My Green Cheek Conure just wants to cling to my chest and cuddle! Help anyone?

Kalel

New member
Jan 2, 2015
473
8
Canada
Parrots
Sun conure named Lemon (nickname Moonie) hatched August 28, 2014, BFA Professor Green hatched August 22, 2014, Macaw Flash hatched Sept 15, 2007
Hello everyone! This is my first time posting on the forum and I hope someone can help me with this. So, I recently got a green check conure, Pi 3 weeks ago. His hatch date is Aug 28, 2014 so he is still a baby at 4 months. He is the cuddliest little bird I have ever seen! All he wants to do is cuddle. It is to the point that I feel like he's obsessed with cuddling! I feel like he has a cuddle addiction that gets in the way of him doing anything else lol! I'm not sure if you know what I mean but I can give you examples.

So, when I first got him he didn't even know how to step up. I taught him how to do it and it only took 5-10 min. But, usually when he steps up onto a finger his main goal is to shove his head into the remaining fingers on your hand and try to cuddle in the palm of your hand! Whenever he his out of his cage (and he's out a lot I'd say minimum 4-5 hrs per day, but usually more) all he wants to do is run or jump onto your chest and cuddle. He prefers chest or neck but will be content if you put him on your arm where he can nuzzle up to the crease of the elbow or up between arm and body. Oh and another thing. Pretty much the entire time he keeps chirping! It's like a two step chirp chirp with a 1 second break then another chirp chirp followed by a break and so on! I'm talking he can go on like this for hours and hours. The chirping only stops if he falls asleep!

So, I have tried trick training or having him play with toys but guess what...his obsession with getting to my chest makes him not even interested in doing anything else. Don't get me wrong, if there's an iphone in my hand he will usually run and check it out for maybe 30 seconds, but like a person who's afraid of losing a good seat at a show he'll run right back and cuddle up on my chest. When he is in his cage all he does is head bob, pace, and partially open his wings like he wants to fly to get our attention. He just wants to be with us and when we open the cage he jumps on us and runs to chest/neck area.

Probably the only thing that can get him away from wanting to be on the chest area is if there is food in sight. If he sees a cup or bowl he HAS TO HAVE what's in it! Other than that though it's pretty much velcro bird. He is such a sweet bird and has never even tried to bite us once. When we first got him he would love head scratches and puff out his feathers and close his eyes, but now he seems to scream when we scratch a certain part of his head. He'll kind of arch his back and lift his head and scream at you. He usually only tolerates certain parts of his head scratched but still loves chin scratches. He is ok with being held in the palm and will even go on his back in your palm.

Does anyone have any experiences similar to this? I have seen other green cheeks at friends homes that are nothing like Pi. They seem interested in walking around and playing with toys, sitting on their cage tops playing etc. Sometimes I'll hear them kind of low volume chirp, squawk, but nothing like the persistent cheep, cheep of my conure. Is it because he is a baby and still "begging for attention" and it's a normal phase he will grow out of or should I expect a chirping velcro bird pretty much for life?? Please any input of advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
 

Sasha2

New member
Mar 11, 2013
126
0
Midwest
Parrots
Sun conure , greencheek conure
My conure is very similiar. She will sit on the side of the cage watching me all day long rather then play with toys. But she has learned to stay in the cage for longer stretches, it just takes time.Kind of like teaching a baby to sleep by itself. Greencheeks are very clingy birds and likely will always be a velcro bird.
Your baby is still really young,. She feels safe on your chest(maybe her breeder let her sleep there too).As she gets older and braver she will probably play more and start exploring.
 
OP
Kalel

Kalel

New member
Jan 2, 2015
473
8
Canada
Parrots
Sun conure named Lemon (nickname Moonie) hatched August 28, 2014, BFA Professor Green hatched August 22, 2014, Macaw Flash hatched Sept 15, 2007
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Thanks guys! Well, I guess it is what it is. We will see how he behaves a few months down the road as he gets older. Hopefully he will become more independent with time. I hear puberty hits around a year. I have no idea how long that will last but supposedly they get more nippy and moody. Again, thanks for your replies!
 

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