New to forum and first-time parrot owner!

[ejohannes]

Hello!

My name is Erik and I live in Auburn, Maine. My wife and I just bought a green cheeked conure. He is about six months old. We bought him from a pet store and was told that he was hand-fed as a baby, not "parent raised". We both love him and think he is great. In just two days, he has really opened up and started showing his personality. My wife and I were wondering if anyone could give us some tips on getting him to trust us (or not be afraid of us) enough to climb onto our finger without having to be caught.

Right now we have to reach into the cage and, well, catch him. He does not bite at all. We are able to hold him and massage his neck and what not. Do we just keep doing this? At some point, will he just let us put our hand in the cage and climb on? Also, what do you give them as treats? We have watched several YouTube videos and notice that people are giving their conures treats every time the bird does something cool. I guess I'll leave it at that.

P.S. - This is a great forum. Looks like everyone (except me) really knows there stuff and has a good time! I look forward to hearing from some of you!

Kindly,
Erik

[entrancedbymyGCC]

In the taming and training section there is a "sticky" on basic taming that should be just what you are looking for. Green cheeks are small enough to get away with doing what you are doing and sort of forcing the issue, and they are also cheeky enough that it might not even do any long term damage, but it would be better to work it so he comes to you willingly for something he wants rather than catching him. It might take some patience to get there. We were lucky with Scooter, who also came from a pet store rather than a breeder, in that he knew how to "step up" and was very easy to handle from the beginning.

Good luck! And welcome!

[born2fly]

Hi Erik welcome to the forum

Like Entraced said start of with the "sticky"

I may be biased but GCCs are great, get ready to have lots of fun with him/her

As for treats mine goes crazy for sunflower seeds so I only use as treats

[Roger P]

Welcome to the forum. Merlin is a Maroon Bellied Conure but they are very similar to GCC's in appearance and temperment. The best way I have heard them described is a big bird in a small body. If you don't set some ground rules on what is acceptable behaviour, they will try to take over (kind of a Napoleon complex

As others have already said, the Taming and Training section is a wonderful resource and the Basic Training Sticky is the best place to start. I would suggest beinning with Targeting, which could lead you into targeting him to "step up" on your hand or a perch.

As far as treats go, if you are using a seed mix on occasion to supplement pellets, next time you feed him, watch what he chooses to eat first, then remove that from the seed mix and use it for training only. Alternately, try some different things to see what he gets excited about. Merlin's favourite is little pieces of almond. The only time he gets it is for training, so he knows when it is time to "work".

Start small and many short sessions to keep him interested. GCC's are very smart, he will catch on in no time!

Good luck, let us know how it is going!