Green Cheek Conure questions

[christie]

I am in the process of doing research for my next pet bird. I had thought I had concluded this research with wanting a Senegal I love their personalities. I'm wanting an active bird that want's to play, yet not have a constant ear shattering scream (I live in an apartment and It has to be quiet enough that they don't complain about the noise). I like active, playful, and yes, even a little mischievous. I would also like to have a bird I can do training with. And they needed to be OK in a cage during the day while I'm at work when I can't take them with me. I do plan on taking them as often as I can, but there will be days when that's not possible. (so yes, I'm also looking for the biggest cage possible too)

However, I recently met a GCC that I thought was adorable and very playful. lol, he (I'm guessing he here) bit me upon first introduction. He was a bit put off when I didn't respond to it, so did it again! After no response with that one he just stepped right up to my hand! OK, so I may be a little crazy to think it's funny to have a bird bite (he didn't bite that hard, no blood), then decide your ok, but that was soooo the attitude of my last bird, a parrotlet. He would introduce himself to someone new by biting the heck out of them. If you didn't respond, you were ok and could hold him without further injury, but if you reacted, look out! And of course he would test me every once in a while too. He was a stubborn little thing!

So, here is my question(s). Are they as playful as I'm thinking? How loud are they really? I honestly completely took out conures from my research for a new bird because I thought they were all good vocalizers (yes, you can read that as screamers), and I couldn't have one that loud. But this one seemed pretty quiet, however I was only with him for a short period. I know there are a lot of GCC owners on the forum, so I was hoping I could get some feed back from a few of you that own them?

I would really like to hear the good with the bad about them.

Thanks!

[paper_lantern]

I have a Green Cheek, and recently rescued and re-homed a bonded pair of green cheeks. The pair wasn't hand tamed and were basically wild, so I don't think they are the same as a hand tamed green cheek. My hand tamed green cheek, Furbie, is extremely playful. He is quick with learning too..I've already taught him to shake hands, wave, and give kisses (he even makes the kissing sound!). He has tons of toys in his cage, a play gym ontop of his cage, and various little foot toys...he uses them all. Volume wise he is not very loud, he almost never vocalizes (he mumbles and talks a lot when he is upset, and he only lets out a really shrill cry when he sees me leaving the house). Compared to another conure such as a blue crown...his screams are nothing. My aunt has a hand tame green cheek as well, and he only lets out a few screams when something upsets or scares him...otherwise its mostly mumbling, whistles, etc. The two I rescued on the other hand, were from a bad situation and were neglected, so when they came here they had picked up some bad habits...they were LOUD.

I love green cheeks...they are SUPER cuddly, mine loves nothing more than to cuddle on me before bed and let me scratch his head and neck. If I gave him his way, he would love to be petted for hours on end. The only thing is they do tend to be bossy, and nippy, especially right after being weaned...but like you mentioned if you completely ignore it he will probably stop.

[marie83]

I have a 2 yr old green cheek, I found his breeder whilst looking for a quaker parrot and decided to visit anyway even though it was a quaker I wanted. On the visit there were several that were 6 weeks old. None of them were partically bothered to see me though, all they were interested in was playing with each other. I ended up with a deposit on a little yellowside green cheek, even though I wasn't convinced they were the species for me. Two weeks later I went back again and this time I was sure I wanted this cheeky chap, although he still wasn't all that bothered by my presence and so he came home with me.

Literally within 20 minutes of being home he was climbing all over his massive cage, testing absolutely everything with his beak, eating, drinking etc. I've never had a bird do that before, usually they cuddle in a corner for ages quietly taking in their surroundings. Next day he was literally begging to come out his cage and get some attention (tbh he was that night but the breeder said to leave him 24 hours before getting him out). So he came out , climbed all over me then settled down for some cuddles. Within another day he was into absolutely everything in the room, just wanting to know what everything was, again I wasn't used to such a fearless, curious bird so I was a bit suprised.

Green cheeks are very clever, he learned step up the second day we had him, he learned to target in less than 10 minutes when I started training that a few weeks ago. He doesn't talk very well at all, he tries but most time whatever he says isn't very clear at all, from what I've read most people say the same about their green cheeks.


Green cheeks are very nippy birds but with perseverance on your part this does calm down, as you've found out they will keep trying repeatedly, eventually they do get the message though. Ollie has made me bleed on a couple of occassions but usually their bites just hurt a little and dont do any damage. They also like their own way alot so good training essential and they do respond very quickly if you deal with an unwanted behaviour immediately before it becomes habit.

