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A New Conure Owner with a few Questions

Blalley123

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Hey guys, so I am a brand new 3 month old Yellow Sided GCC Owner with a few questions.

1: The breeder clipped my poor babies wings before I managed to find him and rescue my baby, but poor Kai keeps trying to fly off of the cage and bumbles and falls. He isn't hand tame just yet so I can't reach out to try and grab him or I will get a severe fear bite. Anything I can do to help him out?
2: Also he does this odd side to side strutting and head bobbing (occurs in and out of his cage) that I want to associate with territory, but I have also seen that this is a call for attention. Any input from you guys?
3: I have managed to step up train him with a perch and some treats, but any time my hand doesn't have a treat in it, he wants to chomp down. He has only bitten hard once, but I want to do my best to avoid bites in general. Should I wait a few days/weeks to continue hand taming, or should I perservere?
4: Also his tail is looking a bit ragged and I see him preening, but it looks like rough preening and that could be the cause, but I don't see any feathers in the cage
5: He also doesnt play with the toys I bought for him, should I just play with them around him and hope he gets curious?

Thanks in advance for the help guys, this forum has already helped a bunch :)
 

Lo_

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1. Try to put blankets and other soft things around the cage/in the area that he falls at so that it is a soft landing. I don't know what else you could do besides wait for the flight feathers to grow out. Hopefully someone else might have a suggestion.
2. Not sure sorry...:(
3. Bites are going to be inevitable so just be prepared :) How long has Kai been home? If not that long (1-2 weeks) I would continue with the perch but I would wait about a month total to start hand taming. I say this because it'll take a little bit for him to get truly used to you being around and deciding if you are safe or not :) You don't want to force yourself on him and lose any trust that you do have built up with the perch training.
4. Since he is 3 months old their tails tend to look ragged until their first molt simply because they are clumsy in their cages and don't really pay attention to what they do with their butt :p. If you think he is over preening keep an eye out but he's most likely okay.
5. Do you have a good variety of toys in the cage? Such as noise makers like bells, soft and medium woods, papers, and maybe some acrylics? If not it could be that you don't have things in there that he likes and you might need to try some different toys. If you DO however have a variety it could be that he isn't sure what to do with them yet, so playing with them or trying to get him to play with them is a good idea once he isn't too afraid of you :)

Hope that helped!
 

Lodah

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:welcomesign::meet:

The strutting behavior is usually associated with " Hey this is mine now " but could also be related to other reasons. Seeing as you have only had your fid for a very, very short time, it can be very hard to have a conclusive answer!
As with any new fid... take your time to gain his trust! That is the most important aspect of any relationship! Rushing into this can develop all kinds of negative behavioral triggers that might haunt you for a long time!

There are a lot of great answers here to the questions you are asking... but the best solution I can give you it to be patient and let your best friend warm up to you so that the relationship grows without too many hiccups! :)
 

Newbie GCC

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Welcome to the Avenue! And I agree with everything Lodah said!
 

JLcribber

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2: Also he does this odd side to side strutting and head bobbing (occurs in and out of his cage) that I want to associate with territory, but I have also seen that this is a call for attention. Any input from you guys?
Your breeder just crippled your bird at a very critical stage of its life. All its "choice" about where to go and what to do has been taken away from him. This causes stress and anxiety. That is what you are seeing.

3: I have managed to step up train him with a perch and some treats, but any time my hand doesn't have a treat in it, he wants to chomp down. He has only bitten hard once, but I want to do my best to avoid bites in general. Should I wait a few days/weeks to continue hand taming, or should I perservere?

You need to "earn" his trust with positive reinforcement (reward) and not "demand" anything. There must always be a reward in it for the bird. And having said that you have only had this bird a very short time. Not nearly long enough (takes a year) to truly earn that trust and respect.

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4: Also his tail is looking a bit ragged and I see him preening, but it looks like rough preening and that could be the cause, but I don't see any feathers in the cage
That's what happens when you don't have wings and live in a cage.
 

Animallover03

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@saroj12 has an African Grey who cannot fly, and I believe she puts layers of blankets and/or towels on the floor. Good luck with your baby.
 

saroj12

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I have quilts and comforters on most of the floor which has saved my greys neck many a time. I couldn't predict where or how far he would fall so I covered the whole floor!
 

Lodah

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I have quilts and comforters on most of the floor which has saved my greys neck many a time. I couldn't predict where or how far he would fall so I covered the whole floor!
Your such a great Parront! No wonder they love you! :xflove:
 
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