Conure behavior

Hey guys, I went by Petco today to check in on the conures they have. I know pet stores aren't usually the best place to buy from, but my options are very limited, and they're one of only 3 places within an hours drive I can actually see and interact with any potential future pets. The Petco has recently gotten two Green Cheeks, a yellow sided (want him!) and a Cinnamon. I asked about them, and wanted to try and interact with the Yellow Side. Turns out that even though they say they were all hand raised, these two have become very unwilling to be handled. They tried to get the Yellow Side out, but he freaked out right from the start and ended up doing everything he could to escape, and trying (and once succeeding) to bite the employees. Rather than further stress the bird we agreed to just let him back in his cage, so I unfortunately got no chance to see how he'd react to me. I'm wondering if this is common pet store bird behavior, and more importantly, what would it take to change it? I'm expecting any bird I purchase to require some degree of training, but this particular little bird couldn't even begin to be handled. I'm not sure that since I'm not extremely experienced I'd be able to modify his behavior, and not allow him to stay that way, or have him think he can bite or misbehave to get his way. I did however get to interact with a Dusky Conure they had, and wow, what a sweetheart! She stepped right onto my hand, and crawled herself up to my shoulder and began to gently nibble my ear and neck, lol. She also gives kisses on command, which I thought was very impressive for a Petco bird. So part two, any Dusky Conure owners out there, is this indicative of the species as a whole, and how do you feel they stack up with the Green Cheek Conures as far as personality and noise level?

It various on how the birds are raised and how comfortable they are with strangers. There are hundreds of birds out there that will refuse to go to almost everyone, but then that one "special" person comes in and they go goo goo ga ga all over this one person! And then there are birds who will go to just about anyone!

It's better to choose a bird who instantly has a connection to you than a bird who refuses to interact with you. Sometimes, pet store birds you can "interact" with them through the bars/plexiglass and they'll enjoy every moment of it! But the second you remove that barrier, their behavior does a 180° turn and they freak out!


So sometimes, it can be hard to judge their behaviors, worse yet is that their behaviors can change yet again once you get them home! Safest bet, try and stick with a bird that enjoys interacting with you before you purchase!

benton23, there are not guarantees how any parrot will react once you get them home. You could choose a really frendly one in the Petstore & get it home only for it to turn feral. GCC have a reputation of being nippy but get past that they are cute little pocket pets.

A relationship built on trust makes a great union between human & parrots. And that takes time. It sure does help if the baby bird has been socalised & handled well while being hand-reared.

I do know that some of my H/R babies can be very shy of strangers. But once settled into their new home are fine.

I have a GCC who was unwilling to be handled and another GCC who was dying to be handled and cuddled and loved

Both great pets, the boy, Piña wanted nothing to do with me when we met. He has slowly but surely warmed up to us, it just takes time and patience and a gentle approach. I wait patiently for him to jump onto my arm and reward him with a sunflower seed each time he does. Now instead of avoiding me at all costs, he is happy to fly to me and has even started snuggling. He does not bite, ever, though used to threaten he would before he became comfortable with us. He is much gentler and subdued than the girl and with time will make a much better pet.

Colada (the girl) flew to me immediately at the breeders house, we had an instant connection. She is and always will be incredibly bitey and hyperactive... I have accepted this And love her regardless. She wants so desperately to play rough with me and zooms around all over me and rolls onto her back and snuggles into my neck and buries herself in my clothes LMAO But I cant play rough with her because she is a biter. Not just a nip, she slices her beak to remove skin (this is not common so don't worry, when people say they can be nippy they mean nippy... not that they will try to remove pieces of you LOL). She will learn to be gentler with time but its going to take a LOT of time and patience. When she bites she goes straight to bed. And she is an extremely fast learner. Though I have become accustomed to bleeding LOL And for now I can not wear earrings.

So as you can see... you can never judge on friendliness alone.... owning a bird takes patience and understanding The birdy love of your life may end up being a biter, or a screamer, or may hate everyone in the world but you... its not the end of the world if you are a patient understanding person. The perfect bird owner isn't afraid of bites and screaming and is willing to love their birds positives and forgive their negatives. Piña and Colada make a perfect pair... Piña is tolerant and peaceful and Colada is a mini hurricane of devastation LOL But she is hilarious and in the five minutes before she gets it in her head to attempt to remove my skin, she is the sweetest cuddle bug in the world.

But as others said... having an instant connection helps. Even if you end up discovering their "issues" later at least being so dear to your heart will make it easy to forgive them <3

So it seems that the Green Cheek going crazy with the store employees could get home and love me to death, and the super sweet Dusky could get home and want to rip my fingers off, lol. Thanks for the info guys, puts me much more at ease about going ahead with the Green Cheek and not shying away simply because of how he might act at the store, or because a bird might require a fair bit of training and patience.