Noisewise I think they are one of the quietest parrots you could own, I was certainly expecting alot worse. They can have the odd screaming fit but it's not that often and it doesn't last long at all if you don't encourage it.

Also they are not bad chewers compared with other parrot species, but don't think they can't get into mischeif, if theres a remote that could lose a few buttons they will try. Ollies pretty good if you leave things lying about, he tends to ignore it but if your using your phone or something then he wants to use it too. Again this can be sorted out with training, Ollie will frequently bite my OH if he is on the phone cuz he wants to play with the phone too. He never does this with me. On that note though Ollie is a different bird with me, pretty well behaved, but I train him, whereas my OH doesn't train him but expects him to be good because he can see he knows how to behave himself because I trained him.My OH can't handle him beyond scatching his head wheras I can lift his wings, touch his toes etc with no problems. Despite this Ollies pretty evenly bonded to both of us and splits his time between us when out of his cage.

If your after a small bird with big personality, if you don't mind if he doesn't talk or doesn't talk clearly and you have time and the patience to deal with the bossy stages and nipping they go through they are an amazing bird to have.

[christie]

Thank you for the information. What ever bird I get, I'm ok with small/med in size, and talking isn't all that important to me, it would be a nice bonus, but by no means a requirement. I want smart, fun, active and some cuddles mixed in! I don't mind attitude, I've been there, done that! And I know the importance of consistency.

How are they with socialization with other humans? Part of the reason I want to take my bird to work is not only to keep the bird happy, but is also for socialization with my co-workers. My last bird only liked me, my ex and my ex's father. Everyone else he would bite the heck out of and they didn't want to play with him because they didn't want to get bit. I'm hoping if I introduce him to the folks at work as a baby, they will be more used to him, so if he does bite, it won't be that big of a deal to them and I will be able to really socialize him.

By the way, I'm just using the term him out of habit, I really don't care what sex of bird I get. .

How old do these guys usually live? I've heard anything from 10 years to 30 years. And since I've been doing some research, they are about 10 inches (with long tail) and 60-80 grams in weight right? So they are considerably smaller than the Senegal that gets to be about 9 inches (but much smaller tail) and around 120-170 grams.

[paper_lantern]

Mine likes other people, but to be fair I introduced him to a lot of other people when I first got him. However, if he doesn't see someone for awhile and they come over he likes to "test" them..almost like he fake bites and if they don't freak out he is ok with them again.

I think bringing him to work is a good idea, I bring mine out on errands with me sometimes (of course he is harnessed).

The breeder had told me he could live up to 30-35 years. And yes, they are a bit smaller than a senegal but they have a big bird personality. I call mine a little Macaw. =P

[marie83]

' I want smart, fun, active and some cuddles mixed in'
if you want all that, talking isn't important and you don't mind the mischieviousness and feel you can deal with their nippiness then a green cheeks probably the bird for you.

Ollies quite happy to 'see' other people but he does tend to fly back to me or my OH pretty quickly. I did socialise him a fair bit in the first few months we had him though. When I first got him I was living with my parents and sister and his cage was in my bedroom so I started by taking him downstairs to meet my mum, the next time my dad was there too and finally my sister. Next I started taking him to my boyfriends with me for a few hours, then overnight. Ollie then met 2 out of 3 of my boyfriends children and a couple of my friends (not all at once). We also had my boyfriends parents round a few times and his aunt and uncle came to stay and he was quite happy to go and say hello then come back to us.
Ollie did go through a stage a few months back of being my OH's bird, before than he was very much my bird. The switch happened when he became sick and I had to keep giving him antibiotics. Basicly he became a bit scared of me because I was doing all the nasty stuff to him despite my best efforts to do 90% more good things for him. Since starting to retrain him he is equally bonded to us, and will fly back and forth to spend time with us.

Anyway without socialization I think they would become 1 person birds pretty quickly, they are very affectionate birds and will form a strong bond quickly when tame. On the whole though I think if you can get other people to spend a bit of time with him on a regular basis and reward him for positive interactions with these people whilst he is a baby you shouldn't have too much trouble getting him to accept other people. Get the people you socialise him with to play with him and give him treats too and he will associate visitors with good things.


