Some Guidance Needed with Sun Conures

[kicksnj]

Hello all, Im new here and had some questions about 2 sun conures I just got a few weeks ago. First a little info on the birds. They have been DNA tested and are male and female paired. They have always been together. They are 4 years old. I bought them from someone on Craiglist for a super great price. because the past owners said they could not take the screaming from them all the time. They came with a really great cage, very nice size. And lots of extras. Ok, now for the somewhat bad news. From what I understand, I am the 4th owner of these conures, and it is because of there loud screaming all the time, and I really do mean all the time. Actually its the male that is the one who is none stop screaming. I think they were not played with much from the other owners. The last owner said he was afraid to ever touch them because they always bit him bad. But when I picked them up they both came right out of the cage and ran up to my shoulder and sat there well I took apart there cage to fit in my car I did buy some DVD,s from Birdtricks and Barbara Heidenreich. Because I think these guys are really a little wild or not tame at all. Both will not come to my hand at all. I have to chase them around in there cage to get them out, which I know thats a bad way to get them on my hand. If I say firmly to the male to Step Up he sometimes will go right on my hand. The female however seems to want nothing to do with me and bits hard. They both still bit me and some times break skin. But the screaming of the male is getting the best of me. If I am in the room and he can see me, he will quiet down for awhile until he wants my attention and then he will start his screaming. And of course both the bird courses I got say to walk out of the room right away until he stops. Well, he stops sometimes, and other times he can just go on screaming for what seems to feel like hours. As soon I come back in the room he stops. Also if I give him a shower in the sink he seems to quiet down until hes dry. As I said, the cage is very big, plenty of toys forging boxes, I built 2 nice pvc stands even though the cage has a really nice bird gym on the top of the cage. And when I have the male out and on me he seems to love to play and cuddle on my chest if I lay on the couch. In fact he is so at ease that he is starting to hump my hand alot LOL..... But I really need to break this male of his screaming. And I would like to get the female more interested in me as well. Any guidance from others would be appreciated. Thank you!

<-- Maxwell and Lucy

 

[erik7181]

Hi, Im not sure what your expiernce is with sun conures so please don't take offense I tell you things you already know lol. The one thing I will tell you from my experience is sun conures are noisy by nature, especially when they want something including your attention. Think of it like a baby, when they want something they cry. Now they came from an aviary so im sure they were not handled a lot, which is an easy thing to remedy over a couple of months.
The screaming he probably wants to come out. Take them out let them explore both you and there new surrounding, but keep an eye on them because they will get into everything that interest them. Iv had mine sense he was 3-4 weeks old, I hand fed him and everything, over time you get use to the screaming and you start to understand when and what they want. I hope this helps. Handle them as much as possible, pull a chair up to the cage sit their feed them and talk to them so they get use to you, after a while you will see when you put your finger in front of them and they step onto your hand say step up, My guy learns good by repetition.