Long story-New GC conure from an icky pet store

[Minimaker]

We have two pet stores in our area, one is nice and clean but has very few parrot items in stock and nothing for sale but parakeets. The other store is truly terrible 99% of the time. The minute you step through the door the unmistakeable smell of cat and dog urine hits you like a wave because the place is full of terrible looking cats (alley cats look healthier) and ratty unkempt little dogs. We hate going there but go only to discuss parrots/items with the owners who have 30-40 birds in the store. They refuse to sell most of them, and the cages are not good. Crap filled water, maybe one ruined toy per cage, they eat nothing but seeds every time we see them-including the large parrots like macaws and cockatoos. There is no sign there was ever any other type of food in the cages and they are filled with enough old crap that there would be. They are bored out of their minds in too small cages, some are more aggressive and living in a poopy mess, have no attention from the owners who have so many birds they couldn't possibly spend quality time with all of them. The cockatoos scream incessantly the minute they see people, begging for attention from someone. All of this boils my blood, but these people are the only people in the area we can ask about anything or order products from. They were the only ones who could tell us where to get a hold of an avian vet in the area, not even some of the vets we called knew of anyone. I've ticked her off on more than one occasion making comments about the cage conditions so I'm already on shaky ground.

I go look at and pity the birds every time we go in there. I have noticed this cute funny little guy dancing around like a clown in a rabbit-sized cage and begging for attention over and over again when I go look through them all. They tell me he's a green cheek conure. So finally today I begged her to sell him to me because he hates her and won't let her touch him without drawing blood. Me he seems to like and doesn't try to bite through the cage. She shrugs her shoulders and says "Might as well, I've made plenty of money off him already. He was a proven breeder but his mate dropped dead a few weeks ago. You can have him for $200. He's around 8 years old I think, I can't remember exactly." I asked her if he was ever out of the cage and her eyes glazed over like she couldn't remember that either. She said not very often because he was a breeder bird, nothing more. So for eight years this little guy has been confined to a low cage with no out time or handling. No wonder he was frantically trying to dance and act goofy trying to get some attention. It was obvious to us that he was trying to keep us in front of his cage. So he's home with me now. He's in a much larger cage with lots of fun stuff in it and good treats. He looked absolutely amazed as he looked around the cage. He looked really happy to see a real high up perch and climbed right on it, because he had walked on a cage bottom and a low splintery perch forever. There was one low swing in the one he was in, not much else to play on. A couple rough junky toys was all. It looks like he's missing part of his toe. This was him inside the store, and trust me it looks nicer in the photo than in real life. We've decided to call him Taz, or Tazzy because she said his name was Spaz and it's close enough to not confuse him:

 

[veimar]

Congrats on getting him out of that filthy place! He seems really happy and adjusting well. Gcc-s are the most adorable and funniest birds ever. BTW mine chew off almost all of his toe after a little incident with his nail (I blame the ER clinic for that). It doesn't bother him even a little bit!

 

[weco]

Don't know what the problem is/was, but couldn't pull your pic up.....

If conditions for the animals in that petshop are below those considered acceptable, it might be worth a call to your local animal welfare office, but it's good you got it out of there.....

 

[MikeyTN]

I went in to edit your photo to make it show on the forum to make it easier. Next time copy the direct link off photo bucket then click on the little picture icon in your post/reply window then paste the link within the box that pops up. It will post the picture within the forum!

 

[Minimaker]

Ok thanks for that, I didn't know how to do it. I stink at computer stuff and I always forget how to do these things This probably won't be the last time you'll be fixing something of mine, so sorry.

As for calling in the animal welfare office, they know perfectly well what the conditions are in there. It's too small a place for them not to-everyone knows because we have limited choices for pet supplies here, and I'd bet the bank that they have to occasionally get stuff through these people as well. Simply put, they are the only pet store with anything in it. Or else no one would go there because it honestly smells like animal pee and it's so strong it's a bit nauseating. The local animal shelter smells better, no joke. If I get kicked out of there for good for my mouth (which has been likely a few times, I've actually got her to turn red with anger at least once) I'll be driving an hour to the next pet store. Not kidding. So if we need anything in a rush and can't order online due to time constraints, we'll have to drive two hours there and back again to get it. Or else trust me, I'd let her have it. I pretty much tell her my opinion anyway, but I can't say it as directly or as mean as I would like. And nothing changes anyway when I do, except I get less help and the cold shoulder.

 

[Allee]

I'm glad you got the GCC out of that awful place. He must be amazed with his new life. The store sounds awful, but there's no easy answer. Sometimes when a store gets enough complaints and visits from the authorities it will at least scare the owner into cleaning up a little.

