GCC Problems - feeling a little desperate

Hi,

I had no idea how much goes into raising a bird honestly. I have a list of problems and I'm just going to describe them and if anyone can give me any advice or assistance on any point I will be very grateful.

This is all in regards to my approximately 4-5 month old Cinnamon GCC, Evie.

1. She won't eat pellets. She never touches them. The vet told me to take all other foods out of the cage and leave pellets only for when she wakes up. She doesn't eat them. She only likes seeds and fresh food. Is it going to hurt her if I allow her to just eat a diet which is 80% conure seed mix and 20% fresh fruit and veggies?

2. She was previously very quiet (only made chattering sounds and little chirps or quacks) and is now EXTREMELY loud. I didn't mind this occasional vocalisation so much at first but it has increased a lot. I also can't tell if her ear piercing shrieks are happiness or unhappiness. She's started making a wide variety of sounds in the last week that I have never heard her make at all. She used to go to bed with ease, i.e cover the cage and she wouldn't make a peep. Now she shrieks the house down when I cover the cage or enter or leave the room for 20 mins - half an hour and sometimes just whenever she feels like it, even if I am with her or in the room. I've got no idea weather to ignore her shrieking or try to distract her but it is becoming disruptive and irritating.

3. When I am in the room but say, in bed (and she is supposed to be asleep as well) she will start running around the bottom of her cage and pushing her head and beak into the corners of the cage, usually quite hard as she sometimes flips over due to how hard she is pushing. She seems frustrated or bored or basically just seems to want to get out as she often does it after she's been out. My issue is that when she does this she seems so frustrated and bored that I want to get her out and play with her but have been resisting in case she thinks it's an invitation to do this behaviour whenever she wants out. Her cage has many toys.

Basically I am feeling pretty bad. I feel like I am in over my head. I researched getting this bird for so long but I feel like my lifestyle isn't suiting her and that she is unhappy. I try to spend as much time with her as I can every day and talk to her and play with her. I let her out of the cage and take her outside and let her do her own thing indoors. Despite this she still seems not to be a happy bird. I don't know what to do.

Sorry youre having troubles.

First thing, do not change her diet to pellet so drastically. Mix in a bit of pellets with seeds in the same bowl.fradually increase pellet ratio overtime. Try a different brand pellet, he might be more open to something else. check food dish regularly, make sure it's not filled with just seed hulls. Change it daily. Change water dish at least 3x daily or more.

Leave 2-3 foraging stations. Foragers must be mildly challenging to very challenging. Fill this with seeds, pellets, nuts. That way he can still get seeds if for done reason he rejects pellets completely. He won't starve to death and he will have something to do in the cage.

Introduce fresh fruit/veg. My conure's diet is 75% fresh produce and he's doing great. I supplement with cuttlebone, mineral blocks, pellets, calcium/vitamin d powder, nutriberries, eggs, salmon, chicken, eggshells, rice, etc, etc. Experiment to see what he likes. Read the safe food list first. Start by offering red bell pepper with seeds still attached. Apples, mango, lettuce are faves of my bird.

Give him lots of shredding and chewing toys. Rotate them. Offer a bath or shower at least 2x a week. Do not respond to shrieks. Only respond to mild calls.

Also keep reading beginner guides to the proper care of birds. Read especially the common household dangers that can kill them. It's a lot of work and a life changing commitment, difficult at first but you get used to it.

Good luck.

I'm a first time gcc owner as well. Regarding food, I made a mistake when I brought him home (remedied the next day) by not offering him the food he'd been on at the store
he wasn't eating a bite of it so i managed to get enough of his old food from the store to transition him to the food I felt was healthier for him. I feed mashes, fresh fruits and veggies etc. He also started talking a LOT more after he'd been in my house for a while. I figured out he's part of this family and can't understand WHY he has to be in his cage when everyone else is out! (my dog is very interested in him...not in a "just say hi" kind of way so it's for his safety)
maybe someone in the group could comment on having his cage not in your bedroom at night? ONly cover him up when it's really bed time for everyone?

Good luck and enjoy.

As said, try different types of pellets. Maybe one will appeal to him. Also, you can try "juicing" them - wet them down with a bit of a fruit juice he likes. Or mash them up with other wet foods he likes.

As fricksmom said, move the cage out of your bedroom. And, don't go to him when he tries to scream for attention or peeking out under the cage cover--it will just encourage the behavior.

Sounds like a normal situation to me. Like the others, I would slowly substitute in more pellets each day for her other food. My GCC loves Roudybush Daily Maintenance pellets. Occasional shrieking is perfectly normal. Sometimes it is triggered by sounds in the environment (like a bird chirping in a TV show or outside) or by something I do. You can probably curtail it somewhat by putting her back in her cage if she's noisy. My bird does the same running around on her cage floor at night. I think you're right that she's frustrated, but that's okay. Let her do what she needs to do to deal with her frustration. She's not hurting herself.

