Newbie to pet birds - Sun Conure

[mwright1972]

I have had many pets through my life... the normal cat and dog of course and hamsters, sugar gliders, boyfriend has a snake.

Thus how I became a pet bird owner... went to get a rat for the snake, left with a new Sun Conure. She stole my heart from the moment I saw her. I have had her now for 1 1/2 weeks and we are bonding nicely. Her name is Marley.

I am open to any and all advice. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on. I can see already I am going to have to put myself on a budget for toys, everytime I look at them I buy a few more. Her first vet visit is tomorrow, kinda nervous, hope the vet says she is healthy and I am doing everything right. It's like having a new child.

Thanks for letting me be part of the group... here to learn!

 

[Sterling1113]

Hello and welcome!
Glad you joined us. Many others have the same story as you, went to get something totally unrelated, left with a bird.. hehe.
Marley is a wonderful name! How old is she?
There's tons of good info out there already on these forums. If you want to know something specifically you can use the 'search' function, or if you can't find the answers you need, feel free to ask away.
Seems like you already understand the basics.. toys, vet visits, and you never stop learning!! Haha

 

[mwright1972]

According to the pet store she is 6 months old and was hand fed with her nest mate. I hated leaving him behind, they had always been together... but I just couldn't afford 2 at once. I hope she doesn't miss him too much, she doesn't seem to, but then again... how would I know.
I get home from work everyday around 5:30 and leave her out of her cage until around 9 when she starts to snuggle me and seem like she wants to go to sleep. I put her in her cage on her favorite perch sleep spot and cover it with a sheet. She is in our dining/kitchen area so she can still hear the tv but she seems to go right to sleep and not be bothered. I uncover the cage when I leave for work around 7:30 am and give her fresh food and water. (although I never see her drink it).
She has a playgym that is on the kitchen bar that she sits on while I am in the kitchen, and I am feeding her pellet (roundybush?) as much as she wants and a seed mix limited dairly to a couple tablespoons full. And then usually a bite of whatever I am eating if I have checked that it is safe for her.

Does all this sound right?

 

[Sterling1113]

Sounds good to me! If she's only 6 months she should have quite a bit of green on her still. That's a good indicator of a young sun conure. Do you have any pictures of her? We all love seeing pictures of everyone's birds hehe.

I feed mine Roudybush too! Good idea to limit the seed mix, birds get hooked on it pretty easily and it's hard to get them off of it! (Still trying to wean my Pionus to pellets.)

As long as she has plenty of toys for while you're at work she sounds like she's doing just fine. Conures are good at entertaining themselves, and they'll definitely be heard if they're not happy about something!

 

[mwright1972]

Martini Monday - Marley Style!!!

 

[Sterling1113]

What a cutie!!!

 

[mwright1972]

Is her coloring right for a 6 month old Sun Conure?
I had someone else tell me she looks like a hybrid. SunDay Conure... how would I know?

 

[Sterling1113]

She looks fine for a sun conure her age!
As her molts come in over the next year or so she'll lose the green on her front, and keep some green on her wings. Jendays have entirely green wings and backs.
I'd say it's not likely she is a SunDay(Sun X Jenday) in my opinion.

 

[TessieB]

Congratulations! I love Sun Conures and I'd snatch that one from you in a skinny minute!

Glad you stopped by!

 

[songlake]

Babies like yours are beautiful but compared to their adult colors they are drab My baby sun has green wings too even though she's not a hybrid, each bird is different even if in small ways just like all humans are. She sounds happy, if not she will shriek to let you know she's not.

 

[RavensGryf]

Marley is cute!
Once upon a time, I had a similar story how the birds 'happened'. Went to the pet store for fish food, came out with a beautiful Gouldian finch... Soon lots of Gouldians.

 

[BEWolf]

I t sounds like you are getting on with your new friend very well, and I think that you will continue to do so.

I do have an important item for you to consider at this time. It is the location of your bird, you have placed her in the worst possible place for her. Allow me to explain. The very first thing about the kitchen is the grease from cooking, I am sure that you are aware of how it settles on everything, counter tops, cabinet doors, etc., well it also settles on the bird and then it adds a lot of fat to her diet when she tries to clean it off. Too much fat in the diet can cause liver damage. Then we have to remind you of the dangers of hot surfaces, open pots of boiling water, sinks full of soapy water. There are many issues about a bird in the kitchen. And since I a at it please don't forget one that while most common in the kitchen is also found all about the house especially on objects which heat up, this is Teflon and the fumes from it will kill your bird in seconds.

I hope that you find this helpful.

 

[4dugnlee]

Aww...I see why you fell in love and had to have her! Congrats! I just got a sun but he's 5 years old. He doesn't have any green now except on his wings. He is very bright orange/red now with yellow blue and green on his wings and tail. Good luck with your new baby! They are awesome!

 

[GW.Joe]

I am going to have to put myself on a budget for toys

Hello and WELCOME !! Everyone here is so nice, you have found your extended birdie family

LOVE the Picture, PLEASE Keep them coming !!

Don't spend tons of money on store bought toys, with a little creativity you can make your own toys out of safer materials
(caution bells can have zinc in them which is very poisonous to birds, sometimes even the ones in pet shops )
Stainless steel is one of the truly safe metals you can use

Here is a YouTube search for making toys

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=making+parrot+toys

Teflon and the fumes from it will kill your bird in seconds

Grease, Teflon, Incense, candles, chemical potpourri, some strong perfumes, etc. can kill your bird, take seriously any fumes in your house

Even if it doesn't kill the bird, it could slowly deteriorate the birds lungs causing a life ending health ailment

Joe

 

[Allee]

Welcome to the forum! Marley is gorgeous and I love her name! Have you had a chance to check out the online toy stores? As Joe said, they are safer and not nearly as expensive. A lot of us have a serious addiction to parrot safe toys. Have fun with your new baby.

 

[mwright1972]

I have found some on-line toy stores. Ordered from myparrotfood.com and just got it last week. I ordered 4 toys and got a really good deal on price. Plus a couple of books I wanted. I gave her one of the toys and she absolutly loved it. It has lots of wood pieces on it and she has been at it almost non-stop. I do have a question though... she loves to chew on her wooden perch poles... is this normal? She has plenty of toys (5) to play with, but when she is sitting on her perch she seems to nibble it.
Last night she started a new thing... she flips on her back and chirps at me... not shriek, but chirp. I rubbed her on her belly and she stretched one of her wings open like a dog would do when it feels really good. Is this normal?

You guys are really great here. Marley says thanks for all the compliments and good advice!