I want to buy a Sun Conure

[Eurycerus]

Yes it is. If that is your reason for wanting an animal, that is a terrible reason. Animals are living, breathing, thinking beings that deserve far better than satisfying you! It sounds to me like you need to find a way to make yourself busy that doesn't involve a living animal. You probably have too much time on your hands.

If you do currently have time, and you end up getting an animal to sate your selfish desire, your life will probably change at some point, due to job, family, etc. It is traumatic for animals to go from lots of attention to minimal. Various behavioral and emotional problems will result. It is also unfair of you to get an animal for the sole selfish desire of having a being that requires you to exist. As someone pointed out, many many parrots are posted on craigslist, abandoned, or given to shelters because people don't have time for them anymore.

[Polarn]

To some extent yes, it is one thing having a bird wanting to spend time with you another to have a bird who desperately needs it, a lonely bird needs to learn to entertain itself witch require some strength from the human from day 1, to never not even in the beginning spend more time with the bird than you can provide for the rest of its life. If you desperately wants it to not be able to bare without you then you're becoming it's mate and should be around 24/7 so no work no going away from home etc, and this kind of thinking and reasoning of you becoming it's mate is the reason they made it illegal here to keep birds alone, with the exception I. The text saying you may keep a single bird if your able to be there as its mate giving the same amount of companionship a mate would. Keeping two or more birds make them less dependent on you for companionship wich is why it makes em harder to tame and train, and requires you to put a lot more effort into earning their trust and interaction. So yes I would say going into that kind of thinking and especially with the parallel of dogs not needing you for more than food... I know my sister spends pretty much the same amount of time with her dogs as I do with my birds. And generally speaking dogs are as much if not more craving for attention, scratches, cuddle etc than a bird does. Some birds will never enjoy cuddling some are extremely cuddly. And the reason why you find when reading what kinds of treats to use during training to be food is because that's what they really gets motivated by, sure sometimes a head scratch will do but a pat on the neck of the quarter living here is all he needs as motivation to learn a behavior.
Basically you need to let a bird know how to play independent from you couse you can't possibly be unemployed for the next 25+ years and still be able to provide the monthly cost of a good diet, toys etc not to mention the regular health check at the vet plus the unexpected visits etc. but then again cash isn't everything, there's always MasterCard and visa.

[Kr0kR]

Well I sincerely apologize for being selfish and wanting a bird for a companion. I guess from reading everything I could on the internet, books, videos, etc that birds truly want nothing to do with humans. And I guess from what everyone is telling me I'd be a horrible person to take care of a bird. I really didn't mean to offend you all to this extent. I thought having a feathered friend to take care of for 15-30 years would be great.

[Grey_Moon]

Once again,

You're not a terrible person. Parrots aren't terrible 'pets' in that they hate people. They're terrible 'pets' in that they suffer greatly in being put in the 'pet' role.

See here, please.

It applies to all parrots.

www.mytoos.com

[Michael]

I guess from reading everything I could on the internet, books, videos, etc that birds truly want nothing to do with humans.

It's not that they want nothing to do with us... It's that most people are incapable of creating a balance in which the parrot enjoys being around humans but can also take care of itself. Most of the time either the bird ends up hating people (because people do nothing good for it, so why should it want to be around them?) and people get bored of this pointless creature that is nothing but noise, mess, expense, and pain. Other times (and this is less often), people make the bird so attached/obsessed with them that the bird becomes incapable of dealing with solitude. These birds result in destructive, noisy, stressful, and/or self mutilating behavior and are devastated when their owner finds something else they'd rather be doing. Making it work rides a very fine line between these and is not possible/convenient for most people. Thus in the vast majority of situations it is best both for the bird and the human not to get involved in the first place.

[Kr0kR]

Guys I completely understand why you feel this way. So very many birds are given away and abandoned and so forth. But I have researched Sun conures in all my free time I have built 4 little jungle gym things for the future bird I've even made it so no electrical cords are showing in my room so the bird cant electrocute itself. I cant tell you how many places I have been in new mexico just to handle birds! Sun Conures are beautiful, majestic, curious, playful, and loud little guys and thats Why I want one. And none of you can say that you wanted a bird so it wouldnt become attached to you to some extent. All I want is to have a little bird buddy to spend my time with and take care of and train. I dont quite understand why I am getting such negative comments. Parrots are fun active little guys and thats why I have bird proofed my room so that he can fly around and have fun when I'm there. He has so many toys to play with and perches to fly around on. I am not getting his wings clipped and I do understand a bird is a handful and thats kind of why I wanted one in the beginning. I guess I understand to some extent that wanting a parrot to love you can be out of the question but this bird is for my family to be social and to be active with. I personally think a bird would be an awesome companion but automatically because I typed one sentence I get thrown done into that group of people who should never be around an animal?

[Eurycerus]

To be clear you wrote "I want a pet that needs my attention and that can't live without me", which all of us are saying is a bad idea. It sounds like you have unrealistic expectations if that's how you're describing your interest in parrots. Michael's description is spot on, that people think they're interested, and want a parrot because it's pretty, or want a parrot because parrots of their need for attention, and then they get bored and that parrot gets thrown out. Parrots don't hate people and you aren't a horrible person, but you could make a horrible mistake. Analyze your feelings and desires, and those of a potential future parrot, and really think about it!

**It sounds like you are more educated than you appeared initially and simply miswrote.

[Kr0kR]

I completely understand how I sounded like a little girl who wants that little birdie in the window. But I have been seriously thinking all of this through to death! Ive spent a lot of effort researching parrot keeping and it kind of sucked to join a forum finally and get all my responses shot down haha

[Eurycerus]

Well that's great! I did the same thing. I waited for five years, so that I could finish college and get a good paying job before I got a parrot. I knew all the moving and instability would have been bad for the parrot and me. In fact I even bought a cage many years back but ended up selling it because I knew I wouldn't be able to get a parrot any time soon. I felt pretty silly.

[Kr0kR]

Oh BTW grey moon that website states "Please keep in mind that I'm talking about large Cockatoos here. Other Parrots are quite different. Do the research on several types and ask people who OWN them, not sell them...." not all parrots.