Good, Bad, and Ugly- GCCs

[Julsiebean]

So, talking with a few breeders and shopping around for a baby GCC. This will be my final bird for a very long time, and I'd like a handfed baby. I've aways had rehomes which is beyond rewarding, but I'd like a baby of my own this time!

I feel like I have done a lot of research but nothing beats real, honest advice from all of you. I know I've spoken to a couple of you but feel free to jump in and lay it out there.

The only thing I am worried about is having three birds all so new all so soon. I know I can handle it, or I wouldn't consider it. I hope people don't think I'm crazy.


**Update**

Meeting with a breeder Sunday, she has 9 GCC babies and quaker babies too! God give me strength not to come home with a whole handful!!! I hope to place a deposit and have the baby home in a few weeks. I am so excited!

[kaylayuh]

If you're crazy, so am I! My boyfriend has taken to calling me the crazy bird lady. If I get this love bird, it'll be my fourth bird in ten months. Something I wouldn't recommend for most people.

Anyway, on to the GCC's.

The Bad: When they scream, they are LOUD. Their call is incredibly shrill.
The Good: This call is infrequent, which is why they're considered good apartment pets.

The Bad: They're known to be particularly nippy.
The Good: Working with them should prevent this problem.

The Bad: They are miniature wood chippers and will reduce any piece of wood to toothpicks in the matter of hours.
The Good: They are super playful and mine is always on the move. He loves to hang upside down, gnaw on any piece of wood he can get his beak around, and he's particularly well behaved with the budgies.

I really can't think of any more bad parts of having a GCC. Mine is a rehome so my experience will probably be much different than yours. He can be nippy sometimes, but that's only if he's being forced to do something he doesn't really want to be doing. He loves to cuddle, but he's not clingy. He can play by himself or with the rest of my flock with no problems.

He's not usually loud, but when he does call, it's very shrill. Every couple of days he has a screaming fit that lasts about fifteen minutes. After that, he's pretty quiet for the rest of the week. Most of the sounds he makes are mumblings that sound like Donald Duck.

You'll need a big cage. Much bigger than what the recommend. If I would've gone with the cage the rescue recommended, I don't think he would've been nearly as happy. Now he comes in and out of his cage as he pleases, but will actually spend time playing happily in his cage.

I would make sure your cage doors are very secure, too. My little guy can lift them and break out. Often times, I'll wake up with his tail in my face and he's preening my head. He'll do so pretty quietly, but still quite a thing to wake up to! He's also very talented at opening the hooks to attach toys to the cage.

[jayebird]

I posted a topic here surveying people with multi-bird (2+) households to see how they managed it: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4186&start=0 and some very useful info's there

Our Mango is actually a Maroon Bellied crossed with a Green Cheek - go figure. But the two species are almost the same for all intents and purposes...so here's our experience so far

He's so quiet it's almost unnatural. He only contact calls once a month or so (the shrill screech.) He's INCREDIBLY smart and trick-trainable (starting on prop tricks soon) and he was easily trained to click and whistle as a contact call instead of scream very, very quickly. Like I said - very, very smart and loves to train for treats. He murmurs in your ear and he'll beep with the microwave sometimes, but we live in the city and I'm thankful that to this day he just doesn't care about the constant ambulances and fire trucks and police cars screaming by and has never, ever screamed at them or tried to imitate the sound. Pyrhurra are known for being on the much quieter end of the spectrum.

He could care less for his toys most of the time, but not always. He goes through phases and favorites. He's a foraging-toy fiend, though. He's not a chewer unless it's really easily destroyed. He has no patience for the hard stuff He naps and explores his cage - and I definitely agree with getting a much larger cage than recommended. He uses every inch of it and likes to climb around. I'm 5'2" and his cage is taller than me! I can very easily fit inside of it.

He loves to tunnel! If we're reading in bed and he's hanging out with us he becomes incredibly single-minded about exploring tunnels in the bed sheets. He loves to explore in general, but he's just as happy perched on my monitor and watching me type with one of his little feet tucked in.

He's the most cuddly bird I've ever met - and I hear that this is a tendency of the species. He will almost never turn down a head scritch and he'll ask for them all of the time. He snuggles up to your neck and grinds his beak. He's so comfortable on his back that he's fallen asleep in my hand more than once. He doesn't play with toys on his back, but he loves to hand-wrestle on his back. He's incredibly hand-tame and we can touch him anywhere and do anything to him. He was very tame when we got him and was very easy to tame even further.

