OMG! I fell in love tonight!

[Gilraen Took]

And am bringing her home tomorrow! Well, I wasn't PLANNING on falling in love with a bird, but oh my goodness! When the right one comes along you know it, or some such thing, right?

Anyway, I was at petco this morning, hoping to ask one of the people who works there if she knew the person giving the tiels away before I called them, and was talking to the fish lady about it. And just birds in general, and I said something about their green cheek, who likes to hang upside down in her house(lol) and she said something about her being a total spaz and being afraid of people, but that she had the feeling with work she'd be a good bird, and that she Loves her green cheek. Went back tonight and finally got to talk to the person I wanted to, but before I got to(she was busy) I went to the bird room and started talking to the green cheek. And after a few minutes she came over and let me scritch her head. Noticed that the lady I needed was free, so went out and asked her about the tiels(and really wasn't wanting to spend a few hundred on a bird right now. But hey, I CAN afford it at the moment. . .) and mentioned that their GCC was a doll. She looked at me like I had just grown an extra 3 heads and said that she's been trying for the few weeks they've had her there to get her to at least come NEAR her and has been failing.

Sooo, I kinda spent the entire night there(oops. Didn't MEAN to!) and went back and forth between the bird and the nearby shelves. By the end of the night she was coming over a minute or so after I walked up and said "scritchy?" to her. And when the lady I was talking to came in to open the cage so I could see if she'd flip out if I got near her, she ran from her, but when I put my hands close she came back and let me scritch her and talk to her. I couldn't get her to step up(wanted to see if I could hold her since the room is enclosed and doesn't have anything she could have gotten hurt on in it) but she sat with me and groomed my fingers and let me scritch her and chewed on my rings:wub: Lol, the person there said that I'm the first person in that place who she let get anywhere close to her. So I came home and asked the boyfriend if he'd be upset if I got a new bird and he said I could and that it'd be fine with him! *squeeee!*


So basically tomorrow morning I'm going to call them and have them put her on hold until I can get in there(just in case, since with my luck I'll have my heart set on her and someone will buy her that morning <_<) and go get her sometime tomorrow evening. Along with toys and food and peches and all that lovely stuffs.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/Gilraen_Took/my%20conure/cheeky.jpg

And that'd be her sitting next to me and demanding attention (eek! I'm so excited!)

[Sue]

Wow congratulations!:woot:

She is absolutely gorgeous:wub:

[LovesBirds]

What a wonderful story! The Green Cheek responding to you must indicate he trusts you and senses you are a good Human. :)

And if you take him home you two will become fast friends since he already responds to your presence. I hope all works out well for you. And now you will have to think of a good name for him! :emot-danc

[tropiclegirl]

What an awesome story. How exiting!!! That bird was meant to be yours. Can't wait to hear how everything goes :woot:

[Eriisu-chan]

Love at first scritch! :wub:

[Gilraen Took]

Ooh, and for the big question thread(heh) I know that she shouldn't be getting seeds except as a treat(woot, her bowl is filled with them there <_<) but she was at least mouthing the pellets, would it be safe(going to pick her up later today after chore running. . .) to get just pellets, or should I get a bag of the mixed stuff too? And is the zupreem. . ? Okay, they've got brightly coloured pellets in bags(at least for budgies, didn't really look hard at the conure ones, but I don't think all the bags were solid yellowy brown like, say, the cockatiel ones are), but they don't have any dyes listed on the labels. I was planning to use zupreem since I can get them locally(aka, if I forget to order somehow I don't have a bird with only veggies for a week until it gets here) but what sort should I grab? One of the fruity pellets, or just the plain conure ones?

