Hoping to adopt a conure...

Hey! This won't be so much of an introduction as a question but here goes:
I'm a young homeschool student with a passion for birds and psychology.
I've started looking into parrots as pets and after a couple months of extensive research have settled on GCCs being my best bet.

However, I went to meet one who needs a home earlier today and am still not sure what to think.
First of all, this guy is tiny. Excluding the tail, he's maybe 4 inches tall. Is this a normal size for adult GCCs?
The main thing I'm worried about is his biting. He drew blood from me and nipped the owner too. Is this a bad habit or is it a personality thing?
The couple had him on their shoulders a lot and didn't do anything to correct the bites. Could I train/encourage him not to or is it just in his nature?

I really melted when I saw that face and even though he's fierce I would love to give him a better home than what he's in. (Smoke, junk everywhere, never out of cage)
I just need to know if I could handle him.

Thanks in advance. -Roanoke :smile015:

Sounds untrained. Owners who let their bird get away with everything and then when it got too hard to deal with (because it was never taught to be anything else but hard to deal with) no longer want the bird. The size sounds about right they are mostly tail really.

You can do things to correct the behavior like train him where the owners have not. Correct the biting behavior...at first he might get indignant about it..the king conure attitude is probably full blown because he thinks he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants. Does he only bite when in certain places or does he bite no matter where he is and what is being asked of him?

I think Birdman666 created a biting thread recently that would also be of help to you to read and get an idea on things to do for training and understanding the biting.

haha it was at the end of the active topic list made it easy to find
http://www.parrotforums.com/training/48616-types-biting-behavior-mods.html

Yeah, the little man seemed pretty rowdy!

As for the biting, he only beaked my finger a bit when I had him step up, but when I switched to the other hand he decided that it wasn't a good idea. (By promptly taking a piece of flesh) I simply tried again and the biting ceased. Maybe all he needs is a determined owner with structured rules.

Anyhow, thanks for your reply!
Looking forward to seeing you around!

When you take on a rescue bird, you can just about expect for them to have some kind of issues. Sounds like this little guy hasn't been trained or socialized very well. That can be corrected with proper training and working hard towards earning the birds trust and forming a strong bond with him. It could happen very quickly or take some time and theres no way of knowing before you have the bird in your care. Our bird took time, a lot of time, and patience! That can be very frustrating when you're doing everything right, your providing excellent care and the bird is still not ready to stop acting out. OR the bird could warm up immediately and progress quickly. One thing that is inherent with birds is they are social creatures and they all want to feel accepted into a "flock", so whether they improve immediately or make you earn their trust, with enough time and patience they WILL come around eventually

As for his size, I don't know enough about conures, but we used to have a member who had a very tiny cockatiel that was healthy, but noticeably smaller than her normal tiels. I think just like with any animal, there is a possibility an individual could suffer some kind of dwarfism... Again, I know very little about conures and how big they are, but he may be genetically small.

Thanks for your answer Kiwibird! Something about the idea of giving an animal a new life and helping them work through issues appeals to me. (I've never had a 'brand new' pet in my life, now that I think about it.) Glad to meet someone who's been successful. I'm going to need help with patience if I do adopt this guy, so your advice will be greatly referred to in the future!

Since yesterday I've done quite a bit of research on rescue birds, bite pressure training and bonding and though I will give myself a few more days to think about it, I believe I'm ready. (Or as ready as I'll ever be, having no previous experience!)

Until official-decision-time comes around, I'd love to hear rescue stories and about working through behaviour problems. Anyone with a story to share, please share it! Or if there's already some good ones out there I'd appreciate a link.

(Also, after carefully studying pictures of GCCs on hands it occurred to me that they are in fact quite small! Silly me. )