 

[Minimaker]

Well I had bleeding fingers before 9 am for presuming that we could be fast friends, haha That's ok, we're working on our relationship. I think I wouldn't trust humans either after living like that for so long. The first thing they did was grab him out of the cage pretty roughly and quickly which had to scare him, then they cut his wings right away without asking me if I wanted them cut. Well they'll grow out I guess, and at least for now he has to depend on me to lift him to anything higher than he can reach which may help him trust me faster. I've got him to where he'll step up if I hold out my forearm and put it against his chest (but I sure as heck tuck all my fingers in now, hehe). He was so dirty and dusty looking and itching constantly from dry skin, so I put him in the sink with a dribble of lukewarm water running. At first he danced around nervously but then the spray up from water hitting the sink started to hit him. He calmed down and stood still, the water running over his feathers. He closed his eyes and just stood there letting it hit him instead of running away from it. He looked blissful. After a little while I shut the water off and he stepped up and I put him on the table. He shook off, and I turned up the heat until he dried off completely. He looked a little concerned when my two keets flew around the kitchen and landed on the windows. I put him up because he looked tired out. He's been preening his dull feathers, I hope he brightens back up with a proper diet. They said they had him on parakeet seed. Can anyone tell me what fresh food a conure might be tempted to eat well? I put a piece of banana on the table and he walked away from it like he had no idea it was food.

 

[Roanoke]

You did a good thing getting him out of there. Sounds like he'd never had a bath in his life, poor baby! I'm sure he'll trust you soon. Heck, if he's already stepping up then you two will be inseparable within a few weeks!

As for fresh foods, most conures love grapes. Then again, mine's a pig who eats anything but green vegetables...

 

[Sasha2]

Wow, how exciting, congrats on your little rescue.
The fact he already steps up on your arm is a good start. Mine was terrified of hands at first too and she slowly went from my arm to my hand and now she steps up like a pro.
Try Blueberries, very healthy and both my conures love them.
bananas, oranges, carrots, peas and corn, fresh salad, my girl loves them all.She prefers some stuff like broccoli and sweet potato cooked.

 

[4dugnlee]

What a cutie!! So glad you rescued him! You will certainly be fast friends if he's already stepping up! You did good!! I'm so happy that he found you...maybe before he left the shop he whispered to the other birds to bite her so she would sell them too:09:

Oh and, my sun conure loves blueberries! And he will eat corn and a couple bites of other veggies and fruit but really goes for the blueberries!!

 

[ToriJo]

So happy you were able to help Taz!

My GCC Kiki LOVES raspberries! She is always "wearing red lipstick" cause I like to spoil her with them =] Surprisingly she also likes cooked turnips and carrot juice, but not carrots! Also any kind of fruit smoothie or juice is always a nice treat!

Hope to hear more good things from you both

 

[Minimaker]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the suggestions

Sadly I think I have to rehome my husband. Tazzy the conure and I were having a debate today about whether or not he was going to eat the juicy piece of orange I was offering him. He decided not. My husband walked in with a bag of chips, munching away. I said I can't get this boy to eat anything but seed. He promptly held out a potato chip, to which I screeched "Get that thing away from him!" The bird immediately took a bite out of the chip (with delight, I might add) and munched it with extreme relish. He immediately grabbed on to the chip for dear life with his beak and I said "If you give that bird any more chip you're going to get it!" So Hubbs tried to withdraw the chip, and I'm not kidding you they had a tug of war for about a minute over that chip because Tazzy wouldn't let it go without a fight. So I tried all day long to get him to eat fruit, and my husband ruined him for anything healthy ten minutes after he got home from work. It's clear the bringer of the chips must go to a new home Hehe, no seriously, it was cute for a minute but clearly I have to watch what my husband gives this little guy. He obviously has man-type tastes, preferring tasty junk food over anything healthy. I'll try some other berries and grapes I guess. Bananas and oranges was what I had in the house and those were a solid no for him. I don't think he's ever had fresh fruit in his life, he looks at it like it's some alien thing he can't understand what to do with.

 

[drj130]

For Pat, dealing with veggies he gets carrots, red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers, hot peppers and a bit of mango all chopped together. He loves it. For fruit, he gets Strawberries, Blackberries, and Blueberries. I also give him some birdie bread about every other day.

Dealing with the seeds, I had to ween Pat off them. Introduced pellets slowly and would decrease the amount of seeds and increase the amount of pellets. Took me about two months to do that. He only gets seeds now as a treat which I hand to him myself. While I was changing his diet, I also weighed him everyday to ensure his weight didn't change much. I still weigh him everyday to ensure he's maintaining a healthy weight.