Also, since feeding is my biggest concern(I really don't want to give my baby a horrid diet and end up spending thousands at the vets office to try to make up for it and know that I was the reason my bird who should live at least 25-30 years lived 10 or less. I'd feel horrid if I did that =/) I know that I've read that you can get a good variety of veggies and cut/mix/freeze them and just thaw out portions one at a time to give to them, which is what I'm going to do, but should I use the same veggies(assuming I can find organic ones every time I try to make birdie veggie mixes) or should I get different ones each time? And I've read that legumes should also be part of the diet, besides just the high quality veggies, so should I mix those also(legumes ARE beans and black eyed peas and chick peas, right? Or am I thinking something else?) and how much proportionally of each should I use? Half veggie/legume mix half pellets? More pellets or more veggies? And I'm assuming that since legumes are higher in protein that there should be a bit less of that than the veggies, right? How should THAT be proportioned? All I seem to be able to find online is to vary it a lot, but as said, I want to make sure I'm feeding her right from the start instead of once she starts to get sick from a bad feeding routine that I can't break her of because she's so set on just eating junk food.

Also, harder or softer for wooden toys? Can they destroy a hard wood toy, or do they need ones a bit softer to be able to really get them good?

[Eriisu-chan]

My baby eats the colorful Zupreem stuff... I'm just waiting for the bag to be done so I can get the natural un-colored stuff.

As for the wooden toys, I dunno about the conures, but Tango likes both soft wood chews and hard wood toys. He seems to like the challenge of getting the hard stuff chewed up but loves to easily kill the soft stuff...

[tropiclegirl]

My baby eats the colorful Zupreem stuff... I'm just waiting for the bag to be done so I can get the natural un-colored stuff.

.

My guys like the colored. I bought some "natural" Zupreem and mixed it in...HA! They both just picked out the colored ones and left the natural. This has went on for a few months now. Roxy likes Harrisons mixed in but not Marlon :doh:

[Eriisu-chan]

My guys like the colored. I bought some "natural" Zupreem and mixed it in...HA! They both just picked out the colored ones and left the natural. This has went on for a few months now. Roxy likes Harrisons mixed in but not Marlon :doh:

Ok... I'll either get a sample or stick to those, then! :p

[Shirley]

Congratulations on your new buddy!!

Toys - go for variety - soft, hard, shredders, puzzles, noise-makers, etc.

Pellets - choose an excellent BRAND and then I wouldn't worry so much regarding the rest IF she won't eat the natural, which I prefer. Brands I prefer: Roudybush, Zupreem, Harrisons, LaFeber's, Mazuri

:emot-danc

[Islandzoo]

what a pretty little conure, she's lovely.

[SadennaAndFlock]

Congrats and sounds like this little bird choose you...as for diet you can mix pellet and seed together and see if she takes to them sometimes they will just pick out all the seed and leave the rest..it would not hurt to have both available in the cage at all times till he/she gets to eating the pellets but you really want to make sure she is eating the pellets and not just crunching them down to powder and not eating them , you may want to try offering the pellets first thing in the morning when the bird is the hungriest. You can make the veggies mixes as different as you want the more variety the better when it comes to veggies..

[Gilraen Took]

I have a lap bird. I let her out of the travel box onto my bed(mistake @_@) so I could set up her perches and toys and she seriously will not leave my alone! She's sitting pretty well glued to my leg and demanding attention, and since I'm typing she's rubbing me and trying to groom me. Not upset at being in a new place at all. I really need to get her house set up. . . She's going to be furious when I put her in there for a bit isn't she?

I did get some seeds to, but how can I tell if she's actually eating the pellets or just crunching them up?

[CocosMomma]

Congratulations on your new conure!:wub:

I have seen with all my birds there is a certain amount of making of crumbs. Goes with the process. If it were me, I would just watch her eat. You'll be able to see if she is breaking a pellet and dropping all the pieces, or dropping some and eating some. If she is used to seeds, there may be a transition time where she needs to get used to the way pellets are eaten vs. seeds. Some birds like all pellets, right away, others can be quite picky until we find their favorite!

