Do Aratinga Conures screech spontaneously?

[Julsiebean]

Thanks, lots to thing about!

[patdbunny]

This article's not specifically on conures, but I agree with a lot of the concepts.
http://www.holisticbirds.com/pages/ebcravens1003.htm

"Attacking and biting in parrots has to do with perceived status in the group. Those birds with little social flock norms and little experience getting along with three or more bird individuals at one time will often become one person birds or at best one-family birds. This is not true in all the gregarious species like caiques and lorikeets, etc. But it does indicate that the bird is more needy than confident when in a two-person situation. You are her security and protection, she has little self sufficiency to be secure in herself."

I teach my babies to be independent and I socialize like crazy. For the jendays/suns it seems to alleviate a lot of the screaming and biting behaviors.

[patdbunny]

[Julsiebean]

This thread has been an eyeopener. I wish I knew all of this now, I thought I was doing it all right. I was loving, attentive, and doting. I guess I was overindulgent trying to make up for his last crappy homes. I guess I was a bad foster parent I did however, find that jenday a WONDERFUL home and stay in regular contact with his forever Mommy. He is happy as a clam and spends all day hanging upside down like a bat with his best Sun conure buddy. I guess it was a happy ending!

[MandaDPanda]

Coming super late to this discussion. BUT, Aries is not a screamer. Not at all actually. Now, if you ask my grandparents they will tell you he is. The difference is I have him out of his cage A LOT.

He's currently sitting happily on his perch and not making a peep. In the mornings he may scream once...usually not. He chatters to me when I uncover his cage and is working on saying "Good Morning". He only really screams when he hears something he doesn't recognize. He lived with dogs but dogs barking that are not his dogs, are something he screams about. It's normally only one scream.

He'll call, but it's different than a scream. He does scream when he wants to go to bed. Usually three screams and he knows that by then we'll have looked at the clock. He gets grouchy and fusses when he's been in the cage longer than he would have liked, but again...not a scream.

I think it depends on the bird. When he was with my grandparents and had them trained to respond to his screaming, he'd do it often. If he heard me come in the front door he'd scream his little head off. But, he had been conditioned to scream for what he wanted.

If he screams at something he doesn't know, it's usually one scream. Doesn't happen often. If he screams at me, I usually start to talk very low to him so he has to be quiet to hear me. If I get loud and excited or he thinks I'm raising my voice to my husband he'll scream a couple times. If we're quiet he "talks" quietly.

I know all birds are not a like, but I do know that his behavior in one home is distinctly different than behavior in another simply with a change of environment and stimuli.

Now, when he does scream...it's ear splitting and if he's on your shoulder expect to be deaf for a bit. It's just their natural vocalization. He doesn't get that it's loud because it's just normal for him.

He got out of my grandparents house one evening. I mean, he hadn't been clipped and someone opened the sliding glass door, made a loud noise, he spooked and out he went. We searched ALL over for him. He was used to getting fed in the morning though. So, he spent a summer night in a tree down the street. When the sun came up and he didn't have any food...you better believe he started screaming and calling for his flock. I was never more happy for that loud scream than that morning. He was on the other side of the block and down the street a bit. In the wild, that's how they talk...and I was happy that he had that instinct. His distinct scream was the only way we found him...crazy bird. It was horrifying for me to lose him that way. Like I said, my grandparents weren't the most...informed bird people and wouldn't listen to a lot of what I said. After that, he spent a lot of time in the cage with them because they were afraid of him getting out again. Being out of town I'd just schedule a mobile bird groomer to come clip him. But, this is also when he started to REALLY scream because he was kind of cage bound.

I haven't tried to get him to stop screaming at all what so ever, it's that instinct that makes them kind of unique. On the exact reverse though, they don't have to be screaming birds that don't give you a moment's peace.

K, so that was long winded and just my experience with one bird. A really crazy story about him and his normal routine now.

