New owner, sleepy conure

Hey everyone, I'm completely new here so I apologize in advance if I'm posting in the wrong place or my question has been answered someplace else.

I just got a new green cheek conure two days ago, we decided to call him Zazu. He's scared of us but we're okay with that and are giving him plenty of space, a large cage, toys, food, and water. What's weird is he keeps sleeping when he has the chance. He's falling asleep everywhere; in his birdie bed, small spaces around the house (under tables, between bookshelves, behind the T.V) I've never had such a sleepy bird before. We'll put him in his cage and he'll just eat, drink, then go to sleep. We'll try to handle him and he'll freeze up, then attempt to fly but he'll end up slamming himself against the ground - we soon learned to hold him down low so he wouldn't hurt himself. So we're trying to let him get accustomed to our house without overwhelming him and let him roam free, but he just sleeps in small areas instead.
Any advice on what I can do to help him out? Thank you very much!

Welcome to the forums and congratulations on your new conure!

Lethargy is never a good sign in any animal. Is he constantly fluffed up whIle sleeping, too? If so, this is a very common sign of illness, so I would take Zazu to a vet. Birds aren't the type of animal you can just "wait to see" if it'll blow over. By the time they show symptoms, it's often too late. They have this pesky habit of hiding their illness due to being prey animals, so they never want to elude to being an easy target. This, of course is hard on us because we end up being the most (rightfully so) paranoid people.

As for getting him accustomed, small steps is key. He sees you guys as a threat at the moment and that's why he's flying away... he doesn't quite trust that you won't have him for a snack with your afternoon tea. Slow, deliberate movements help, as well as soft talking and simply being in their presence without handling them. Start rewarding him with his favorite treats, such as sunflowers, fruits, veggies, etc., and just simply waiting a distance away while he finishes. Eventually he'll realize you're a part of the flock

Good luck with Zazu, and please do take him to the vet just to be safe! I'm sure other members will also chime in with a copious amount of knowledge

Dinosrawr has some awesome suggestions, and I agree on getting him checked. Better safe than sorry no matter what. Also try sharing meals with him(given they're healthy for birds!). Sharing food is a good trust-building activity, and birds are naturally curious critters and even if they don't like it they'll still be eying your plate like it's the most delicious thing they've ever seen! Hehe.
Also, welcome to the forums! If you ever have a question but feel like it's already been answered, there's a "search" function that you can use to browse for keywords in threads and posts that have already been made.

Thank you so much, I'll call the vet first thing tomorrow! Does this mean that when we bought him, he was sick? Or could that have happened when we were bringing him home?

sarabear said:

Thank you so much, I'll call the vet first thing tomorrow! Does this mean that when we bought him, he was sick? Or could that have happened when we were bringing him home?

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More often than not it's something the bird already has, like Dino said sometimes by the time they're showing symptoms they've had it for a while since they try so hard to hide it. However if you think there's any chance he chewed on something he shouldn't have, or got into something while on the floor a close inspection and a good cleaning wouldn't hurt. (Bird-proofing can be a pain, so much little stuff!!! haha.) Also make sure there's a grate between their poop/seed tray in the bottom of their cage, and the rest of the cage so even if he were to get on the bottom to get something he dropped he won't be rolling around in bacteria. Conures like to roll around and quite often my GCC rolls right onto the floor of the cage.. silly little fellows. Wishing the best for your bird! Let us know what the vet says! (Also it doesn't help to have an Avian Specialist to contact, some small animal vets may have worked with birds before but don't know how to extensively examine them, although I've heard of some who are fantastic with birds and just as good as any certified Avian Vet. Just a tidbit of info you might find useful )

Sterling1113 said:

sarabear said:

Thank you so much, I'll call the vet first thing tomorrow! Does this mean that when we bought him, he was sick? Or could that have happened when we were bringing him home?

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More often than not it's something the bird already has, like Dino said sometimes by the time they're showing symptoms they've had it for a while since they try so hard to hide it. However if you think there's any chance he chewed on something he shouldn't have, or got into something while on the floor a close inspection and a good cleaning wouldn't hurt. (Bird-proofing can be a pain, so much little stuff!!! haha.) Also make sure there's a grate between their poop/seed tray in the bottom of their cage, and the rest of the cage so even if he were to get on the bottom to get something he dropped he won't be rolling around in bacteria. Conures like to roll around and quite often my GCC rolls right onto the floor of the cage.. silly little fellows. Wishing the best for your bird! Let us know what the vet says! (Also it doesn't help to have an Avian Specialist to contact, some small animal vets may have worked with birds before but don't know how to extensively examine them, although I've heard of some who are fantastic with birds and just as good as any certified Avian Vet. Just a tidbit of info you might find useful )

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Just came back from the vet, I felt like it was an emergency since Zazu was barely moving and was just sleeping on my sisters chest. Turns out he had a respiratory infection The vet gave him an injection, some medicine that I'll have to administer orally, and advice that we should keep him warm. He thinks it might have been as a result of my dad bringing him home to us in a box without covering the holes with a blanket first - we live in Southern Ontario so it's very cold up here still. Let's hope he gets better very soon, thank you both for your help!

Oh my! Thank goodness it was caught and is treatable. I'm glad we could help, and keep us updated on Zazu's progress

If a bird is healthy and the bird was warm during the trip down in a warmed up car, then that should not result in a respiratory infection.

However, if the bird was sick, and the added stress of travel and a new place, this could cause a dormant illness to go into a full blown attack.


Hope he's doing better!

Dinosrawr said:

Oh my! Thank goodness it was caught and is treatable. I'm glad we could help, and keep us updated on Zazu's progress

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He's doing much better now! He keeps squawking when we're around and talk to him, he still hides from us, but overall he's way better. Thank you Sterling and Dinosrawr!
Now if only he would actually like us