While my birds eat as many pellets as they want, I only fill their pellet bowl just so the bottom is almost but not entirely covered. In other words, less than 'one layer' thick. I have found over the years that, with my larger birds, when I fill the bowls with ample pellets, there is more waste. This has not seemed to be the case with my smaller birds. However, at first, with transitioning a bird to pellets, I like to keep an ample supply in that bowl to encourage eating. Once they get the idea, I back down to just almost covering the bottom of the bowl, and then, refill the bowl as needed.

Congratulations again!!!!:)

[Molzy7687]

Congratulations! She's gorgeous!

I personally think that seeds have a place in a healthy diet, just along with pellets and fresh foods. Sweety is currently on an all pellet diet (seeds make her want to lay eggs right now!), but Lily gets a combination of Zupreem Pellets and Goldenfeast seed ( a personal favorite brand-I'm not a fan of most available in pet stores). I only feed her enough of the seed/nut mix so that she also eats other stuff on top of it. When Sweety is on seed, she gets a tablespoon of seed (also Goldenfeast) and a tablespoon of pellets. Lily I don't measure as much...I should probably get a measuring spoon for her dishes too.

Toys-variety is best! A favorite of both my birds are the bamboo shredders (chinese finger traps), and Lily loves little birdie bagels too.

[Gilraen Took]

I dunno. All I've seen her do so far(beside chew on a toy :D) was when I tried to offer her a couple as a treat(she took them from my hands!) and she crunched down on them and pieces went flying, but I couldn't tell if she was dropping what was left or just smashing it around my bed. I guess I'll see how it goes in her food dish. I also put a couple of cooked pasta shells in her dish(which she still hasn't gone near, she's drank water, but not looked in the direction of the food yet *shrug*) and got a bit under my nail, which she ate, so maybe she'll like it.

[Jim]

Congratulations! She's adorable. :wub:

[Gilraen Took]

She eats pellets! I woke up way too early this morning(>.<) and couldn't get back to sleep so I got her and she's been sitting with me since, but I brought her food over to see if she'd eat any of it. Without a problem. From my hand with gusto and from the bowl with hesitation. Only a few crumbs left. Although I had a regular dinner bowl with the pellets in it at first and she didn't like that so I got a little green hanging cup(probably not the best thing for her food, since it'd be easy to spill though it looks like it'll fit plenty) but the one I have as an extra for my rats(I had a bigger cage a long time ago for them when I had more and they had hanging cups) is like the dinner bowl. Really deep. I don't think she liked reaching down that far. Are there any that clip onto the side of the cage that aren't really deep? And should it be at perch level or a tiny smidgen higher(high perch or low?) I'm assuming I should be moving it around a lot so she can search for her food when she gets a wee bit more used to the surroundings. Or do they like it towards the ground like the keets do? I've also found that she doesn't like the slightly bigger pellets, just the slightly smaller ones :D

One curiosity, I am letting her groom me(well, I think she thinks my fingers are handfeeding syringes, but that's a different story) and sometimes she does get a bit rough. How do I make sure she knows not to bite hard without being negative? Don't want her biting me, but I also don't want her to get any bad habits from me punishing her for it. And don't know quite enough about birdie behaviour to know when I am punishing her instead of asking her to be more gentle.

Also(gee, too bad she won't STAY this way!) she makes a little "wark" like sound(anyone else play final fantasy games? It's the closest thing I can relate it to, it's the noise the chocobos make, and the chocobos are Huge birds that people ride) and an airy whistle. Is there any way to encourage those(ya, I know, probably fat chance, but it never hurts to ask!) while discouraging her from being super loud? And when she DOES start to get loud, how can I make sure I'm not teaching her to do it more? Oh, that's not the wording I wanted. . . Hm, when she starts to call in the mornings, how can I make sure it doesn't turn into an all day thing by rewarding her when she does? No. . .? Okay, I know when your bird is being loud that if you go to the bird to play with it thinking it'll make the bird quieter, that it'll start to associate that with meaning when it wants attention it needs to be loud. So it'll be loud more often. If that made sense(probably not). But is there any way to use that theory in reverse so the bird gets its natural wanting to call out of the way at 1/2 times in the day and then the rest of the day makes the littler noises that I like better? Like that little wark. I like it(it's adorable ^_^) so I've been talking to her(from a distance at the very least) when she does it to say that it's okay.

