Possibly Purchasing GCC, Advice?

[ZoeHale]

My friend's family owns a petshop and they have THE SWEETEST GCC there, by the name of Marvin. And I've fallen in love with him. He's brightly colored, gorgeous, and he cuddles! I don't know if that's common or what, but that's part of why I love him so! This is what he looks like:

That's him with my friend Brina.



So what advice can you guys give me? What I'd really like to know is, can they be put in large screen enclosures? I really don't like the idea of caging Mar, but I can't have him loose in the house ALL the time. I have some experience in building screen cages, and I was hoping I could save money by doing that instead of buying a bird cage. But I'll do whatever is needed for Mar!

Thank you very much!

 

[Emiiu]

Hey!!
I've had my Green Cheek Conure for almost three years, and I love her to death! I would definatly reccomend GCCs because they're so friendly and social. Mine does bite a bit, but only sometimes! I know that there are ways to stop that though, but it hasn't been a big issue for me. The only other problem I can think of is that since they're so curious, you definatly have to keep an eye on them. It's important especially if you have other animals like dogs, cats, or ferrets. I personally have a dog, and I was walking around with Kiwi (my GCC) and I guess she was curious about my dog and she flew right onto my dogs face and of course I freaked out and ran towards them so my dog didn't hurt her. I definatly learned my lesson with that experience! Thankfully it ended fine, Kiwi flew on top of the tv and my dog just looked confused as to what was going on. haha. Also, I read a story about a girl who had a bird and she let it loose in her house all the time, and one morning she couldn't find him and she was searching for him, but took a break by sitting down on the couch and she heard a screech and it turns out her bird was in the couch and it died. So, I definatly agree with you on not letting it out all the time. My GCC has a bird cage, but you're right that they do cost some money, I'm sure making a screened cage would be fine, as long as the bird knows where its food and water is, has some perches and toys, and the obvious - make sure he can't bite through the screening! Birds beaks are really strong! Also, I have one more tip to share with you.. I don't recommend you clip his wings, because its a survival thing for birds.. another story I heard was a lady who had ferrets and a GCC, and since her GCC was so attached to her, when she left the room for a minute he tried to follow her and since his wings were clipped he fell on the floor and the ferrets killed him. So, I've never clipped my bird's wings! Plus - it's fun to watch them fly aruond the room I love birds!
So here's some things you'll need to consider..
- What food you'll feed them: it's recommended that you use a pellet based conure diet instead off all seeds, because birds will pick out their favourite seeds which is usually the most fattening (like sun flower seeds)
- You should give them some veggies and fruit everyday, but make sure if they don't eat it you take it out of the cage because you don;t want them eating spoiled food!
- Change their water everyday! I missed changing mines for a day and she took a bath in it and it smelled baad, i felt so guilty!
- You should maybe see if there are any avian vets around where you live aswell, because most vets arent educated to help birds.

Good luck to you and Marvin. I know you'll love having him as your buddy for a long time!! (They can live to be 30 years old!!)

PS - Marvins such a cute name!! ^^