Baby Cuddles

lisazartsi · Oct 19, 2020

Piña (our pineapple GCC) is now about 14 weeks old and her personality is really coming out. She loves being the center of attention. She plays very well in her cage with her toys and does this adorable cheep when she finds one of the little treats I've hidden in her foraging toys. We have her out of the cage for 15-20 minute periods at a time, mostly working on step-up training and trying to get her to fly short distances to our hands from her perch (unfortunately her wings were clipped so she lacks confidence in this). After a bath, we cuddle her in a towel and give her scritches and she loves it. So far, she's a happy little birdy (who only gets grumpy if she's out of the cage training at night-time before bed.

I'm wondering if we should have her out of the cage more often? We try to give her activities each time she's out because I'm worried if we cuddle her too much that she'll start considering us as mates and I don't want to confuse her, but I also don't want to be neglectful by not having her out as often as we should.

Cagzo · Oct 20, 2020

What time does she go to bed?
I found Connie could be a bit crabby being let out before bed. She would just sit on my knee and didnt want to interact.
I think it was because it was well past her bed time. She now gets covered at 9.00pm and is happy to learn things during her time out in the morning.
If you think about it,they originate from somewhere nearer the equator,so in the wild they would have gone to roost at 6.30. I think Im right in saying that?

fiddlejen · Oct 20, 2020

lisazartsi said:
Piña (our pineapple GCC) is now about 14 weeks old and her personality is really coming out. She loves being the center of attention. She plays very well in her cage with her toys... We have her out of the cage for 15-20 minute periods at a time...

I'm wondering if we should have her out of the cage more often? We try to give her activities each time she's out because I'm worried if we cuddle her too much that she'll start considering us as mates and I don't want to confuse her, but I also don't want to be neglectful by not having her out as often as we should.

Well it's not really clear here, how OFTEN you already have her out? I mean, 15-20 minutes Per Day would be definitely way way too Little time out. But if, alternatively, you mean, say 15-20 minutes Out, 15-IN etc continuously throughout the day, then obviously that could hardly be improved-upon.

So. Those 15-20 MInute OUtings. How often are they occurring?

Regarding cuddling. It is common for baby conures to be cuddly. There is some management needed -- indeed, you do not want that to be their major interaction expectation when they mature (very soon!). However you probably DO want to allow some of it. I was too shy of letting my Sunny cuddle into me, so now when she wants to Lean against me she insists on standing on a perch while I hold out my hand so she can lean-against and preen...

If you read other threads from other conure-owners, I think a certain amount of limited, non-movement cuddle or snuggle is okay or even good. It has been pointed out that in nature, conures will indeed sleep in a tree-hollow.

So snuggles can remain innocent. Just avoid Petting-like or Rubbing-like motions. (Especially on the body or wings, of course!) But I think the leaning-type, or kinda hiding-under-your-hands type cuddles are probably okay, within limitations.

lisazartsi · Oct 21, 2020

She goes to bed around 9 - 9:30pm depending on the day. If we need to get up early in the morning, we'll change her bedtime accordingly, but that hasn't really happened much. I agree, she does get a bit cranky if we take her out when she's sleepy and ready for bed.

Lately, she's started getting a bit bitey on our fingers. It's not an aggressive bite or a fear bite, more just like a baby exploring bite, but they're starting to get painful. The earthquake method doesn't really do anything, and I've heard mixed reviews about saying "no biting" sternly as apparently it can trigger them into wanting to do it more often. Not sure why the biting is starting to appear now when it didn't really happen before and we're struggling to know how to deal with it. Would love suggestions!

lisazartsi · Oct 21, 2020

fiddlejen said:
lisazartsi said:

Well it's not really clear here, how OFTEN you already have her out? I mean, 15-20 minutes Per Day would be definitely way way too Little time out. But if, alternatively, you mean, say 15-20 minutes Out, 15-IN etc continuously throughout the day, then obviously that could hardly be improved-upon.

So. Those 15-20 MInute OUtings. How often are they occurring?

Click to expand...

Right now I haven't started my new job yet, so I'm home much more often than I will be once I've started, so I'm able to provide her with more outings. I'm trying to be mindful of the fact that I'll be around less once I'm back to work and not providing her with too much more time now than I'll be able to giver her later. Her out-of-cage interactions right now happen maybe 4 - 5 times a day for 15 to 30 mins each, but I find she starts to get a bit bitey if we have her out more often or for longer periods than that (she likes her toys in her cage, hah).

Baby Cuddles

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