New GCC - QT Pie

[kaylayuh]

I got my new baby about 20 minutes ago. This is what his information sheet says:

Q.T. Pie the Green Cheek Conure

Q.T. was found outside in Baltimore and we were never able to locate his owner. He was found at the end of May 2010. He is banded but I was unable to trace the band. The service I contaced didn't reply. We think he was purchased from a pet store but that cannot be confirmed.

He seems to prefer females but will spend time with men after an initial tentative approach. (He loves my husband.) He is very sweet and friendly and lots of fun. He eats well but does not seem to play with his toys much. I have had a swing in his cage but have never seen him on it. His diet has been Higgins Safflower Gold, small to medium bird, ZuPreem fruit cockatiel size and Sun Seed cockatiel blended together. He is offered fresh foods three times a week and usually eats pretty well. Doesn't seem to have a true favorite food. He is quiet most of the time.

Q.T. has not interacted with other birds in the house but was caged next to a small Lori and liked to go over and visit him and talk to him through the cage bars. When they were both out together, the Lori mainly retreated.

Right now, he is perched on my shoulder and has taken a chunk out of my finger when I try to get him off. It appears that he wants to cuddle into the crook of my neck and stay there.

[Sarah&Rico]

Aww what a cutie! Congratulations!

[GlassOnion]

Congrats! Looks like he settled in already

[kaylayuh]

Thanks!

He settled in to my shoulder so well, he became Cujo when I tried to show him the cage! And his water is already orange, lol.

[zazanomore]

He looks like such a sweet heart!

[kaylayuh]

He looks like such a sweet heart!

The chunk missing from my finger would beg to differ! He's just too cute to resist though.

[kaylayuh]

Also a question for those of you with GCCs...

(S)he has been walking parallel to the perch with fanned out tail feathers and semi-raised wings. Have you seen your birds doing this, and if so, what does it mean? I'm trying to take a video of it, but every time I hit record, (s)he stops.

A quick google search would suggest this is mating behavior, where the bird postures for another bird to show they're receptive. But there's no other GCC here, and I can't imagine that (s)he'd be showing off for the budgies.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Er, might be displaying for you...

When we first got Scooter, he would nip to avoid going back in the cage. Part of it was possibly because he came from a store where he probably only got out occasionally and we thought he might be afraid he'd never get to come out again. So we took a multipronged approach -- gave a verbal warning before attempting to put him back, made a big fuss when he did go back, tried not to back off if he was nipping, and sometimes got him out again right away. I also discovered he prefers to go back to a higher perch.

Good luck! QT is very much his namesake!

[kaylayuh]

Er, might be displaying for you...

When we first got Scooter, he would nip to avoid going back in the cage. Part of it was possibly because he came from a store where he probably only got out occasionally and we thought he might be afraid he'd never get to come out again. So we took a multipronged approach -- gave a verbal warning before attempting to put him back, made a big fuss when he did go back, tried not to back off if he was nipping, and sometimes got him out again right away. I also discovered he prefers to go back to a higher perch.

Good luck! QT is very much his namesake!

Right now, I think I'm going to change his name to Houdini. He has somehow managed to get his body through the feeder doors with the bowls in them to get out under the sheet I covered his cage with.

[felix11]

Sure sounds like a sexual display! That's the only reason my bird fans her tail feathers with loose wings, and arches her head upwards. She shivers her feathers, too, when she does that. She is female, though, and I don't know what a male sexual display looks like, in case yours is male. If that is actually what it is, thats interesting behavior, considering you just got him.