Introducing Rico GCC and my first questions

deni416

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Rico--pineapple Green Cheek Conure, Dmitri RIP (Peach faced lovebird)
Hi,
I am now in my second week with my new pineapple GCC, Rico. He is now 15 weeks old and my one and only. I have 8 years of previous parrot experience with a lovebird. I bought Rico (genetically sexed) from a local breeder who is very experienced. He had been caged with one sibling when I bought him. Overall, our first week went really great. He has done very well with step training. As probably should have been expected, tho, I am encountering things I did not expect!

Rico is very hand tame and did not hesitate to let me know from day one that he wanted to be out of his cage to be with me--plastering himself to the doors of the cage. He is never eager to go back to his cages (2 large cages, approx 2'x2'x3', with some good toys, but not an overwhelming amount). He does not seem to know how to play; most success is with chewing type things. I have been sitting with him to try to engage him in play with limited success so far. He still always wants out with me. So far I am forcing myself to ignore a lot of his pleas, with intermittent quality times out with me throughout the day.

Question: do I go along with his desires for more time with me now & then try to taper him off gradually? Or do I try to keep to my anticipated later times for one on one time? I would love to be his constant companion, but know this is not best or practical for either one of us. I have tried a combination of being outside of his presence and also being in the same room with him (hoping it may reassure him). Do I just trust that he will find ways to entertain himself when left to his own devices?

Question 2: Rico has a strong desire to beak my lips and even my teeth. This goes beyond curiosity for him. He just leans and leans to get at my mouth a lot during the day. I try to distract him with food or chewable sticks, but this only seems to work when he actually is hungry. I thought it might be a signal from him of hunger, but that doesn't seem to hold. He uses his tongue on my inner lip and also uses a chewing motion (has learned "gentle" command somewhat). Giving him quick kisses to the beak (which I like) and saying "kiss" have not been a good substitute for him yet either. I obviously want to stop this activity, but would like insight as to why he is doing this so I can teach him most effectively. He gets lots of scritches and cuddles otherwise. Do I keep to a strict "no" policy on this?

Thanks for any advice.
 
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deni416

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I wanted to see if my profile picture is working now.
 

Spiritbird

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Welcome Deni and Rico. You have a new baby conure and as you know they are so much fun and clowns to boot. On your first question the first thing I think of is expanding his world beyond what you have presented so far. Is there a place where you can safely take him for socialization? Our birds do need to learn to play by themselves but they still need one on one time with you especially when so young. With the second question it may be that someone in the breeders home may have started this bird to love kisses. As you know the human mouth is not a good place for a bird to be touching due to germs. I would try to break him of this habbit. I am sure others will chime in here with more suggestions.
 
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deni416

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Thanks, Spiritbird. I guess I didn't express myself very clearly. We are working on socialization a lot throughout the day. We are bonding very well so far---he eats, sits and snuggles with me, lets me touch him all over, and I present toys to him for play while he is on my hand/arm. I just wasn't sure how much I should limit the one-on-one time that he constantly wants so that he can hopefully learn to play on his own. I try to remove him from his cages at times when he is NOT hanging onto the door "asking" for me, so he knows that he does not need to do that to get my attention.
 

Spiritbird

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At 15 weeks of age he is still very young and I would not limit any one on one time. His independent play should evolve gradually as he grows. I found this web site and thought it was informative. You sound like you are familiar with companion birds. They are wonderful aren't they??

http://gcch.tripod.com/faq/faq2.html
 
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deni416

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Rico--pineapple Green Cheek Conure, Dmitri RIP (Peach faced lovebird)
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That's really great to hear. I'm basically home all day and would love to spend more time with him. Was just afraid of establishing routines that I cannot keep in the future.
 

Pheonix Rising

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21yrs young ;)
I belive its best with birds to start as you intend to finish
I personaly am home all day at present but as I know I plan on returning to work in next year or so
what I do with my fid is to get him up at 6 when I'm up and getting ready with thekids
approx 2hrs
then again at 6 pm till bed at 8.30
I will occasionsly get him out during the day also but this is at different times and different days ( no routine )
I find that he calls when his regular interaction times come but otherwise he is happy playing by himself
I personally find that 4hrs per Day works really well for us and he feels loved, comforted and stimulated
 
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deni416

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I belive its best with birds to start as you intend to finish
I personaly am home all day at present but as I know I plan on returning to work in next year or so
what I do with my fid is to get him up at 6 when I'm up and getting ready with thekids
approx 2hrs
then again at 6 pm till bed at 8.30
I will occasionsly get him out during the day also but this is at different times and different days ( no routine )
I find that he calls when his regular interaction times come but otherwise he is happy playing by himself
I personally find that 4hrs per Day works really well for us and he feels loved, comforted and stimulated

Can you tell me how it was at the beginning for you? Did he seem insatiable for more time with you? Did it take him long to enjoy playing by himself? I realize I may be overly concerned at this point. I didn't expect clinginess, tho.
 

Pheonix Rising

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21yrs young ;)
I hand raised him myself so this is just what he has known
he's only just turned 3 months old Now and is still learning to play with toys he used to be freaked out by them
just keep the same ones inthere a while he eventually get interested in them keep playing with them yourself he will pick it up as time goes by

He did ask for more timeout for a few weeks but once he got used to the routine he settled well and enjoys playing inhis cage as much as he enjoys free time

You may experiance a few upsets to start with but it won't take long for him to learn and it's better to teach it Now and carry on that way than try ulter his timeout when he's 1 or older and used to getting his way atleast this way when/ if you go to work or such like it won't be a shock to his system and he better able to cope with it
 
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deni416

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Thanks Pheonix Rising. That all makes a lot of sense to me.
 

Von1983

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Congrats on Rico! VERY CUTE!!!!

Once my sun conure Cal decided I was the bee's knee's and became my velcro bird (she was an aviary baby so very much NOT tame in the beginning), she would literally block my exit out of the room. She clung like the proverbial klingon! As she is now getting a bit older and knows her surroundings inside out, she goes away and does her own thing, flying back to me regularly for a quick snuggle before going to her play den again. It's natural, he's just a little baby and wants you attention, support and reassurance.

I did establish some ground rules because, you know....she was landing ON my face!!!! I taught her that kisses are fine as long as lips are firmly shut but she prefers to nuzzle my cheek now. I taught her when she regurgitated for me that it wasn't to go in my actual mouth but my hand was fine.

Your baby loves you. Enjoy every second because all too soon, independence will kick in and that cuddly time gets halved!
 

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