more about taking care of my cute little fluffball.

Some things I am interested in finding out:

Whether Eco-pan Ceramic Hard-Anodized pants are healthy for birds.
Tips to training my baby companion.
Bird body language: What does it mean when Aries does ___________?
The first days: What if Aries does ____________? What does it mean and should I be concerned?

A point in the general directions would be nice. I will do a ton of reading though.

 

[Bobby34231]

Hi Andy and welcome to the forum, congrats on the addition of your new fid (fid=feathered kid), seems to be a lot of new members owned by GC Conures here lately, as far as I know ceramic clad pots and pans are safe for birds, they don't emit fumes like the other non stick products such as teflon, a good source, especially for beginers on care and training of pet birds is "Parrots For Dummies", and please don't take that as an insult, it really is a good training tool, combined with some good info you can get here that should get you off to a great start,enjoy your stay here, lots of really friendly folks to help you out

 

[Aussie Ben]

Welcome to the forum, this is a great community!

As for cookware, try and steer clear of Teflon (very bad). From the small amount of research I have done, hard anodised cookware is fairly safe. We have mostly hard anodised and 1 or 2 older teflon pans that we occasionally use. I always put the vent fan on anyway, regardless of what we are using, just to be safe.

 

[Ariesbirdofwar]

Actually before making this purchase, I read the entire "Dummies" book because Aries would be my responsibility (while Dillon is my husband's responsibility). I wanted to make sure I was capable of taking care of a bird and my guy wanted to make sure I would take care of the bird too. Aries is sort of a two-fold feathered companion: one for myself, and also for our other green cheek. Right now, my bird does almost nothing but run around his cage and chew things, as well as bob his entire body back and forth while clinging onto the bars, so I wanted to know what sort of behavior I should expect. Of course, my guy could answer my questions for me, but he's not home right now and I am sort of worried about some of his actions, particularly the bobbing part).

The other concern is that he isn't doing very much eating, and I am trying to vary his diet so he will eat some. Having just brought him home yesterday though, I am hoping he will start eating more fully soon.

I have noticed him eating the sand perch that we bought for him and our other bird (they are in separate cages). I see him pecking at, beaking, and chewing on the sand perch, which shouldn't worry me I guess since I know its not toxic and we got it for the purpose of introducing calcium, but he doesn't seem to be doing much eating other than that, and so I thought it would be good of me to be responsible and ask some others their opinions.

Thanks for the responses

 

[antoinette]

Have a seat, make yourself comfortable.....
Congrat's with your bird, they bring so much joy
Awesome members all bird crazy people,

who always go the extra mile to assist
Very informative posts, browse around, loads to learn and share
Post some pic's okay

 

[HRH Di]

Some things I am interested in finding out:

Whether Eco-pan Ceramic Hard-Anodized pants are healthy for birds.
Tips to training my baby companion.
Bird body language: What does it mean when Aries does ___________?
The first days: What if Aries does ____________? What does it mean and should I be concerned?

A point in the general directions would be nice. I will do a ton of reading though.

Welcome, Andy! You've done great amounts of research and seem to be in a great place to be an excellent parront.

The cookware you mentioned should be fine as long as there's no non-stick coating on it. I got rid of my non-stick pans and now have stainless cookware.

Besides Parrots for Dummies (which you've already discovered), Good Bird Inc has some great DVDs for bird body language and training. They were incredibly helpful - especially the body language one.

We're glad your heere

 

[Spiritbird]

Howdy and welcome. A couple more tips for you to ponder. Should have enrichment toys (you can make them) for the bird to occupy the beak. That way the sand perch would not be so interesting. I am a fan of full spectrum lighting also. Sending you a couple links for your knowledge base.

http://www.parrotenrichment.com/

http://thetrueparrot.homestead.com/behavioral.html

 

[Bobby34231]

Some things I am interested in finding out:

Whether Eco-pan Ceramic Hard-Anodized pants are healthy for birds.
Tips to training my baby companion.
Bird body language: What does it mean when Aries does ___________?
The first days: What if Aries does ____________? What does it mean and should I be concerned?

A point in the general directions would be nice. I will do a ton of reading though.

Welcome, Andy! You've done great amounts of research and seem to be in a great place to be an excellent parront.

The cookware you mentioned should be fine as long as there's no non-stick coating on it. I got rid of my non-stick pans and now have stainless cookware.

Besides Parrots for Dummies (which you've already discovered), Good Bird Inc has some great DVDs for bird body language and training. They were incredibly helpful - especially the body language one.

We're glad your heere

Nice to see I'm not the only Barbara Heidenreich fan, the good bird inc is a great suggestion,( Thanks Di) she covers most all the training and behavioral issues that are commonly asked here

 

[apatrimo94]

Right now, my bird does almost nothing but run around his cage and chew things, as well as bob his entire body back and forth while clinging onto the bars, so I wanted to know what sort of behavior I should expect. Of course, my guy could answer my questions for me, but he's not home right now and I am sort of worried about some of his actions, particularly the bobbing part).

The other concern is that he isn't doing very much eating, and I am trying to vary his diet so he will eat some. Having just brought him home yesterday though, I am hoping he will start eating more fully soon.

I have noticed him eating the sand perch that we bought for him and our other bird (they are in separate cages). I see him pecking at, beaking, and chewing on the sand perch, which shouldn't worry me I guess since I know its not toxic and we got it for the purpose of introducing calcium, but he doesn't seem to be doing much eating other than that, and so I thought it would be good of me to be responsible and ask some others their opinions.

Thanks for the responses

All those behaviors are perfectly normal for conures. Just to be safe, take Aries for a vet check up to ensure he's healthy.