Introduction + General questions

[Ta2Matt]

Hello all!
I'll start off talking a little about myself wich should then help those of you who wish to answer the questions following that!
My name is Matthew, I'm a 24 year old guy and a full time tattoo artist.
For those of you familiar with the trade, you know our work does not end after a day at the shop.
We spend many hours overtime at home doing ''homework'' after a day's work.
I generally leave home around 11:30 in the morning and come back anywhere between 6 and 8.
I tend to stay up very late every night and I am also working on getting earlier every morning.
So if I were to average the time i spend at awake home every day I would have to say somewere around 7-10 hours.
I live with my girlfriend and a roomate ( no kids ) and no current pets. I am the one seeking a long term pet and have wanted a parrot for as long as I can remember. My girlfriend is a huge fan of all sorts of animals but only plans on eventually getting a chinchilla.
We live in a decent sized appartment, and from what i can tell the only non-sound proof area of it is near the entrance door.

I've been doing heavy research on parrots for many weeks now and think I found what I would most be comfortable with.
From what I've read budgies and cockatiels seem to be the best starter birds.
( I have been around birds in the past and handled them but never OWNED one)
I've already crossed out budgies for a few reasons ( I still like them, just don't want any )
I like Cockatiels aswell (particularly the whitefaced/pearls) but my heart is sold on
Conures.
From all the informtion i could gather, Pyrrhura Conures seem to be the least noisy ( one of my choice factors) And I think a Green Cheek conure would suit me.
I've contacted a local aviary so i could visit and learn more hands on aswell. But sadly they stopped breeding green-cheeks because they thought they were to nippy.
They now breed 2 more species of conures, but of the Aratinga familly wich worries me a bit abou the noise.
They also mentioned breeding blue headed pionus' wich I havn't gathered to much information on but seem to be another good choice.

Anyways, I would love anyones oppinion!
Thank you, to all that took the time to read this.

Matt

[patdbunny]

I'm a huge fan of the aratinga conures! I currently breed the suns and jendays. I used to breed the green cheeks and maroon bellies, but I also no longer breed them as they were harder to keep tame without a lot of handling after weaning and tended to be nippy. All birds can be "nippy", but I just didn't like how nippy their norm seemed to be.

The aratinga conures - go listen to one scream in your face for awhile and see what you think. It's not accurate to have more than one screaming at you at one time. The noise of two of them doesn't really double, in my opinion, it increases about tenfold. But there are some people here who live with multiple aratingas so they may have a different opinion.

Here's my description of sun/jendays from my blog. My blog also has a monthly "diary" of our current experience living with a sun conure my daughter kept for her birthday last year.

Jendays (Aratinga jandaya) - What can I say? LOVE THEM, LOVE THEM, LOVE THEM.
A sweet, little jenday's what started the bird craze for me about 20 years ago.
Mind you, I had had birds before - cockatiels, lovebird, finches. But back then handfed, sweet and tame weren't as readily available as they are now.
Prior to my jenday I had many bad experiences - Unhandlable lovebird was told "Handle it everyday and it will become tame." Umm. . . No. They don't.
Two older male untame cockatiels - Trying to tame them seemed so traumatic to them. I never got them past sitting on a finger.

I almost gave up thinking birds just aren't for me. Then I met Cupid, my little jenday. Of all places she was in a pet shop. But it was one of the better pet shops in San Diego (They're still around today-they primarily deal in reptiles now.). She was out on a playstand at the checkout counter climbing on any unsuspecting soul that got too close. She was the best impulse purchase I ever made.

PROS: Sweet, cuddly, easy to keep them tame towards everyone, acrobatic, colorful, big pet in a small package, they're feisty and fun to watch, easy size to take everywhere with you (I used to rollerblade with Cupid, we'd go to the beach, quick trip into a store she'd go down my shirt or into my hair and no one knew she was there.)
CONS: Noise - They do have a brain splitting, aneurysm bursting, screechy scream. I never knew jendays were considered "loud" parrots. I had never had a parrot or really been around them until Cupid. She'd scream 15-20 minutes early in the morning and in the evening. To me it wasn't that bad. Spoil them or excessively keep them on your body and you can turn them into screaming monsters. I met a jenday that screamed for HOURS at a time until the owner took it out and put it on her shoulder. Decibel wise, conures are "quieter" than larger birds like cockatoos and large macaws.
They're feisty - I like this quality in them, but if you're a tentative person their feistiness can turn into bullying you around and biting you. I've seen conures referred to as the terriers of the bird world. I'd have to agree with this.
Biting - In the 12+ years I had Cupid she never bit me once. She easily went to strangers. However, if you don't get them around people or you think it's cute that the bird's possessive of you and bites other people, you can turn them into biters. If you're a timid person, parrots can feel it. Sometimes they think it's fun to "squeak" you by biting you.

