Considering a Conure!

[ishael]

I know I have been quite inactive on the forum lately and that is because life is still quite crazy for me. I've also been trying to distance myself from the forum because I was obsessing about perhaps getting a bird and it was stressing me out. Since I have been away, I've decided I will not be getting a bird for at least 6 months. This is because I've had a few problems with my dogs and I need to decide whether I can continue with one of them or give him up. And trust me, its breaking my heart and I have no time for a parrot, big or small.
However, birds are still very much on my mind. I have been working with the two 3 month old Rose Crown Conures at work and have very much fallen in love with them. I've always admired Sun Conures as well. I'm just wondering if a Conure would be right for me, and I'm hoping everyone can help me out.
I am a student who only works 2 to 3 days a week, and the rest of the time I am home. I would have a ton of time to devote to a parrot, at least for a few years as I finish up school. I would definitely be looking to rescue an older Conure because I wouldn't want to adopt a baby, considering I am young and I cannot guarantee a bird 40 years of my life and that just isn't fair. I know that Conures can be noisy and that is one of my only concerns since it may not be appreciated so much in my family. I'll be doing a lot of further research too before I make a decision, trust me.
So ask me any questions or let me know anything that may conflict or any reasons why a Conure may not be right for me!

[CaitlinRice413]

[ishael]

Hello! I am new and this is my first post. I have had small parrots since I was 4, and I do have experience with conures so I hope I can help. I had a sun conure and I have interacted with other conures a lot as well. They are very vocal and it was very annoying to my family, that ended up being the reason I had to give mine up and it was a really upsetting thing to go through. Conures seem to also be quite mouthy-they love to explore everything with their beaks, from the cuticles in your fingernails to anything interesting in the world around them. I had mine from a young age and I was always very kind and gentle with him, so his mouthyness was never a problem in an agressive way. But I have seen these birds as rescues, who may not have had the kindest experience with people, and it resulted in hard bites without warning. With one rescued sun conure in particular, I carefully approached him when he was on a play stand. He seemed chipper and eager to interact with me, so I held out my finger and said "step up". The foster told me he may bite, but i am good at reading the body language and I was cautous to not be startling or appear aggressive in any way. He hopped up to my finger and stuck his tongue out to check me out, like they usually do. Then he just crunched down on my finger out of nowhere. I had a bruised and slightly bleeding mark on my finger as a result. This issue can take a lot of gentle paitence and daily interaction to overcome, which is something to consider. It is very charitable to adopt an animal, but its important to ask yourself, "am I ready and able to take on potential behavior issues that may be hard to address?" And if you live with other people, discuss the potential issues with them too. Will they be bothered by the frequent loud squacking that conures are known for? Will there be times that you will need them to help care for the bird, and will they be comfortable with the possible biting poblem with a bird who had a troubled past? I ended up getting a cockatiel a few years after giving up my sun conure, and she made a terrific pet. She was a bird my whole family could live with comfortably, and she had loads of personaity and affection. I hope my experience can help you towards finding the right feathered companion!

Thanks for your reply! Yes, I know they can either be extremely noisy or quite quiet. The ones I have worked with have been quiet but they are just babies. And yes, I have noticed they are incredibly mouthy. The male I work with whom I named Rocco has come to like me a lot. He lets me flip him on his back, scratch under his wings, and kiss his face. I have mastered a little Conure call and we just talk all day.
I am nervous about possibly rescuing. I am still on the fence about it but it is really not fair to a bird if I cannot guarantee to give it a home for their entire life. But then again I am a newbie parrot owner and dealing with behaviour problems is not something I am sure I could handle... I am thinking I would just adopt from another owner who cannot have theirs any more. But it really depends on where I am when I'm actually about to get a bird. For now I'm still exploring options.

