Hello

[F0ZY]

Hi,
My name is Mark I just bought my first bird last Friday the 25 of April. It is a Green Cheek Pineapple Conure. I bought it from PetCo he was born on Jan 09-2014 and spent about two weeks in PetCo. I am not sure if it is male or female so I have haven't named it yet. I do have a few questions though. I have taken him out off his cage to look around and let him sit on my arm. However I am not sure if this is intentional or not because it seems like a mix of bitting and trying to preen my arm. He will nip at the hairs on my arm then go to my hand and it seems like he is trying to preen it as well but he manages to bite hard enough to break the skin and peel a bit of it back. He has done some damage on my thumb but nothing permanent. I am not really sure what to do about. Any help would be appreciated. Here are some pictures of him.
I am not sure how to upload pictures but here is a link to them.
http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/F0ZY/ ... t=3&page=1

I can provide pictures of what he has done if needed.

Thank you for your time.

[Sphinx]

What a cute face. Welcome to the forums!

GCCs are notorious for being a bit nippy. It is something that you will need to work on to establish what is acceptable, and what is not. You have certainly come to the right place for help. Pajarita has quite a bit of experience with Green Cheeks, so hopefully she can chime in. Wolf is also a great resource for information as well, especially when it comes to training.

Out of curiosity, have you taken your bird for a wellness exam at an avian veterinarian?

[F0ZY]

Not yet I got him a few days ago haven't had the time.

[Sphinx]

Not sure if you've see it already, but you may want to check out this thread.

[F0ZY]

Thanks for the other thread. A little while ago I had him on my hand and he went back to breaking the skin but when I told him no or no biting in a slightly raised voice he would just lightly press against my hand instead. I also noticed earlier today that he would hold onto the open door of the cage and brush his head against my arm as well.

[F0ZY]

another thing I noticed some times when I let him lick my hand through the cage or after we finished playing again he would bob up and down rapidly.

[Wolf]

another thing I noticed some times when I let him lick my hand through the cage or after we finished playing again he would bob up and down rapidly.

At this point in your relationship with your bird it is pretty safe to say that this is him saying "HI !" to you.

[F0ZY]

Thanks for all of the info. So far I have found that he likes to eat carrots and celery and i have given him a few unsalted pistachios as treats and I let him try to eat them out of the shells.

[Pajarita]

Baby might be too young to break open nuts, yet. Please give him/her two kinds of soft food daily, things like old-fashioned oatmeal, polenta, couscouse, brown rice (or any other whole grain like wheat, barley, quinoa, etc). Cook them until they are soft and mix them with baby food jars of fruits and veggies. He/she should also get large pieces of fruit on a daily basis as well as leafy greens and some veggies (they are not big veggie eaters but they do like the sweeter ones like corn on the cob, baked sweet potatoes or butternut/winter/acorn/pumpkin), grape tomatoes, etc

GCCs are mainly fruit eaters in the wild so free-feeding them (putting out a full bowl all day long) their protein food (pellets, seeds, nuts) is not really healthy for them. They do much better with gloop or mash for all day long eating and just a small portion of a budgie seed mix for dinner. If you are going to use seeds or nuts for training (wait on it a while), use safflowers or small pieces of nuts like almonds, walnuts, etc.

This is the time when you bond with your bird so spend as much time as you possibly can with him just keeping him company (they do love riding your shoulder and cuddling against your neck). This is also the time when they start experimenting on their own. Those bites/nips he's giving you is like a puppy teething, it's called 'beaking', and, although they can be a bit painful, he is not been aggressive, just curious so, when he does it too hard, say something like "gently gently gently" and take your hand/finger whatever out of his beak and, when he does it gently, praise, praise, praise.

[F0ZY]

thanks for the information on his diet I will have to get some variates. I was wondering if I were to give him a banana would I need to peel it and break it into smaller portions. Also he is 4 almost 5 months when should he be able to break shells?
Thanks again for your time.