 

[Minimaker]

For Pat, dealing with veggies he gets carrots, red, green, yellow and orange bell peppers, hot peppers and a bit of mango all chopped together. He loves it. For fruit, he gets Strawberries, Blackberries, and Blueberries. I also give him some birdie bread about every other day.

Dealing with the seeds, I had to ween Pat off them. Introduced pellets slowly and would decrease the amount of seeds and increase the amount of pellets. Took me about two months to do that. He only gets seeds now as a treat which I hand to him myself. While I was changing his diet, I also weighed him everyday to ensure his weight didn't change much. I still weigh him everyday to ensure he's maintaining a healthy weight.

That's a good idea drj. What is considered a good weight for a conure? I have a postal scale for business, I could use that.

 

[drj130]

I use the same kind of scale. Pat weighs in most days between 67-69g.

 

[Minimaker]

Ok so I sent hubbs down after some other foods for Taz. So far he decided he'll pick at grapes. Just a little. He just doesn't understand fresh food at all I guess. I'm going to try some broccoli later on at dinner time.

He nailed my husband a good one this morning. Seems like he's grumpy in the morning and doesn't like anyone reaching out toward him. I got bit that way the day before. Looks like it's gloved hands in the morning.

New problem seems to be he doesn't know how to navigate such a large cage compared to the short one he was in before. He went to the highest perch and didn't move from there AT ALL. He won't go down to eat or drink or see any of the toys or other types of perches. So I guess I'll have to remove some of the perches that are up high and force him to move around the enclosure and figure out where his food is. I've been taking him out on and off all day long to eat and drink because he'll only do it when out on the table and the stuff is right in front of him. His new cage is 40" tall by 36 1/2" wide and what he was in was roughly 18-20" tall by 30" wide I'm guessing from how it looked.

 

[drj130]

Don't use gloves from what I've heard everyone else talk about on here, gloves are a bad thing. If he wants to come out, let him do it on his own terms. He is still adjusting to his new home.
One of the things I do is set a perch or two that he can get on at the door.

I've also placed a perch between his two dishes.

When I do a whole cleaning of Pat's, I move things around when I put the cage back together. It will take time for for Taz to get use to you all. When dealing with new foods, make sure they are sized so that he can grab them with his feet and eat a few in front of him so that he gets the understanding that they can be eaten. I've done this more than once with Pat ranging from birdie bread to his pellets. Yes I tried his pellets. The things we do for a fids.

 

[Minimaker]

The reason I had to use gloves is because he's not eating inside the cage. He will only eat if I take him out of the cage and put him on the table with the food right in front of him. Rather than let him starve or get bit to the bleeding point, I've been using gloves.

But I think we may have just fixed the problem. He was used to a very low cage with little room. Our cage is up high because of the cats in the house. Apparently he really wanted to be at the highest point of our taller cage and his food bowls are low. We're heading to town to buy mounted bowls that we can put up high where he wants to be. For now we have a board mounted inside the cage to keep him low and closer to the food/water. Since doing that, he's eating again. Since he was a surprise buy, we don't have everything we needed for him yet. I just ordered larger mounted bowls for the macaw cage we're building but this little guy was a spur of the moment buy. She had never agreed to sell any of her personal breeding birds before. We're still picking up items for him. This was our first parrot not counting the budgies. So we're still learning. We did get him to eat some grape at least, and he always ate the food on the table. I took him out several times a day so far to do that and he stepped up on my gloved hand on his own without forcing him. He does bite fingers, but not bare arms.

 

[drj130]

Understandable. Once things are adjusted, try to start with his training so that you can get him to step onto your hand/fingers without the gloves.

 

[Minimaker]

Ok I have it figured out (FINALLY!) Taz likes to be high up, period. He will not go lower whatsoever. It's the top perch or nothing right now. I had to move his food and water directly in front of the highest perch and now he's eating fine in his taller cage. He simply refused to go lower, regardless of how hungry he got. We're back on track now. I still get him out several hours a day to feed him fresh food. No greens yet, he turned his beak up at red/yellow/green peppers, broccoli. I got nipped over the insult of presenting him with mango, he tasted it-spit it out and shook his head as if to say "Yuck!" and then reached down and nipped my finger lightly. So far it's grapes, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries only. Everything else gets me a "what the heck???" response. He's starting to seem really happy now. He dances around on the table top playgym my husband built. He talks to me, comes up and eats from my hand (usually) without trying to nip. I went down to regular thin gloves now to take him in and out of the cage, not leather. I'll slowly start introducing my bare hand when I feel he's ready to trust me more. I figured out a simple hanging system to keep him out longer while the cats are also out and about so he'll be safe. It won't be pretty but it will work until I decide on a better way to do it. That way he can be outside the cage playing safely up out of reach. I'll supervise at all times of course just in case. If I need to leave the room I'll put him back in the cage.

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