Might have to rehome sun conure :(

[NessaV]

So here is the situation. My sun conure, Elly, is almost 1 1/2 years old. I've had her since she was 3 months old, and we have developed a very strong bond. I love her very much, but my dad has expressed concern over how much time she is taking up in my life. I'm currently in college going for a bachelor's degree, and I do plan on going on to grad school to pursue a master's degree. School takes up a lot of my time. I usually take Elly out before I go to school and as soon as I get home from school. She either spends time hanging out with me while I do whatever I need to do or on her cage. She gets plenty of one-on-one time from me. I would say she spends a minimum of 2 or 3 hours out of her cage with me. She is flighted, so she gets plenty of exercise.

She is a great bird, I love her goofy personality. I've trained her to do a few tricks, and she loves doing flight recall as well. However, apart from the amount of time she takes up, it seems that she has separation anxiety. I don't know how to handle it, and I think that's why I spend so much time with her. I feel guilty not being there for her. She ALWAYS needs to be with me or within my sight. Otherwise, she will scream and scream and scream. And it is not like the usually contact call sort of scream, which for Elly is just a single loud squawk. Instead it's much louder, more urgent, and continuous. Almost like she is panicking because I am not there. My family and I are fine with what is considered a normal amount of screaming. We know sun conures are naturally loud. The problem is the reason she is screaming. I can't go out with friends, or simply walk out the room to get something without her screaming the whole time I am gone.

Talk of rehoming her has been brought up, but I really do not want to have to come to that unless it is necessary and the right thing to do. Elly has helped me through so much, especially the passing of my previous bird Skittles. Just thinking about rehoming her breaks my heart.

But I have tried so much. I've tried having her cage in different areas of the house to see what location worked best (right now she is in my bedroom). I ignore her screaming and only enter the room when she quiets down (which can take forever because the slightest movement or sound made by me sets her off again).

I will say that she is definitely much more hormonal now, and I know she is technically in that birdy puberty phase. I wonder if this has anything to do with what is going on. She is constantly rubbing all over me and tries to regurgitate to my hands or feet. This behavior has become much more frequent in the past couple of months. I recently read that I shouldn't cuddle with her too much because this can trigger hormones. She is super cuddly, though and loves having under her wing scratched, but I am now starting to refrain from petting her too much.

I should also add that although my parents like Elly, they do not, nor are willing to, spend much one on one time with her. My dad will take her out if I have a long day at school, but other than that she is in her cage until I am home. So I am pretty much all on my own with caring for and providing Elly with the attention she needs. Her diet is mainly a pelleted diet, but one of her meals during the day consists of chopped up fruits and vegetables. She has an extremely large cage (23x32x64) and has tons of toys to play with. She will play in her cage contently if I am within in sight. Again, she just seems to have extreme anxiety separation.

Sorry for such the long post, I just wanted to try to get in all the info needed for you guys to help advise me. Please, what can I do to help Elly become the best bird she can be? If you think rehoming her is the best option for me, please say so. I do not get offended by frank advice. My man priority is the emotional and physical well-being of my birds. I want the best for her, but I don't want my parents to go crazy from the noise, and I don't want to compromise my social life and education. If there is anymore information you would like provided let me know. Thank you all if you read all of this!

 

[veimar]

Oh, that's so sad... I dunno about Sun conures, but my gcc Parry had some separation anxiety issues (no screaming though). He was very interested in other birds, and I decided to get a few more. I have a mixed flock now, and they get along very well. He has no problems now - he sometimes screams when he knows I'm home but don't show up for a long time from the bedroom or art room.

 

[Kiwibird]

Kiwi used to holler up a storm when my husband would leave for work. We remedied by filling up his foraging toys with irresistible treats right before he walked out the door to distract him. He'll still let out a few screams, but it's tolerable and he settles down shortly after to forage/play/nap or whatever bird activity he had planned for himself

I would look into techniques of how to teach her independent play. You have to keep in mind, it is not at all natural for a parrot to be 'alone' or for a mate/flock member to be out of sight, so being able to self entertain is a LEARNED skill for pet parrots. In nature, if a flock member disappeared, that pretty much spells out they were eaten by something, and is very distressing (obviously). The way their human flock disappears and reappears can be equally as distressing for them until they learn that it's nothing to worry about. It takes a good amount of time, and ingenuity in providing self rewarding activities for a bird to overcome this instinctual fear. I would work on helping her learn to entertain herself and not get so worked up about your coming and going before you even consider rehoming her.