Do green cheek conures make good loving and training pets, ?

[hooligan]

I've never posted before, but I'm a new fan of the site and just stumbled upon this thread. I have a 6 month old Green Cheek Conure (she's a cinnamon turquoise color mutation) and she's actually a really sweet and loving bird. I did have another GCC (a yellow-sided) who... was not. I'm sad to say that I found him a home with a breeder because of how difficult he was.

The first GCC was extremely loud, unpredictable, and vicious. He was from a pet store with a number of louder species, and actually didn't have an ankle cuff (which, looking back, probably wasn't a great thing). At times, he could be friendly and enjoyed being handled, but it was hard to predict what he did and didn't like. If, for some reason, he wasn't happy (or maybe was just getting bored), he would bite. If he was really displeased, he would bite to draw blood, and would actually grind his lower jaw as he was biting you to make sure he was hurting you. He was also an extremely light sleeper, and noises from outside the apartment would wake him and cause him to start screaming at the top of his lungs. Bedtime, for this bird, was apparently around 7pm.

Luna, my current GCC, is from a private breeder and she's been handled by people since being weened. She's incredibly sweet and has never nipped anyone hard. She loves being scratched, loves to cuddle, and wants to be with me wherever I go. She's going through her first molt, and will let us know if we accidentally touch her the wrong way by beaking us firmly, but she's still very gentle and it doesn't hurt at all. She's also actually a really quiet bird. Her normal vocalizations are equivalent to a person's speaking voice, but she will very rarely make a GCC call that is like a yell. She'll only do this if she knows we're in the apartment but she can't see us (in which case, telling her that we're alright will make her stop) or if the microwave goes off.

Luna is also a really smart bird and loves doing the tricks I've taught her off the site! She obviously steps up and steps down (on a finger or on a stick), and (so far) also turns around in a circle, flaps her wings on command (which was an accident that occurred trying to teach her to spread her wings, which we're still working on), lays on her back, and will target a finger or a stick. She also started to speak, all on her own, and has a small vocabulary. Her talking voice is quiet and gravelly, but she clearly knows how to say "good girl," "pretty bird," and will also make kissy noises. She can be very spunky, loves to play tug-a-war with plastic bottle caps, and needs to be supervised when she's outside of her cage because she's prone to mischief and is very curious.

As negative as the experience was with the first bird, there were highlights that made me want to get another bird, and still made me feel like a GCC was the kind of bird I wanted. I love Luna, so I'm really glad I made that choice.

[Acka]

Thanks everyone, I recently purchased a 9 week old yellow sided green cheek conure. She does nipp sometimes but rarely bites. I've had him for six days today and she is my first parrot. She is doing extremely well in training and already knows how to flight re call, shake her head, the wings trick and turn around. I watched all michaels videos to get her to do this and she can learn 1 trick a day.