Also, when QT is over, can she be near the parakeets or do I need to keep them completely separate all the time so she doesn't play rough with them/they don't start to pick at her? I gave her their(bigger!) cage and moved them for the time into the older one in my rat's room, but since it's small I was thinking about just small-bird proofing the room and letting them wander when I'm home so they've got more room. But I don't know if when they get close feathers will be pulled on or budgies will be mauled or some other huge problem XD

[Eriisu-chan]

Tango likes to groom and play with my ears and lips (for some reason)... if he goes to hard, I say "Oww, Tango, not so hard, k?" and he stops for a bit, then keeps going at a softer pace...?

[Molzy7687]

Greencheeks are known for being aggressive towards other birds, and if the budgies are allowed out in the same room, even if she's in the cage, they might get some bitten toes if they land in the wrong spot. Obviously each bird is an individual, so you'll have to watch and observe her to see what she's like with other birds.

As for screaming, if my guys start screaming I refuse to make eye contact with them, and will walk out of the room. If I'm in another room, I stay quiet and wait for them to be quiet. In the beginning, I would immedietly go into the other room and praise them when they stopped, and I gradually worked it up so that it was longer and longer that they had to be quiet before I would go give them attention. My cockatiel is still really loud (I live in an apartment too), but that is partially because of the breeding season right now. It's been a long 9 months of battling her screaming problem, and sometime it seems like we aren't making any progress at all. I just make sure that I keep her covered until 7 or 8 in the morning (she's pretty quiet in the mornings anyways), and then if she's being loud at night I'll put her to bed as early as 8 if I have to...other nights she'll stay up until 11 with me. It just depends on the day.

The best thing to do with the birds is give them something to do. If they're doing something else, they can't scream! Soaking showers will release a lot of their energy, and then afterwards they'll sit and preen (well, they should...Sweety likes to scream while she's wet too, but it's worth a try). Playing with toys is also great, as is foraging for food. I try to keep my guys busy and involved in my activities, as I think screaming is often due to pent up energy. In the wild they'd be flying all day foraging for food, so they really need a lot of outlets for their energy and mental stimulation.

Good luck!

[Gilraen Took]

She does like to wark at me when I'm in bed and trying to get to sleep in the morning. I may see if there's some way to cover her until I get up then. That should make sure the morning light doesn't wake her up and get her talking, right?

Also got some pictures of her with her toys, but I can't get into my photobucket account for some reason from my boyfriend's mom's pc(we're visiting right now), so I'll have to wait on those =/

[Gilraen Took]

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/Gilraen_Took/my%20conure/Rydiainthong2.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/Gilraen_Took/my%20conure/Rydiainthong.jpg

Hehe, I was folding laundry and she was helping ;) I don't really mind with those pairs though. They don't fit well, so if she wants to destroy them she's welcome to them.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/Gilraen_Took/my%20conure/bebbles.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/Gilraen_Took/my%20conure/bebbleswithshiny.jpg

Got that last shot a milisecond too late. She was ringing the keys against each other a second before then. The other one is a toy that I got for the parakeets that they never looked at, so she got it instead. She likes it :D

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b242/Gilraen_Took/my%20conure/Rydiasblankie.jpg
And with her happy hut knock off until I can get her one of them. She likes to get right up against me and sit as close as she can, so I thought she might like something to sit in/under. Well, she doesn't sleep under it, but she likes to play with it.

