Green Cheeked Conure Regurgitating

[christinewynn]

Hi everyone,

My 4 month old GCC (unsure of gender) from petco is regurgitating. I'm reading mixed things, from it being a sign of affection (happened while petting the head/neck) and a serious sign of illness... Baby's on a pellet diet, and that's what I saw come out of his beak. It was fully mashed up. I uncover his cage at 7 AM and he goes to bed at 8:30 PM.

Should I be concerned?...

[Wolf]

This can be a sign of a crop infection in young birds, especially when the handfeeding formula is fed at too low of a temperature, or at an inconsistent temperature, that is with warm and cold spots in it.
Most of the time it is just a sign of affection. I would watch very closely to see if there are any other possible signs of illness as they will hide an illness as long as they can. although vets are expensive my rule of thumb is that if in doubt take the bird in to see the vet as it is much better to play it safe and not take any chances with their health.

[Pajarita]

OK. Here is one of those behaviors which meaning gets tweaked too drastically because of people using euphemisms about it. Regurgitating could be said to be a 'sign of affection' because mothers do it to feed their babies and husbands do it to court their mates BUT first and before anything else it's a BREEDING behavior so you need a bird that is sexually mature. This bird is not sexually mature so, if I were you, I would take this bird to the vet because something is going on.... it doesn't necessarily have to be disease, it could be lack of enzymes (pellets don't have them), it could be an eating disorder, it could be a mal-formation, etc.

[Wolf]

Which is why I said what I said. All of my birds came to me as adults and as a result I don't have much experience with babies.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I know you knew this and meant to say that but it seemed to me that as you had not qualified the 'most of the time it is a sign of affection' explaining the sexual hormone aspect of it (which could not be the case here), it should be explained to the OP.

[Wolf]

Yep!