Rez1990

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Aug 17, 2017
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I have a green cheek conure and a crimson bellied conure sharing the same cage. I've had them for about 4 years and they have shared a cage. Now I am used to being bitten here and there by my birds (anything with a mouth can bite). So my green cheek has been showing aggression over time but I didn't think too much of it because I just felt like he wasn't in the mood. But recently he has, lack of a better word, attacked my face. I went to let them out of their cage like normal (they have their cage open whenever I am home). My green cheek conure climbs on me (I haven't touched him) and I am waiting for my crimson bellied conure to climb on (not touching him either) and my green cheek goes for my lip and bits hard to the point I bled. There have been times that when I do try to pet my crimson bellied (who wants attention) my green cheek will try to bite me. Now this made me think is my green cheek aggressive over my crimson bellied? How can I fix this? What should I do?
 

LordTriggs

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May 11, 2017
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Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
to me it sounds a bit closer to jealousy/mate defense than pure aggression, possibly with some hormones playing around. Possibly also a lack of bite training too.

They've most likely bonded together with the Green Cheek taking a more defensive role than the crimson belly. essentially when you give the crimson belly attention the green cheek is getting jealous whenever you handle his mate as they think you're trying to steal the crimson away. Add hormones to that and there'll definitely be an increase in aggression towards you.

Try giving attention to the green cheek first to see if that calms him, if that doesn't work go a bit detective on the situation and look for the exact trigger of his bite. Also work on enforcing bite training them. Essentially any time you get bitten any stronger than a light nip put the one who did it on the floor and ignore them for a minute. It'll work especially well if you give attention to the other bird during timeout. In the wild that's what birds do, they shun whoever bites them and that's how they learn.

Hopefully that should work for you, of course you seem to be aware they're going to be more temperamental than a bird bonded to a human. Good luck with them!
 
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Rez1990

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Thank you for the advice, I will do my best to work on this.
 

dhraiden

Member
Jul 14, 2015
603
23
Queens NY
Parrots
Green Cheek Conure (Mochi)
Gold Capped Conure (Mango)
Work on keeping them separated with attention given to both. Actually too much time together will create problematic separation anxiety in both, so better to ease them into being comfortable in their own spaces, out of sight (but not out of sound). It's better for their mood later on (don't overly isolate, just give each some time apart).

When we acquired our 2nd, a separate cage was bought for that purpose, although they're still next to each other, it prevents over-bonding.
 

clark_conure

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Jul 14, 2017
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Minnesota
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A crossover Quaker Scuti (F), A Sun conure named AC, A Cinnamon Green Cheek conure Kent, and 6 budgies, Scuti Jr. (f), yellow (m), clark Jr. (m), Dot (f), Zebra(f), Machine (m).
I have read a loton this and the predominating theory is to give the more dominate bird attention first like LordTriggs said....

I'm not saying that will work out, but everything I've read points to that as the recommended course.
 

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