GCC care

[RenLynn]

HI, my two month Green cheek conure likes to come out of his cage a lot. How much should I take Sam out?

And he has been sitting on the bottom of his cage when I don't take him out. I know that can be a sighn that a bird is sick. But he seems heathy.

[Wolf]

Being on the bottom of the cage can be an indication of illness, but there are also other possibilities for him to be on the cage bottom. I would just keep watch for any other thing that he does that may be out of the ordinary. Keep watch on food and water consumption, feather condition, as well as changes in attitude.
He should be out for about as long as you can allow him to be.

[RenLynn]

Thanks Wolf, but if you were to put a time limit on it, how long?

30-45 minutes a day?

[Wolf]

I don't. Generally speaking if your bird is only spending a little time on the bottom of the cage, it is probably ok. Generally speaking by the time a sick bird goes to ground ( bottom of cage ) it will die there without immediate medical intervention. They usually will sit there hunched over with feathers all puffed out like it was cold. Even it things appear to be ok, I will make the bird move and watch to see what happens. If the bird returns to bottom of cage and just sits there, it goes to the vets.

[marie83]

At 2 months old your conure is still a baby. Was he kept in a "proper" cage when you brought him home or was he still in one of the tank type things? If he couldn't climb a lot before your brought him home then he will be used to sitting on the floor and will take time to adapt. It might also be a comfort thing and reverting back to "baby" behaviours. If he is already tame then he needs ALOT more interaction that 45 minutes a day for the rest of his life. GCC are pretty needy birds at the best of times but babies are even more so. That said don't give more direct interaction than you can spend on him usually, he will get stressed when you start withdrawing it and end up with an even needier bird, just let him sit with you- if he wants to.

Like wolf said though it could be illness so keep a very close eye on him.

[RenLynn]

Thanks Marie83, and he was in proper cage when I purchased him. But he had just been weaned a week ago. So he could still be used to siting on the ground.

[Pajarita]

Hmmm, I've never had a baby GCC but the adults never, ever go to ground. They fly down to take a bath and fly back up immediately after. The only time my GCCs would go walkabout on the floor was because they wanted to nest under the sofa -LOL- so I would watch him very carefully because, although I don't have personal experience with a baby, it doesn't sound quite normal that he doesn't go up high.

GCCs are extremely needy birds, mine would be out 4 to 5 hours a day and, usually, spend 99% of that time on me.

[RenLynn]

And also when he comes out of his cage he only wants to cuddle up to my neck and sleep.
Is that normal?

[Wolf]

Yeah, that's their sweet spot, your neck. They seem to get a lot of security from it.

[marie83]

And also when he comes out of his cage he only wants to cuddle up to my neck and sleep.
Is that normal?

yup, they just want to be with you all the time. They are very demanding which is why I said 45 mins a day is not enough. We had to teach ours to go off and do his own thing because he was so demanding.