Just to add I don't think you can ever guarrentee any bird will enjoy being with other people and won't become a 1 person bird but they should learn to accept it. Ollie will now voluntarily go to other people but will also leave them fairly quickly if me or my OH is in the same room. We also try to take turns to let him out the cage and give him a fuss which I think is helping , although I still do all the training.

[pennyandrocky]

hi greencheeks are very playful,smart,and cuddly.my speaks clearly and learns fast. he says 'love you',hey baby'and 'mommy' he gets nippy when he doesn't feel your paying enough attention.

[Andromeda]

Wow, there is some great information in this thread!

I have a GCC named Bubba. He is a re-home and when we got him he was 2.

He is super high energy and is very mischievous. He is fearless; he will bully other animals (in his first house apparently he would chase their boxer) and he will bully other people so I have to keep him in his cage when we have visitors (he is fully flighted).

He was very nippy when we first got him but he was in his 2s and from what I understand birds (especially conures) are known for nipping and biting in that stage of development. We did our best to ignore the bites and nips and now that he's a little older he rarely bites but he still nips a bit.

He is extremely demanding. He wants human attention and interaction almost all of the time. The only exception to this is when he's taking a nap or after he's had a bath and he's wet. He has lots of toys and he plays with them occasionally but his main focus is human attention. He wants to cuddle constantly and will cuddle your ear, neck, arm, or hand. Sometimes if I am busy he will come over and nip my hand and when I lift it up he puffs up his head and shoves it underneath my fingers because he wants a scratch.

He likes to burrow into clothing or other dark spaces. This is apparently a GCC thing because I've seen other people say on forums that their GCC likes to burrow into clothing. He drives me nuts because he's learned to flatten his body and squirm under the couch and I do what I can to prevent him from doing that but sometimes he gets away from me and disappears before I can grab him.

He never wants to go into his cage. My birds spend 10 - 12 hours per day out of their cage but he doesn't even want to be in his cage for 5 minutes. If it was up to him he'd never be in his cage. At night he knows it's bedtime and he gets very nippy with me because he knows it means he's going in his cage. He cuddles up to my husband's neck and falls asleep he wants to stay there!

He does a hilarious dance whenever he hears running water. He also does it if he hears music he likes or if people clap their hands. This is apparently a GCC thing because if you look on YouTube you can find videos of GCCs doing "the dance." Here's two videos I found:

Green cheek water dance
Green cheek dance

They are not loud birds generally speaking but they do have a "conure scream" that is pretty loud and abrasive to the ears. Mine only does it if he's scared or unhappy but sometimes he will just carry on with that call and it's tolerable but unpleasant to hear. Mine talks; he says about 10 different words and phrases and he uses them in context. His voice is rough (typical of a GCC) but you can understand what he's saying.

In summary they are high-energy, demanding, fearless birds full of attitude. They are also full of cuddles and love and affection and they do a hilarious dance. Their plumage is beautiful and full of colors and they have an adorable face.

I also have a brown-headed parrot (a Poi like a Senegal) so if you have questions about that I'd be happy to tell you about my other bird. He weighs in at 130 grams which is twice as much as my conure at 65 grams. Just so you are aware Pois have much larger beaks than GCCs and their bites are much worse. I'm not discouraging you from getting a Senegal but beak size may be a consideration.

[marie83]

Andromeda, I think we have the same bird lol. Almost everything you described there is Ollie.
He does sometimes still want his head scratches after a bath but usually wants to sit quietly on top of his cage and dry off. We can get him in his cage no problems but then he clings to the side of the cage for ages with those pleading eyes 'lemme back out!'

[Andromeda]

Andromeda, I think we have the same bird lol. Almost everything you described there is Ollie.
He does sometimes still want his head scratches after a bath but usually wants to sit quietly on top of his cage and dry off. We can get him in his cage no problems but then he clings to the side of the cage for ages with those pleading eyes 'lemme back out!'

That's hilarious, Marie!

I've watched a lot of GCC videos and read about other owner's experiences and what amazes me is that most of their quirky behavior is instinctual. I mean here you have these GCCs, most of whom have spent very little time interacting with other GCCs, but they display the same range of behaviors! Even "the dance" is the same across the species! LOL

I would give anything to see a flock of wild GCCs encounter running water. Do they all stop what they're doing and start dancing and prancing?

Most of the time Bubba doesn't give me problems when I put him in his cage but sometimes he nips. Other times when he sees his cage he flies on top of it and won't step up for me. Just like Ollie, he definitely clings to the side of his cage and gives me those pretty brown "let me out" eyes!