He's calm and although he can have a hyper or cranky mood, he's mostly cheery. He has not picked either me or my fiance as a favorite person and we work hard to keep it that way - but he will sometimes have a mood where he really wants to perch on one of us instead of the other. He's never aggressive about it though, he just gives us the signals.

They can be nippy and he started out worse than he is now. He just "beaks" a bit but mostly uses other forms of body language to communicate his wants. He can definitely hurt (he's drawn blood once on each of us - just in the very, very beginning and it was our fault) but he hasn't hurt us since.

I do hear every so often that conures are the "Terriers" of the parrot world and I agree. He's alllll about hanging out with us, but when he sees something he wants he is completely single-minded. He gets his own dinner dish with his own goodies in it, but if we're snacking on something or if he suspects we are putting food into our mouths secretly without telling him first, he will climb over anything and do anything to get at it. Not viciously or aggressively, just doggedly and dedicated to the cause. Over blankets, under blankets, up sleeves, over knees, up pantlegs, on top of your head and crane down over til he;s in the perfect position to snatch the food from your fork just before it reaches your mouth (I'm serious.) The upside is that he has absolutely no problem trying new foods. The downside is, while a dog will simply sit at your feet and whine a bit to beg for food.......this little devil will actively try, non-stop, to get at what he wants. Until he gets put on his playstand, that is, and then he just gets indignant about the whole situation

He definitely has a sense of self-confidence and pride and when he is indignant about certain treatment or handling he will let you know with some indignant squeaks and body language. You know how when a bird misbehaves or when he does a trick wrong you kind of ignore him or turn your back to him? Well, if you offend his sense of pride he'll do it right back at you. He's sassy sometimes (in an adorable way, because let's face it, he's smaller than a cockatiel.) He has a HUGE personality for such a little bird! His likes and dislikes, favorite foods, favorite tricks, favorite activities or words, favorite songs to dance to, very un-favorite songs he will NOT dance to...he's so much bird in such a small package. It's awesome.

He's just the perfect bird for our lifestyle because my fiance and I like to take walks (which he can come on) but we're kind of homebodies and we like to just chill - and he's cool with that.

Did you have any particular questions about anything specific?

[Julsiebean]

Thank you both for your candid, detailed input! I was marvelous to read. I am more convinced then ever that this GCC will work out very well with our lifestyle and home. I am sure I will have a million questions along they way- but for the most part they sound like the jenday I had- without the screaming. I am far more equipped now to handle that behavior should it happen, and I know this bird is "mine" for keepsies, not a foster.

[kaylayuh]

Also, if you want the bird to wear a harness, have the breeder start harness training him. I can just put my guy on his back in his favorite blanket and manhandle it on him now (he doesn't mind, he thinks we're playing!), but most people don't have that luxury and they WILL draw blood.

Take the baby with you places, too. A lot of places. My little guy is going with me to vote today.

[Julsiebean]

I don't know that I can take the birds on errands that I have to leave the car just yet, my toddler is a HANDFUL and and I normally have my big kid too. But it is good advice, I will do what I can when I can. Meh, kids. Always in the way of my parrots.

[kaylayuh]

I don't know that I can take the birds on errands that I have to leave the car just yet, my toddler is a HANDFUL and and I normally have my big kid too. But it is good advice, I will do what I can when I can. Meh, kids. Always in the way of my parrots.

They make leashes for kids, too! When I took Cheney Bird to the farmers market, a preschool had all their kids on a single leash going through. TOO funny!

[Julsiebean]

Yep, my todder has one. He screams bloody freakin' murder if you go near him with it. He drops on the floor/ground and flops like a fish in pure agony if you put it on him. It is....stressful to say the least. He is all, don't think so Scooter. Ha! It is an adorable stuffed monkey back pack harness, my oldest son loved it as a toddler.

[jayebird]

LOL that's way too funny......

I'd agree - harness training early (if you want to.) Because they're so small it's much harder to get the harness on them than it is in any training videos you watch because those videos are all caiques or macaws or whatnot. The strap material doesn't scale down, so we have had to train him oh-so-slowly to accept the harness.

I think if I could describe my experience with a GCC shortly...huge bird personality, tons of bird smarts, all in such a little package