I got my 4 month old from petco, we left with blood all over the place from bites.
i never get to handle him because I messed up by caging him with my 1 year old female too soon.. they are very bonded and will be breeding this coming season.
He has never bit me outside of the store. Allows me to touch him all over.
and steps up when not near his cage.
green cheeks are very fond and bonded with their cage. I find that even my tamest bird refuses to be touched while in the cage, which is where toweling comes in very handy. but once they get scared off or out of the cage, they are super friendly, although concerned with one thing only: getting back to their lover.
dont let how they act in the store affect your decisions. once removed from any situation they can change dramatically.
however, I love duskies. Every dusky I have seen has been the sweetest tamest thing ever. I currently have my eye on a dusky at petco that my 8 year old green cheek loves to death.
I make an effort to not request to see a bird, because it can make even the best potential pet seem like a terrible one. I choose according to how I feel and how we get along through their cage.

I've noticed my male conure cant be touched in his cage either. He will infact chase me if I have taken him by surprise near his cage LOL
Though I have taught him with sunflower seeds to step up ("Come here") and to go back to his cage ("Go back") which he does perfectly. My girl refuses to go back

Even though my guys were bought as a pair, the girl is very bonded to me. I don't expect that to last when they are breeding age, but its certainly interesting

Is there any good way to train them out of being cage aggressive like that? Or is it better to just accept that as a fact of life and find a work around, like with the sunflower seeds?

I dont think there is any way to train them out of it, just ways to train them so you can cope with it I have taught him to come to me for a sunflower seed

some people try to stop it by having day cage and a sleep cage.. i dont know much about it. wanted to do it when i was new to everything, but it seemed too difficult

Your situation sounds identical to mine. I purchased my first dusky from Petco last summer and immediately knew that I wanted to get another bird. Petco had this gorgeous gold crowned conure and had also brought in another dusky. I wanted to interact with the gold crowned conure, but he freaked out, flapping his wings and trying his best to avoid interacting with us. So I turned to the dusky who came out and snuggled right into my neck. So...personality won out over beauty, as I chose to get the dusky.

The people who are employed at our Petco aren't bird savvy to say the least. They don't know how to interact with the birds, nor do they know how to keep them busy by providing them with the proper number of enrichment toys. My guess is that your Petco setup could be similar to ours. The birds lose out because of it.

Both my duskies are packed full of personality. Like any conure, they can have their nippy moments, but overall it isn't bad. Even if they nip, they have never broken our skin.

Our duskies kiss us all the time. They love to snuggle and entertain us non stop. Duskies may not be the most beautiful conures out there, but they certainly are wonderful personality-wise.

My vote is for the dusky. You won't regret it!

Benton, are you in Wilmington, NC? Are you willing to drive a bit for a friendly bird? If you are in NC & can go a ways to find the right bird, check out Petswharehouse in Jacksonville. They always seem to have friendly conures, that's why my bf fell for them. They keep most their smaller parrots in open boxes so they are pretty much handled daily by multiple people.

NikiP87 said:

Benton, are you in Wilmington, NC? Are you willing to drive a bit for a friendly bird? If you are in NC & can go a ways to find the right bird, check out Petswharehouse in Jacksonville. They always seem to have friendly conures, that's why my bf fell for them. They keep most their smaller parrots in open boxes so they are pretty much handled daily by multiple people.

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Yes, I'm in Wilmington. Thanks for the tip! Jacksonville is about an hour to the north, so that's in pretty easy driving range, I'll definitely check them out. Thanks again!

benton23 said:

Is there any good way to train them out of being cage aggressive like that? Or is it better to just accept that as a fact of life and find a work around, like with the sunflower seeds?

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It helps to understand if the bird is cage aggressive, food aggressive, toy aggressive or if he/she is afraid.

Aggressive - the bird goes out of their way to attack
Fear - bird tries their best to avoid you and bites as a last resort

I know that my conure can be food aggressive with his dish inside the cage, but he's not cage aggressive. In fact, he'd rather be with me than inside his cage! Yet, if I'm inside his cage (cleaning), he'd rather hang with me! Of course, there are times when he's just not in the mood for handling and he'll act out towards me.


If a bird is aggressive while inside the cage, you can cue them to station. This can help you to change food and toys while the bird is inside the cage. Otherwise, remove them from the cage prior to messing with the contents of the cage.

Here's some good articles on stationing!
Stationing « Lara Joseph
http://www.parrots.org/pdfs/all_abo...nrichment/PS 17 1 Feb 05 companion parrot.pdf (mostly last page)
Stationing | Heckled By Parrots
How to Train Your Bird to

An excellent distinction there. The bird I witnessed was definitely in evasion mode, so it was fear, not aggression. Poor little guy. I may be bringing him home as soon as tomorrow though! Excited, hope everything goes how I need to to so it can happen.