[charlieandkiwi]

Hello! I am new and this is my first post. I have had small parrots since I was 4, and I do have experience with conures so I hope I can help. I had a sun conure and I have interacted with other conures a lot as well. They are very vocal and it was very annoying to my family, that ended up being the reason I had to give mine up and it was a really upsetting thing to go through. Conures seem to also be quite mouthy-they love to explore everything with their beaks, from the cuticles in your fingernails to anything interesting in the world around them. I had mine from a young age and I was always very kind and gentle with him, so his mouthyness was never a problem in an agressive way. But I have seen these birds as rescues, who may not have had the kindest experience with people, and it resulted in hard bites without warning. With one rescued sun conure in particular, I carefully approached him when he was on a play stand. He seemed chipper and eager to interact with me, so I held out my finger and said "step up". The foster told me he may bite, but i am good at reading the body language and I was cautous to not be startling or appear aggressive in any way. He hopped up to my finger and stuck his tongue out to check me out, like they usually do. Then he just crunched down on my finger out of nowhere. I had a bruised and slightly bleeding mark on my finger as a result. This issue can take a lot of gentle paitence and daily interaction to overcome, which is something to consider. It is very charitable to adopt an animal, but its important to ask yourself, "am I ready and able to take on potential behavior issues that may be hard to address?" And if you live with other people, discuss the potential issues with them too. Will they be bothered by the frequent loud squacking that conures are known for? Will there be times that you will need them to help care for the bird, and will they be comfortable with the possible biting poblem with a bird who had a troubled past? I ended up getting a cockatiel a few years after giving up my sun conure, and she made a terrific pet. She was a bird my whole family could live with comfortably, and she had loads of personaity and affection. I hope my experience can help you towards finding the right feathered companion!

Thanks for your reply! Yes, I know they can either be extremely noisy or quite quiet. The ones I have worked with have been quiet but they are just babies. And yes, I have noticed they are incredibly mouthy. The male I work with whom I named Rocco has come to like me a lot. He lets me flip him on his back, scratch under his wings, and kiss his face. I have mastered a little Conure call and we just talk all day.
I am nervous about possibly rescuing. I am still on the fence about it but it is really not fair to a bird if I cannot guarantee to give it a home for their entire life. But then again I am a newbie parrot owner and dealing with behaviour problems is not something I am sure I could handle... I am thinking I would just adopt from another owner who cannot have theirs any more. But it really depends on where I am when I'm actually about to get a bird. For now I'm still exploring options.

I've had two conures (and I still have them). Both were nippy when I first got them and the second was the type like you describe above- he'd step up just fine and then bite some of the time. I eventually learned that there are times of the day that he's more likely to do that and I also would put him on the ground every time he did. With both of them, any time they nipped harder than I liked, I put them on the ground and they generally got a warning, unless they did it out of the blue.

Now, the one that I've had for 8 years never bites and rarely mouths harder than a very light touch. He's also extremely friend and well-adjusted. He loves my boyfriend, loves me, loves mobbing our hands for snuggles, and has convinced a lot of people that they want birds (I then tell them that they really don't). The other one no longer bites at all out of the blue and only mouths too hard when he gets excited while playing (I usually put him back in his cage with that or end the game).

It took both of them about two years to become perfect angels and they are still quite annoying noise-wise to my boyfriend.

I recommend that if you don't think you'll be able to keep your parrot for life and don't feel confident dealing with these issues, that you find a different species that you might work out with better. Conures require a lot of patience and a good situation people-wise. There are other birds that are less demanding and we all know that they are still just as lovable.

[cmaygar]

You're probably not ready to get a parrot until you are out of school, into your career and settled. Since many conure species are very noisy (although the pyrrhura species conures are much less noisy than the aratinga and nanday species conures), there are many apartments that will not accept any parrots other than budgies or cockatiels so you may be setting yourself and your bird up for a heartbreak in the near future.

I have 2 GCCs that I love dearly and regardless of whether you find a rescue parrot or a young bird, they need a lot of care and mostly it is very important that you have the ability to care for hem in a stable environment. Far too many birds are re-homed because owners don't have the knowledge, commitment or resources to properly care for them.

I got my Quaker after I was out of school, in my first professional job and had my first condo. She lived for 24 years. Waiting a few more years until you are out of school and set in your career is the best move that you can make.

[Arshia]

NO. YOU ARE NOT READY. DON'T GET A PARROT. GET A DOG INSTEAD. BLARGH

^This seems to be the consensus /whenever/ you ask this question to a parrot-person.

The people on this forum seem to always assume that you are getting a parrot, jump at such an outrageous decision, and ridicule you, even when you make it clear that you are not getting a parrot.

So when you go so far as to say that you are actually "considering" buying a parrot, don't expect positive responses. If it were up to the people on this forum, no one else would have parrots but them.