[Ta2Matt]

Thanks for the reply!
I must say, I LOVE the look on an Arantiga. But like you said, the con of them being loud may be a problem.
As mentioned I live in an appartment, and if I ever get complaints... the bird is not the one to go, I am. But if possible I would love to be able to avoid this.
The Idea of rollerblading with my bird is amazing! (I've been blading for 13 years) So to be able to bring my friend with me would be amazing!
Thanks again for the reply!
I look forward to hearing from more opinions!
Thank you.

Matt

[patdbunny]

I lived in an apartment for a year with my jenday and some other birds. Never got any complaints. It's not like they go off all day long. If it's screaming all day long, it has a behavior problem. Right now Ducky (sun) goes off at about 9 a.m. and then again about 6 p.m. Ducky screams for less than 10 minutes during those times and it's not a continuous, nonstop screaming. It goes like this - SCREAM, SCREAM. a few minutes go by. SCREAM, SCREAM. a few minutes go by.

If Ducky vocalizes like this - SCREAM, SCREAM, SCREAM, SCREAM, SCREAM! Usually there's something odd going on that I can't really think of an example right now because he's done it so rarely.

[GlassOnion]

Have you ever considered a poicephalus parrot? I personally love the pois for being independent but very affection and playful as well. This board had quite a few owners here. Conures and pois are quite similar in their antics and such but the pois are known to be a bit introspective and thoughtful in nature.

This is my favorite link for the pois:
africanqueenaviaries.com/africanparrotsoverview.htm

Most of the parrots are very quiet for most of the day and one member here has 5 pois and a lovebird, with all of whom she lives in an apartment.

[Ta2Matt]

patdbunny; That's a very good point wich i should have mentioned.
I really don't mind if i get a bird that does it's daily calls for a few minutes twice daily. I can deal with that. TBH I really don't mind the noise at all... and a few occasional calls is not as bad as the CONSTANT chirping my neighbor's budgie does.. WICH can only be heard from the hallway anyways.

GlassOnion; Funny you mention Pois, I just finished reading through a couple of threads about them and they have got my interest aswell.

Thanks again to all of you. It's nice to get some feedback from owners for a change of only reading off of websites

Matt

[patdbunny]

Find somewhere you can interact with all the different types of birds that you might be interested in. Interact with several different individuals of each species you are interested in. Do multiple interactions at different times of day - early morning, noonish, late afternoon.

Even though the literature indicates the pois are similar to the conures in playfulness, I can tell you they are different enough that I wouldn't consider them similar. I've had several senegals over the years that I've taken care of for friends for months on end. Living with a senegal is absolutely nothing like living with a jenday or sun conure.

Noise - Yeah, the non-stop chattering of our male tiel and non-stop mimicking of our CAGs annoys us way more than Ducky. And now the CAGs have learned to bleat like a hungry baby goat, but louder. I think I'm going to go insane.

[kaylayuh]

Welcome to the forum! I have two budgies and a Green Cheek Conure, so I may be able to help you a bit by telling you what my experience is like. But first, why did you decide against budgies? They're such sweet little things!

My Green Cheek Conure is a rescue bird. He was found outside of Baltimore, MD in the spring of 2010. For being a rescue bird, he seems amazingly well adjusted and doesn't have behavioral issues. That said, he is woefully unaware of his beak and tends to bite hard when he really means to preen you.

I love Pyrrhura conures because they offer the best of both conure worlds. They're not as loud (though they can still be noisy) and they have such great personalities. My little guy is a bit hormonal now so the screaming has increased, but it's decreased from an hour two or three times a day to about ten minutes twice a day.

They love to play and mine can be a little wood chipper if he really loves a toy. Just the other day, I was saying in another thread that he gnawed apart a popsicle stick toy in the matter of hours. While that may sound horrific, he's not destructive towards anything else.

If you think a Green Cheek would be for you, I really suggest you look around for other breeders. They really are awesome to have, and a lot of them come in some pretty neat color mutations. But my personal opinion is that a GCC is a great little bird to have!

[Ta2Matt]

Again, thank you so much for the replys.
I came across micheals youtube channel and LOVE it an decided to visit the forum.
It's already been a VERY positive experience and very welcoming comunity

to answer your question about budgies...
It's rather simple.
First off, my girlfriend has lived with multiple budgies and was never very fond of them.
And on my part (wich is slightly more important considering i will be the main caretaker)
I am really looking for a longer lifespan in my bird and don't care for the constant chirp of a budgie.
Though i do like them, I just don't think they are the right choice for me.

Thank you for the GCC feedback. I must say I'm not to worried about nippy-ness since i know it can be trained and I am quite dedicated to spend alot of time doing so.
They are still on top of my list for now

Does anybody have any pionus experiences to share?

Matt

[GlassOnion]

Don't mean to hijack your thread..... But patdbunny! I'd like you to please enlighten me the differences between pois/conures you speak of!