Minimaker
New member
- Jul 29, 2014
- 540
- 0
- Parrots
- GW Macaw-Sailor, Goffins Cockatoo Mako, GC Conure-Tazzy, Turquoise Conure Yuki, Budgies-Percy, Annabeth, Elsa
Sorry, long post:
My recent purchase of an eight year old gc conure has gone very well so far. We are bonding despite his having been an untouched breeder bird in a pet store where I'm sure he had his share of teasing from the younger patrons. His daily routine here goes something like this, I get him out in the morning (now he'll come out voluntarily without gloves and no biting). I make him some fresh food and try (usually in vain) to get him to try some. After some time of picking idly at that, I give in and give him his mix of pellets/seeds/dried greens on his table perch. He never had fresh food for 8 years (he was on a cockatiel seed mix only) and now turns his beak up at anything but raspberries (he mainly eats the seeds out of them and flings the rest) and a little birdie bread. I tried the table without the perch and he dances nervously and will barely eat. So there he sits the majority of the day, eating non stop. Is this normal? He munches probably 85% of the day.
I try taking him off the perch and we walk around the house doing chores and he preens my hair. If I try to leave the room without him he calls and calls for me in this alarmed tone and doesn't stop until he can see me again. He still won't let me touch him with my fingers, only allows my closed hand and arm near him. Once in awhile I can put a finger out and he'll step up. He only seems to try and bite me now when my husband is home, because for some reason he's decided my husband is the enemy no matter what he does to try and get close to him. I've tried offering foot toys to distract him and other things that might interest him to no avail. He looks like he has no idea what to do with them. I have a huge playstand with toys on it: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTUwMFgxMDAw/z/7OMAAOSw1ZBUwaZB/$_57.JPG
and he just climbs to the very top of it right away and freaks out up there until I go get him down. He flaps around and calls nervously until I go get him.
So I guess my question is, what sort of activities would you try with a bird like this who doesn't seem to know how to do anything but eat and sleep? How much time is normal for a conure to be eating per day? I bought him a caitec foraging ball that I put dried fruit and nuts in that he must work to the stuff out of and he seems to like that-but again that's a food driven activity. How might I get him interested in other things where there is no food? He doesn't seem to have much curiosity about the world around him. Maybe all that time in a small cage did that to him, because there was nothing else to do. He acts like a little old man who likes to sit in one place and watch the world go by without joining in.
Thanks for your input.
My recent purchase of an eight year old gc conure has gone very well so far. We are bonding despite his having been an untouched breeder bird in a pet store where I'm sure he had his share of teasing from the younger patrons. His daily routine here goes something like this, I get him out in the morning (now he'll come out voluntarily without gloves and no biting). I make him some fresh food and try (usually in vain) to get him to try some. After some time of picking idly at that, I give in and give him his mix of pellets/seeds/dried greens on his table perch. He never had fresh food for 8 years (he was on a cockatiel seed mix only) and now turns his beak up at anything but raspberries (he mainly eats the seeds out of them and flings the rest) and a little birdie bread. I tried the table without the perch and he dances nervously and will barely eat. So there he sits the majority of the day, eating non stop. Is this normal? He munches probably 85% of the day.
I try taking him off the perch and we walk around the house doing chores and he preens my hair. If I try to leave the room without him he calls and calls for me in this alarmed tone and doesn't stop until he can see me again. He still won't let me touch him with my fingers, only allows my closed hand and arm near him. Once in awhile I can put a finger out and he'll step up. He only seems to try and bite me now when my husband is home, because for some reason he's decided my husband is the enemy no matter what he does to try and get close to him. I've tried offering foot toys to distract him and other things that might interest him to no avail. He looks like he has no idea what to do with them. I have a huge playstand with toys on it: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTUwMFgxMDAw/z/7OMAAOSw1ZBUwaZB/$_57.JPG
and he just climbs to the very top of it right away and freaks out up there until I go get him down. He flaps around and calls nervously until I go get him.
So I guess my question is, what sort of activities would you try with a bird like this who doesn't seem to know how to do anything but eat and sleep? How much time is normal for a conure to be eating per day? I bought him a caitec foraging ball that I put dried fruit and nuts in that he must work to the stuff out of and he seems to like that-but again that's a food driven activity. How might I get him interested in other things where there is no food? He doesn't seem to have much curiosity about the world around him. Maybe all that time in a small cage did that to him, because there was nothing else to do. He acts like a little old man who likes to sit in one place and watch the world go by without joining in.
Thanks for your input.