[marie83]

Seriously anyone who isnt in a situation where they might not be able to keep the animal long term shouldnt do so WHATEVER species is it...... I would argue against anyone who suggested getting a dog instead of a parrot, if they are getting looked after correctly- and I mean beyond the so called minimum requirements then they are just as much work.

I would love to live in a world where the only pets getting rehomed are ones where the owner is in an exceptional situation, like an illness, not because they woke up and realised that they no longer have the time now they have a job. When taking on ANY animal you need to think of the immediate and long term future and consider what problems might arise and how to deal with them, simply rehoming due to ignorance and lack of consideration is unacceptable.

I have not seen anyone on this forum be ridiculed for wanting a parrot, I have seen good, honest advice. When getting any animal you should expect the worst (and have plans to deal with it) and hope for the best.

[Nir]

So when you go so far as to say that you are actually "considering" buying a parrot, don't expect positive responses. If it were up to the people on this forum, no one else would have parrots but them.

I think there should be a sticky for new people to not make threads that has anything to do with getting a new bird. I cant think of ANY thread made by new inexperienced people that can get positive responses from this site. Only more experienced people will be able to make threads in a way where it might get positive responses. The new people will always make threads where they ask questions that never get answered and switches to a why not to get a parrot thread. So i think there should be a sticky HIGHLIGHTED IN BOLD of why NOT to get a parrot so the same things aren't repeated a million times over and over to every new poster.

I know 1 thing, if a site was not able to be satisfied recommending ME to buy a bird after months and months of research and long 10 page threads of long discussions (which did help and made me learn more to prepare), then i dont think this site will ever be satisfied with anyone.

so therefore Michael should really make a sticky to only buy rescue/rehome birds and make it a agenda to let people know that no one should be getting a bird unless your 70 years old.

By the way I am being very serious about this agenda thing. 1 respectable bird forum that has a similar agenda is my toos (http://www.mytoos.com/forum/ubbthreads. ... Post126292).

[pionus]

Nir wrote
I think there should be a sticky for new people to not make threads that has anything to do with getting a new bird. I cant think of ANY thread made by new inexperienced people that can get positive responses from this site. Only more experienced people will be able to make threads in a way where it might get positive responses. The new people will always make threads where they ask questions that never get answered and switches to a why not to get a parrot thread. So i think there should be a sticky HIGHLIGHTED IN BOLD of why NOT to get a parrot so the same things aren't repeated a million times over and over to every new poster.

I know 1 thing, if a site was not able to be satisfied recommending ME to buy a bird after months and months of research and long 10 page threads of long discussions (which did help and made me learn more to prepare), then i dont think this site will ever be satisfied with anyone.

so therefore Michael should really make a sticky to only buy rescue/rehome birds and make it a agenda to let people know that no one should be getting a bird unless your 70 years old.

By the way I am being very serious about this agenda thing. 1 respectable bird forum that has a similar agenda is my toos (http://www.mytoos.com/forum/ubbthreads. ... Post126292).

You have some good points in your post, but if you get a parrot when you are 70, than you will probably die before the bird, leaving a hopefully bonded bird in the hands of relatives, buyers, or shelters.
just sayin.

But, you are right in saying that new comers that have not established that they might have actually done oodles and oodles of research and are asking reasonable questions and want reasonable answers, never get them, only ridicule and people telling them that they are not ready because "they don't have a job yet", "their cat is predatory", and "YOU AREN'T READY BECAUSE I SAID SO AND I KNOW MORE THAN YOU BUT NOT ANY THING ABOUT YOU SO AM GOING TO SAY NO BECAUSE THAT IS THE OBVIOUS CHOICE FOR ME TO MAKE".
ok, i was exaggerating there a bit...

But really, people should be more open minded about how they address newbies questions.

Not everyone is the terrible person that is sooner to dump the bird as soon as they run into a ruff patch.

[cml]

Havnt we gone through this in one of your earlier threads Nir ^^?

Jokes aside, keeping in mind how we all phrase things is important, and that goes for both exsisting members of the forum, as well as new people.

I think a lot of the "critisism" is a result of the fact that some posters come across as very immature, and/or not ready to commit, and/or has a dangerous cat (I love cats though, but not in combination with parrots), etc etc.

At the same time, people who reply should try to be civil, isnt that just common sense?

Do we really have to start this discussion again, Nir?