I love my baby :wub:

[scotty]

Oh how exciting...I'm sooooo happy for you :dance:

[Gilraen Took]

Hm. So I tried some kale and some broccoli this morning. With the broccoli she seemed to take a bud in her mouth and chew it for a second before tossing it away from her. Then she went to the little crown I had on my bed and was at least looking at it, but I couldn't tell if she ate any of it and when I tried to watch her she'd come back over to me. She chewed at the kale but it took me taking a tiny little bit for her to keep it in her mouth, and I am pretty sure she ended up eating that bit. Does that mean she'll end up liking both/either of those, or that she's just going to grab and toss whatever she gets of it? If she likes them I'll keep getting more for her, but if she's just going to waste it I'll just keep getting what the parakeets can eat. And will I need to spoil her rotten and cut her food into little tiny bite sized pieces or will she eventually get to be like the 'keets who will rip off chunks to eat? Hoping for the latter :D

Also, she seems to be picky with her pellets. She tosses most of them onto the floor. She's eating the the smaller ones without problems, but with the larger ones in the bag she seems to not want to work at them. She's got cockatiel size now, would it hurt if next time I need food I got the parakeet size and see if she'll eat those without wasting most of them? I've been putting some extra in her dish because I don't know how much she needs in a day and don't want her to go hungry/have an empty bowl at any time, but don't want to waste more than she eats either.

Ooh, and from reading some nutrition articles. . . Once I get it figured out what sorts of veggies she will eat, should I try to give her a little of each sort of vitamin/mineral every day, or just give her a couple sorts one day, and a different kind the next and so on?

[vmtwriter]

Congrats on your new family member. She's a pretty little thing! I have Sun Conure, and I can tell you, their calls are natural, and morning and evenings are when they'll do their most calling.

When Bailey calls in the evening, he's telling us he wants to go to bed, so we cover him up and he's good for the night. We uncover him when we get up in the morning and he's a happy bird. He gives us kisses and smooches.

I feed him Kaytee Exact for Conures. He loves it. It smells like fruit loops. He gets sunflower seeds on occasion. But, only as a treat, not all the time. Otherwise, he wouldn't eat his food. He does make a mess with his food, crunching a lot, but he does manage to get some in his tummy too. The vet says he's at his ideal weight.

From the sounds of it, you two were a match made in heaven.

You keep calling her "she"... did you ever pick out a name for her?

[arcadiareptiles]

Tango likes to groom and play with my ears and lips (for some reason)... if he goes to hard, I say "Oww, Tango, not so hard, k?" and he stops for a bit, then keeps going at a softer pace...?

If you want a sample of the complete all natural without coloring zupreem pellets i can give you some so you dont have to buy a whole bag till hes tried some.

[Gilraen Took]

I've got a bag of the tiel size now, I was wanting to try the parakeet size to see if she'll like that better. I still can't tell, but it looks like she's just tossing the bigger ones out and eating the smaller ones. And even with the smaller ones she usually holds them in her foot to munch on them. I dunno if they're a bit on the large size, or if they're a good size and she just doesn't like to eat them whole. The problem I was running into is that Petco and Petsmart only sell the dyed(coloured? Bright?) parakeet formula and not the natural ones. And the other 2 stores in town are ones I try to avoid whenever possible(for stuff like selling dyed fish and selling puppies and kittens) and if I try her on the smaller size I want to make sure it is the size and not the colouring that is effecting her desire to try it.

She's Rydia now :D I couldn't come up with a good name for her and so I just took the name of a character from a video game I'm playing to call her by.

Also, she STILL won't step up in/on her cage. If she's on my bed with me(the cage is really high, so instead of standing there all day with her I've been opening it up when I'm watching her and letting her jump from the top down onto my bed if she wants to be around me) I can pick her up and move her from hand to hand without any problems, but if she's on her cage she seems like she's afraid to step up. She'll scoot down as close as she can to the bars/perch and shake a bit if I keep trying. She still allows me to scritch her and will eat from my hands if she's in/on her cage though. Any ideas about how to get her away from her house when it's MY idea instead of solely hers?