[patdbunny]

[MandaDPanda]

I think it depends on the bird.

And I think it depends on the owner/household.

You're doing a fantastic job w/ Aries. I'd love to hear more.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. LOL I totally agree with you that the screaming depends on the owner/household. I meant that I think the morning/evening calls depend on the bird. As Aries doesn't really call in the morning and just kind of at night.

More? Hmm...well. His morning consists of chattering with me while I uncover him and making kissing noises when I take him out. It's the first thing he does when he gets to my finger in the morning. My husband built a nice little perch with removable crocs for food and water so he spends a lot of time on that throughout the day. It's really helped with the aggressive behavior he was showing when he was on my shoulder or wanted to be.

He spent time with me before I had to relocate and in that time he was learning a lot of great behaviors. I think this may be why it didn't take as long to get him out of the bad habits. He knew I wouldn't put up with being a cranky bird because he wasn't getting what he wanted. He's slowly getting used to being shown new things again.

He's never pushed to the point of frustration, but he is given new experiences and lots of love and praise so he becomes much more comfortable. He's a smart little guy.

Usually he's got 'nap time' he goes back in his cage to play and just be for a couple hours. It's the same kind of thing you do, to teach him that he's not being punished and that his cage is an ok place to be. He doesn't free feed in the cage though. He has tons of toys that rotate in and out. He will destroy a piece of wood when he wants to. He is kind of weird about toys so I have to keep mixing them up We don't mind though.

He's a bit fluttery when we get near the cage, which I know is from being a bit cage bound. He is getting much better. We stand near the cage until he sits nicely on my finger and then he goes back in.

I do need to remember that he won't do everything he did before with me right away. He's been home with us for a week and a half now. I just have to keep reminding myself that with time he'll relearn everything. He used to do the 'bat trick'...now he won't, he doesn't like it and I think his feet need a little more strength. We're working on that kind of stuff.

He'll hold a full conversation of 'what' and 'oh' with you if you let him. He wants to talk so bad and gets frustrated when I don't know what word he's trying to say. It's not a big huff, just repeating the word to my 'what' about 10 times in a row. He's working on 'good morning' 'Aries' 'baby' 'nigh night' 'poop' 'hello' (which he says clear as day when a phone rings, but only then) and I think he's trying to say 'good bird' lol Something that sounds vaguely like 'Daddy' as well.

He's kind of potty training himself. He waits until he is on the perch for his morning go. lol The first time my husband saw this he was VERY surprised. We've had some success with going on a couple different things and not on us or on the furniture.

He's not perfect and I get a little sad some days that he's not as snuggly as he used to be and that he doesn't do all the same things anymore...but he'll learn again.

He's having a hard time reintroducing to veggies, though he still knows oranges. They're a treat and something he will do anything for He was just pellets when he was there, and they gave him nuts like you wouldn't believe. I would go through and take away some things and tell them why. He'd still love to have nuts, but they need to be something he only gets when he's training in my opinion. He's getting used to spinach and broccoli again. Liking the whole grains again as well. He still loves his pellets the most Trying to get him on the uncolored ones...but he's a sucker for the bright red and yellow ones.

Overall, it's a process to get him back to a mentally emotionally happy bird. I have my days and he has his...but I think we're doing ok at the moment. We brought him up first, we'll be bringing the dog and cat up next. He needed the time to adjust and feel safe. Rules change slightly with the other animals, but the cat was with me when I initially got him so the cat is aware of some of the rules. They never spend time together, though the cat thinks the top of the cage is for sleeping. Running a sleeping cat off a bird cage is...interesting.

[MandaDPanda]

I thought I should be VERY clear about something in my previous post.

He doesn't feed with fresh fruits and veggies in cage...he has foraging toys not just play and dismantle toys. He's out most of the day on his perch that has small amounts of pellets and fresh fruit. He comes out to eat, some may think this is weird, but he's out most of the day anyway.

Just to clarify.