New conure two concerns

I just bought a maroon bellied conure two days ago. He is actually a year old tomorrow and had been in the pet store for 8 months.
He is an amazing bird...makes no noise which is great for an apartment dweller. However I have two concerns...
I leave him alone while I am at work for approximately eight hours a day. I leave the TV on for him but I worry he is alone and if it is okay to leave them alone that long.
Also tonight when I got home he was fine at first but then started flapping one wing wildley...like it was a bad twitch...he seemed distressed and tried to bite it to stop it...this went on for some time.
I called Petco but their answer was to take him back to see vet and meanwhile they would refund my money. I really dont want to do this to the little guy....
any thoughts from members here?

Its still really early. hes still settling in. I dont think the tv is appropriate quite yet. try the radio instead. the tv can be chaotic, even calm channels have chaotic commercials he doesnt understand.
he might feel threatened. I would 1. make sure he isnt housed near windows he can become fearful of 2. play an oldies channel on the radio or classical music 3. let him see the entire house
also, conures need a lot of one on one attention, so yes..unfortunately 8 hours is a long time to leave him alone especially if you want him to bond with you.
but if you arent in a situation where you can be home, then theres not much you can do about it.
as for the twitch, i think he might be doing a wing tick.. they do this to get attention, responding to it helps them develop emotionally and build confidence

Get him some foraging toys to occupy his time.

Toys, Toys, and more Toys. Most people work 8 hours a day, so don't feel guilty having to work. He needs to entertain himself while you are working. Make sure he likes to play with toys. The best way is playing with it yourself, show him how fun the bells, leather, plastic pieces on it are, and he will start playing with it himself. Have enough toys to trade them out each week so he never gets bored. Big cage, lots of perches, foraging items and they will be fine.

Possible that a feather or something was bothering that one wing?


Large cage, lots of chewable toys, noisy toys, foraging toys, etc would help. Give him lots to do while you are away!

I work full time. I get Jasmine out for an hour before work. She helps me feed the other pets, make my sandwiches, have a shower etc. I'm out from 7am to 5pm. When I'm out she has LOTS of toys and I take the sunflower seeds out of her seed and put them into a forage wheel (with pellets and fruit available too of course). I leave the radio on quietly and she sings along. Then when I get home she's out til her bedtime and I have more time to play with her in the evenings. She seems very happy

Thank you everyone!
I do give him a lot of time before I leave and when I get back so I guess thats something and I will get more toys...he has Jungle Talk long strand with bell on bottom and a couple of other hanging toys and a ladder so far....
I can't get him to come out of his cage yet though...I leave the door open so he knows he can come out but trying to take him out is met with resistance.
Thanks for the input on that wing flap and twitch....that was something I had never seen a bird do before and pet store was less than helpful....

Lee,
Congrats on the new addition to your life. Two days is like a drop in the bucket, especially after the birdy has been living in Petco for 8 months (he may not have been out of the cage in that time).

If you can, post a photo of your cage inside and top of cage, and location of cage, and outside play area if u have one. Maybe we can give u some ideas. Also, a photo or short video of the feather behavior. Sounds like he is stretching and / or showing off.

Various kinds of toys, including foot toys. You can even use some items from around your house to keep alternating and trying out different toys, such as plastic (dull edge) cookie cutters, small empty plastic bottles (like from pharmacy or vitamins) - cleaned well and you can put a treat inside in case birdy can get it open, plastic or stainless measuring cups or spoons (kitchen is a good place to find quick toys because items are safe for being in contact with food (nothing sharp or nonstick surfaces). A bathing dish/tray with a little water.

If you want to leave on tv, you could try no sound and leave on mellow radio. If I leave on tv or radio it is usually the stations without commercials and w/o flashy/noisy cartoons. Cspan, PBS, TLC, etc. Can leave volume down and put radio sound instead.

Birdy is probably still a bit freaked out from being in a new place that is calm during the day instead of filled up with bright lights and people, talking, or poking their heads and fingers at him/her. Might even miss the attention.

Keep us posted on how things are going. Photos.

Do they like watching TV? I was wondering because I could put a small TV buy my birds cage to keep him occupied along with toys while I am working. I know that they do that with Chickens.

Our two Conures love the radio on when we are not with them. They like "easy listening" type of music. It is really amazing how they react to different music or tv if we are not in the living room with them. They get all worked up if it is anything different than their "easy listing" radio station on the satelite tv (for no commercials). And like everyone says, lots of toys!
Congratulations on the addition to your family! Lets see a picture of your new bird.

With TV, my understanding is that their eyesight is much better than ours, the point that they can pick up individual pixels on older TVs, or something like that. More often than not I hear not to have one around the bird and to use radio.