[arcadiareptiles]

I've got a bag of the tiel size now, I was wanting to try the parakeet size to see if she'll like that better. I still can't tell, but it looks like she's just tossing the bigger ones out and eating the smaller ones. And even with the smaller ones she usually holds them in her foot to munch on them. I dunno if they're a bit on the large size, or if they're a good size and she just doesn't like to eat them whole. The problem I was running into is that Petco and Petsmart only sell the dyed(coloured? Bright?) parakeet formula and not the natural ones. And the other 2 stores in town are ones I try to avoid whenever possible(for stuff like selling dyed fish and selling puppies and kittens) and if I try her on the smaller size I want to make sure it is the size and not the colouring that is effecting her desire to try it.

She's Rydia now :D I couldn't come up with a good name for her and so I just took the name of a character from a video game I'm playing to call her by.

Also, she STILL won't step up in/on her cage. If she's on my bed with me(the cage is really high, so instead of standing there all day with her I've been opening it up when I'm watching her and letting her jump from the top down onto my bed if she wants to be around me) I can pick her up and move her from hand to hand without any problems, but if she's on her cage she seems like she's afraid to step up. She'll scoot down as close as she can to the bars/perch and shake a bit if I keep trying. She still allows me to scritch her and will eat from my hands if she's in/on her cage though. Any ideas about how to get her away from her house when it's MY idea instead of solely hers?

my cockatiel enjoys eating his pellets that way as well. A conure could eat cockatiel size properly.

[Ashory]

Wow she is beautiful. Congrats. I had a green cheak for 13 years but she got liver diesease and the vet told me it was best to put her down. That was the worst day of my life. It is great that you found your conure soulmate

[SunnyOscar]

Personally, I use Harrisons for both my kids, my Conure, and my 'tiel. Oscar (conure) eats to course adult lifetime, and Odo ('tiel) eats the fine. They don't even want any seed any more, and they love people food in moderation. They get a little of whatever we have for dinner. It is a little weird when they eat chicken, but they love it, and the protein isn't bad. Only a few no-no's DO NOT feed your new baby anything with Avacado, it is toxic! So just don't share the guacamole with her :)

[CocosMomma]

My hubby thinks it is hilarious that birds would eat chicken as well!:rotflmao: I feed my birds Harrison's, and have for years. But I know of several quality diets on the market. It happens that Harrison's is my favorite and my birds love it, but it sure isn't the cheapest date in town!

While none of my birds have, I do know of a few birds that have snubbed their beaks at it. Coco especially loves the power treats and pepper formula!:thumbup: My tiels eat the fine; Coco the coarse. For awhile one of my tiels, when under 6 months of age, would only eat the super fine size. Sometimes, whether due to pricing, availability or birdie taste preferences, one has to experiment a little to find just the right healthy diet that the bird accepts. :beerchug:

[SunnyOscar]

Absolutely find what your baby preferes, just try to make it as healthy as possible, I got lucky with Oscar (he was a rescue). He was 25 when I got him, on a seed only diet, and had to organ damage from it. His cholesterol was a bit high, but we have that managed now by using the harrisons. It can be expensive, and when your kids are as fickle as mine (god forbid you run out) they don't want anything else. I have taken to ordering it iby the case so as to minimize the "run out" factor. :) :)
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/soloman026/birds006.jpg

[CocosMomma]

OSCAR is GORGEOUS! Sure looks healthy and happy!!!:agree: Thanks for rescuing him!:thumbup:

[SunnyOscar]

He is my "baby" and I got very lucky with him. He was aggressive when I got him, but now will cuddle and fall asleep with me. He was injured in one of his previous homes, and that caused alot of the aggression issues. He is much better now, and not nearly as aggressive. For me, he is a snuggle bunny.