Hi everyone, BroncoJ here and I am a new owner of a sun conure. I have owned 4 tiels before but haven't owned a bird since and it's been about 8 years. Anyways I got this little guy from Petco. Gonna be honest I hated seeing him in a cage for 2 months and had to bring him home. He is very timid however was raised hand tamed. He is currently in a secluded spot and will be for a couple days to get used to his surroundings before I move him to get used to my family. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to the best way for him to get acquainted to me. He is 6 months old now and 2 months of those were at Petco, I know he is going to need time to aclamate to the environment and to me but wondered if anyone had any suggestions as to the best way to do this. Thank you!
New Sun Conure and new to the forums :)
- Thread starter BroncoJ
- Start date
plumsmum2005
New member
Hi and welcome.
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html
This is a link which will help you to build trust. Parrots on the whole like activity, being part of the throng. No reason why you cannot start now but go at his pace. Talking to him, sitting reading to him can all help, oh and the odd treat here and there.
This is borrowed from Birdman666
Interaction is LEARNED.
GO SLOW! Deliberate exercises. Make progress every few days. The goal here is to get the bird to TRUST, and not violating that trust.
Don't force the interaction. Sit next to the cage and talk to him.
Hands that bring favorite treats are much less scary than hands that try to grab or touch. In fact, birds usually willingly perch on their food bowls...
If nothing bad happens... then hands quickly become something not to be afraid of. In fact, these are good (ie bringing) things. And the bird eventually becomes happy, and even excited to see them.
When he learns that you are not a threat, then you can try touching exercises. Basic step up. Step down. Touch training. Target training. TOO SOON AND YOU DESTROY THE TRUST YOU ARE TRYING TO CREATE.
From there, teach this bird games.
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html
This is a link which will help you to build trust. Parrots on the whole like activity, being part of the throng. No reason why you cannot start now but go at his pace. Talking to him, sitting reading to him can all help, oh and the odd treat here and there.
This is borrowed from Birdman666
Interaction is LEARNED.
GO SLOW! Deliberate exercises. Make progress every few days. The goal here is to get the bird to TRUST, and not violating that trust.
Don't force the interaction. Sit next to the cage and talk to him.
Hands that bring favorite treats are much less scary than hands that try to grab or touch. In fact, birds usually willingly perch on their food bowls...
If nothing bad happens... then hands quickly become something not to be afraid of. In fact, these are good (ie bringing) things. And the bird eventually becomes happy, and even excited to see them.
When he learns that you are not a threat, then you can try touching exercises. Basic step up. Step down. Touch training. Target training. TOO SOON AND YOU DESTROY THE TRUST YOU ARE TRYING TO CREATE.
From there, teach this bird games.
Last edited:
Flboy
Well-known member
- Dec 28, 2014
- 12,601
- 4,106
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- JoJo, 'Special' GCC, Bongo, Cinnamon GCC(wife's)
Welcome and ditto, put him in the family area now!
Skittys_Daddy
Well-known member
- Jan 6, 2014
- 2,173
- 65
- Parrots
- Neotropical Pigeon - "Skittles" (born 3/29/10)
Cockatiel - "Peaches" (1995-2015) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sammy"
(1989-2000) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sandy"
(1987-1989) R.I.P.
I do think that unless you are 'quarantining' a bird (from other birds), you are best off placing the bird in the common areas (or where you intend to house their cage).
While well-intentioned, by having him in one place only to move him to another, you're just doubling the stress and the work. Let him get acclimated right away.
Also, in terms of getting him used to the family, my advice is to be sure that all members of the family who your sunny will see regularly have had a chance to interact with him regularly. Have people hold him, give him food/drinks etc. This will all take time, but getting him to trust his surroundings (including people in it) is crucial.
Also, sunnies are very social and very much velcro birds- but they can also be very protective and territorial and don't even get me started on jealousy.
So its important that if he is going to be around a lot of the same people regularly, that he doesn't get too attached to any one member.
I assume you know that sunnies are loud. Not necesarily noisy, but loud. One final thought, aside from putting him in the common areas, I'd also limit loud noises and fast movements- as those can startle him while he gets acclimated. Maybe have people who routinely walk by him have them talk to him.
Good luck and congrats!
While well-intentioned, by having him in one place only to move him to another, you're just doubling the stress and the work. Let him get acclimated right away.
Also, in terms of getting him used to the family, my advice is to be sure that all members of the family who your sunny will see regularly have had a chance to interact with him regularly. Have people hold him, give him food/drinks etc. This will all take time, but getting him to trust his surroundings (including people in it) is crucial.
Also, sunnies are very social and very much velcro birds- but they can also be very protective and territorial and don't even get me started on jealousy.
So its important that if he is going to be around a lot of the same people regularly, that he doesn't get too attached to any one member.
I assume you know that sunnies are loud. Not necesarily noisy, but loud. One final thought, aside from putting him in the common areas, I'd also limit loud noises and fast movements- as those can startle him while he gets acclimated. Maybe have people who routinely walk by him have them talk to him.
Good luck and congrats!
Welcome!
Glad you found us.
I love Suns... I wish the Rickeybird would let me have one...
Glad you found us.
I love Suns... I wish the Rickeybird would let me have one...
Skittys_Daddy
Well-known member
- Jan 6, 2014
- 2,173
- 65
- Parrots
- Neotropical Pigeon - "Skittles" (born 3/29/10)
Cockatiel - "Peaches" (1995-2015) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sammy"
(1989-2000) R.I.P.
Budgie - "Sandy"
(1987-1989) R.I.P.
I wish my neotropical pigeon aka tropical terror aka neon nightmare aka sun conure would let me have a pineapple green-cheek.
EllenD
New member
- Aug 20, 2016
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- Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
Welcome and congrats! I know what you mean about Petco, my local Petco had a hand-raised baby sun conure and a hand-raised baby Jenday conure that they got together this past April, and they were both there until September! At that point they shipped them both off to another store to try there (they both cost $649, so it wasn't hard to understand why they didn't sell). It was hard not to bring them home!
I agree, get your new baby's cage in your living room or wherever you're going to keep it right now! No need at all to wait or to have him hidden away in a room alone, he needs to be where the people are and where the excitement is right from the get go! I don't know how many people live in your house, but they should all interact with him daily, hold him daily, and talk to him whenever they walk past his cage. They do get jealous and like to latch on to one person, so having everyone interact with him daily will help this issue.
Make sure he gets a lot of out of cage time every day starting right now, at least a few hours a day. Just open the door and see if he'll come out on his own and if he'll step up for you once he's out of his cage. Talk to him softly and try reading to him.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
I agree, get your new baby's cage in your living room or wherever you're going to keep it right now! No need at all to wait or to have him hidden away in a room alone, he needs to be where the people are and where the excitement is right from the get go! I don't know how many people live in your house, but they should all interact with him daily, hold him daily, and talk to him whenever they walk past his cage. They do get jealous and like to latch on to one person, so having everyone interact with him daily will help this issue.
Make sure he gets a lot of out of cage time every day starting right now, at least a few hours a day. Just open the door and see if he'll come out on his own and if he'll step up for you once he's out of his cage. Talk to him softly and try reading to him.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
KrisandPenelope
New member
Congrats and welcome to the forum! I got my conure from a breeder who hand raised wonderful birds, but our little P was still really shy when she got home. So I'd sit in front of her cage and read a book or watch netflix on my laptop and leave her cage door open. Eventually she worked up the courage to come check things out and from then it's been smooth sailing ever since!