Since the bird you got is from a pet shop it might take him longer to adjust. I got my 2 budgies from petco and it took the a complete month for them to trust me and let me take them out. You can get foraging toys on dr foster and smith website. They have different types and cheap. Put lots of toys in they're. My budgies LOVE their little blue swing, most conures love one too. They would swing on it for hours and use while they are preening. Also birds love those dangling ring toys. They would hang upside down and play with the bell at the bottom .

WannaBeAParrot said:

Lee,
Congrats on the new addition to your life. Two days is like a drop in the bucket, especially after the birdy has been living in Petco for 8 months (he may not have been out of the cage in that time).

If you can, post a photo of your cage inside and top of cage, and location of cage, and outside play area if u have one. Maybe we can give u some ideas. Also, a photo or short video of the feather behavior. Sounds like he is stretching and / or showing off.

Various kinds of toys, including foot toys. You can even use some items from around your house to keep alternating and trying out different toys, such as plastic (dull edge) cookie cutters, small empty plastic bottles (like from pharmacy or vitamins) - cleaned well and you can put a treat inside in case birdy can get it open, plastic or stainless measuring cups or spoons (kitchen is a good place to find quick toys because items are safe for being in contact with food (nothing sharp or nonstick surfaces). A bathing dish/tray with a little water.

If you want to leave on tv, you could try no sound and leave on mellow radio. If I leave on tv or radio it is usually the stations without commercials and w/o flashy/noisy cartoons. Cspan, PBS, TLC, etc. Can leave volume down and put radio sound instead.

Birdy is probably still a bit freaked out from being in a new place that is calm during the day instead of filled up with bright lights and people, talking, or poking their heads and fingers at him/her. Might even miss the attention.

Keep us posted on how things are going. Photos.

Click to expand...

Update....I took video of twitching and went to Petco they say I should see vet as it may be neurological....gonna figure how to post a video here for you guys.
Just hate the way Petco address the issue with..."take him in we will give you your money back...then after the vet sees him you can buy him back if you want"
He is coming out of his cage now and going back by himself when its his bedtime....I bought him a play gym today....not giving up on little Rico

Aww congratulations on your little Rico he sounds like a character. I wonder if the funny wing flapping is a bit of nervous behaviour, sometimes if i'm playing on my computer and Chewie is sat watching she'll stick a wing out if something scary comes on the screen. She's such a little drama queen, everything is fine a moment later if I tickle her neck!

Also I leave Chewie for a good 8 hours if not more sometimes but she seems fine with it. Its hilarious when they show you what they've learnt to do with their toys while you've been out

I'm sure Rico will be very happy with you, it'll just take a bit of settling in.

Here he is.....

Here is a video of wing flapping...it can affect both wings and even feet can twitch

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

Congratulations of your new addition. I bought a crimson bellied conure about a month ago, and Chili seemed to shy away from me as well when I wanted to bring him out of the cage; which was understandable.
He wanted out, but I wanted him to understand I was the one to bring him out. He eventually came on my finger and have worked with him every day. Daily I wanted to see improvement from him...whether it was staying on my finger for 5 seconds longer or whatever.

Now he comes right on my finger cause he knows I'm the one who lets him out. I get to hold him in the morning, he bows his head so I can kiss the top of his head and stays with me longer. As for the rest of the day he runs away from me, which we need to work on together. I use a perch and get him to step up on it to put him back in the cage, and reward him with a seedless purple grape...seems to work for now.Occasionally he steps up and off, but I get him right back on again.

Chili does somersaults,loves playing with balls(the cat toy balls) and squawks in the am and pm. He was very quiet when I got him, but as he got use to his new surroundings, he became louder.As for the wing, I haven't seen mine do that...sorry. they are incredibly intelligent.

Do you know when he was clipped last? As in, did they clip him right before they sold him to you, or?

Conures are known for 'wing twitching', but it's usually both wings, not one... and that means they want something. The behavior you show in the video looks different, but it doesn't look medical.

MonicaMc said:

Do you know when he was clipped last? As in, did they clip him right before they sold him to you, or?

Conures are known for 'wing twitching', but it's usually both wings, not one... and that means they want something. The behavior you show in the video looks different, but it doesn't look medical.

Click to expand...

They couldn't tell me when he was clipped last...I am thinking it was a good while back though..When I take him to see vet I will ask her to clip them....
It usually spreads to both wings and can even make his feet jump.
What my friends and I can't understand is why no one noticed this at the store...he was there long enough

He doesn't need to be clipped... he's already clipped.

Is it always in one body position? And direction? Or is he doing it randomly in any direction?