Try not to worry I do know how you feel, for a few months after I got Chewie I honestly thought I just wasn't a good enough mum for her and that she hated living with me. She squawked all the time, wouldn't snuggle with me and would bite at every chance she got. It was a horrible time where I used to ring my sister crying because my parrot didn't like me!

Now, I wouldn't change her for anything. She is an absolute terror, but also the most hilarious, cuddly and loving little character and i'm pretty sure she likes me too now.

You will eventually get to know her noises, what triggers them and what they mean, and that will probably make them more bearable. With Chewie, the really loud high pitched 'squeak squeak' is her contact call of 'where are you'. Its annoying but it means she loves me right? She also does this while i'm washing up, or spreading anything (jam, butter etc) on toast. Mental.

The wierd drawn out 'squawk squawk squawk' can mean anything from 'that television is too loud' to 'i'm living the dream sat on this high up shelf'. If I shout 'chewie wtf' she generally shuts up.

I think what i'm trying to say is that you perhaps just need to get to know each other, and adjust to your lives together. Owning your first parrot is a massive change and takes a lot of getting used to, and you may find that some things don't work along the way. Chewie protests at being left alone at night, but she deals with it. Maybe leave your Evie alone to sleep at night? That will also give you a break from your noisy friend too.

Once you know her a little better and get used to her quirks (and when she is more used to you) maybe the other things won't seem quite as daunting

I feel your pain. I've had my conure for a week and have multiple issues:

- My husband can't stand him or the screeching and I want/NEED for the bird to understand (and quick) that quieter noises will be praised and screeching is going to land him in a time out!

- He (Digit) doesn't like my 5 year old and tries to bite him whenever he gets a chance. My husband sees this, the conure will be out for sure!

- I have two dogs: one couldn't give a rat's about the conure, the other wants to eat him at any given opportunity. She just sees him as something that does not belong and needs to be eradicated.

- Initially Digit was happy to spend time with me. He is very VERY sociable and cuddly, loves to be tickled and handled and is happy just perched on my shoulder or on my computer screen (!!) But since I've begun trying to train him he's started biting. Basically if he screeches I respond with a 'tsk' and if he nips me (i.e., if I try to get him off my shoulder and he bites) I respond by putting him in his cage. I'm hoping that the negative responses he gets for his actions will teach him not to do them! Doesn't seem to be working, although admittedly it's only been a couple of days. He bit me really hard this evening as I tried to get him to 'step up' in order to get him off my shoulder. I attempted to put him in a hold and the bugger got his head free and really bit me hard.

- Like the original thread, he won't touch pellets. I've tried sneaking a few into his seed mix but he ever so carefully eats round them!

I'm really wondering what I've landed myself in! I am not one of those people that gets a pet then gives up, but with all the problems I really think I've bitten off more than I can chew!

Help!

VeraH said:

I feel your pain. I've had my conure for a week and have multiple issues:

- My husband can't stand him or the screeching and I want/NEED for the bird to understand (and quick) that quieter noises will be praised and screeching is going to land him in a time out!

- He (Digit) doesn't like my 5 year old and tries to bite him whenever he gets a chance. My husband sees this, the conure will be out for sure!

- I have two dogs: one couldn't give a rat's about the conure, the other wants to eat him at any given opportunity. She just sees him as something that does not belong and needs to be eradicated.

- Initially Digit was happy to spend time with me. He is very VERY sociable and cuddly, loves to be tickled and handled and is happy just perched on my shoulder or on my computer screen (!!) But since I've begun trying to train him he's started biting. Basically if he screeches I respond with a 'tsk' and if he nips me (i.e., if I try to get him off my shoulder and he bites) I respond by putting him in his cage. I'm hoping that the negative responses he gets for his actions will teach him not to do them! Doesn't seem to be working, although admittedly it's only been a couple of days. He bit me really hard this evening as I tried to get him to 'step up' in order to get him off my shoulder. I attempted to put him in a hold and the bugger got his head free and really bit me hard.

- Like the original thread, he won't touch pellets. I've tried sneaking a few into his seed mix but he ever so carefully eats round them!

I'm really wondering what I've landed myself in! I am not one of those people that gets a pet then gives up, but with all the problems I really think I've bitten off more than I can chew!

Help!

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Sun conures are notorious for having one of the most piercing shrieks of parrots. It would probably be unrealistic for you to expect to get rid of this trait altogether, although you might minimize it.

The dogs and anti-parrot feelings of your husband are probably adding to your bird's stress and sense of danger, which tend to cause biting. I wonder if you should limit his time out to when it's only you and the bird so he feels safe.