puberty question

tlouiselle · Mar 28, 2011

We have had Oscar for almost a month now and he is doing wonderfully. What a little lover. He is such a little comedian. In no time at all he accepted us and makes progress each day. He dances, is learning to talk, plays dead in our hands, puffs up to be stroked, and cuddles. He is always with us... even on our evening dog walks. He has been doing wonderfully with his beak pinching. A firm "No" would stop the behavior and the number/pressure of his little pinches have decreased...until recently. He is still a little sweetie, but he seems to get in these sassy moods. He is not mean, he is more goofy and chatty during during these times. He is also more prone to pinch. When I tell him "no" he makes a grunting noise and will pinch even harder. When he lets go I say "no biting" and return him to his cage for a time out. He is also not allowed on our shoulders when he is in his goofy moods either.

I have been reading about when conures reach puberty/sexual maturity. What age can this begin?

Oscar is 5 months old. I would really like to be prepared for when it happens. I have also read that when some birds reach sexual maturity they are not happy being "pets" and happiest as a breeder bird. I am so scared this will happen to him.

Spiritbird · Mar 28, 2011

Parrots reach sexual maturity at different rates. The average being about 2.5 to 4 years. Sounds to me like you are doing a good job. Conures are beaky birds. Just give them lots of shredding toys. My girlfriend has a GCC and at the end of the day the bottom of her bird's cage looks like a shredding machine container. If you keep your bird's world enriched with foraging and lots of toys and love he should remain a happy bird. All birds will get moody sometimes just like people,especially at molt but just hang in the knowing it is temp.

AndrewH · Mar 28, 2011

Our U2 recently reached sexual maturity. She was a wonderfully loving bird. She is now going through 'changes'. Simply put, she went nuts and eventually prolapsed. We have to keep her in a smaller cage (she is more calm in her smaller cage) without a perch (she will use a perch to stimulate herself). We are hoping her hormones settle down soon. We've had her to the vet 4 times to get hormone injections to keep her out of season.

We'll see what happens. I don't want to scare you...cockatoos are notorious for prolapse and whackiness during adolescence, but I think everyone would agree that birds do change when they become mature.

tlouiselle · Mar 28, 2011

Thank you guys. I had a parrotlet who just turned a little sassy but remained a sweetie (I never noticed any major changes) and parakeets. Other than that I have no experience just want to be prepared. I was reading stories about it in my conure book and they say some don't just change, they would rather not be handleled permanantly. I know this is not the case with every bird but just want to be ready and have enough knowledge to have a proper handle on the situation if/when it occurs.

suebee · Mar 28, 2011

well my nut's just come out of season, and while she was in season, she was well, nuts! all beak!

but she is out of season now, and is well really playfull and i call her the rat with wings

i was told by a breeder to never stroke her down her back, and if she started flirting with my man, for him to discourage her, pop her into cage or for him to leave room. and this seasonal behaviour could go on for a few yrs. so i'll just wait till november an brace myself through to feb lol

Gandolf · Mar 29, 2011

tlouiselle said:
We have had Oscar for almost a month now and he is doing wonderfully. What a little lover. He is such a little comedian. In no time at all he accepted us and makes progress each day. He dances, is learning to talk, plays dead in our hands, puffs up to be stroked, and cuddles. He is always with us... even on our evening dog walks. He has been doing wonderfully with his beak pinching. A firm "No" would stop the behavior and the number/pressure of his little pinches have decreased...until recently. He is still a little sweetie, but he seems to get in these sassy moods. He is not mean, he is more goofy and chatty during during these times. He is also more prone to pinch. When I tell him "no" he makes a grunting noise and will pinch even harder. When he lets go I say "no biting" and return him to his cage for a time out. He is also not allowed on our shoulders when he is in his goofy moods either.

I have been reading about when conures reach puberty/sexual maturity. What age can this begin?

Oscar is 5 months old. I would really like to be prepared for when it happens. I have also read that when some birds reach sexual maturity they are not happy being "pets" and happiest as a breeder bird. I am so scared this will happen to him.

Conures are very very pinchy birds. It is a phaze and eventually he will quit being so pinchy. The main thing is to be careful that you are not reacting 2 the pinches. We have a Very loving Sun, Caesar that we just spoiled the @@@@#^ out of and it pinched us in the but

l8tr on. We brought home other birds that demanded attention and he became very teratorial and jelouse. It takes allot of work to make a balance. Good luck and remember don't react to the pinches. The best thing 2 do is just put him or her down and totally ignore them for a few minutes....over and over if necessary. Try not 2 use the sleeping cage as punishment for it can lead 2 many other issues l8tr on. :0

tlouiselle · Mar 29, 2011

Thank you. Yes I was worried about him having time outs in his cage because he sleeps there. I can set him down somewhere else. Or move his perch over to the counter for him to cool off on. He is never in his cage except for at night and when we leave (I work from home so he is out all day every day). If he is in it during the day he will use the perches. However at night he hangs onto the side of the cage until I uncover him in the morning. I don't want him to 1. see his cage in a negative way or 2. learn to bite if he wants to go to his cage. Ha ha it is definately like dealing with a three year old child. He was back to his normal self today though. As everyone says, they have good days and bad days just like us

MikeyTN · Mar 30, 2011

I ignore my macaw when he's in the mating mood cause he's rough....he just came out of it....Much better!!! Back to being a funky bird again...

spongoknow · Aug 31, 2014

I have a Sun Conure and she (?) just turned 2 years old. My question is: do female sun conures try to hump your hands (or other things)? She'll be sitting on my finger and drop her butt like she is going to poop and then she just brings her butt in and I can't tell if she's trying to lay an egg and doesn't know what's going on or if it's the other. My sister thinks that she is actually a he because of this behavior which started 2 days ago, but I really really feel like she's a girl and I'm hoping she's just going into season for the first time.

She loves (LOVES) to crawl inside shirts and just snuggle, and she used to just sit there, but she has started pinching a lot too. I thought it was just that she was biting the edge of my undershirt or bra, but since other people are having this problem too, I guess not. Also, how do you stop the pinching?? :orange:

puberty question

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