benton23
New member
Hey guys, I went by Petco today to check in on the conures they have. I know pet stores aren't usually the best place to buy from, but my options are very limited, and they're one of only 3 places within an hours drive I can actually see and interact with any potential future pets. The Petco has recently gotten two Green Cheeks, a yellow sided (want him!) and a Cinnamon. I asked about them, and wanted to try and interact with the Yellow Side. Turns out that even though they say they were all hand raised, these two have become very unwilling to be handled. They tried to get the Yellow Side out, but he freaked out right from the start and ended up doing everything he could to escape, and trying (and once succeeding) to bite the employees. Rather than further stress the bird we agreed to just let him back in his cage, so I unfortunately got no chance to see how he'd react to me. I'm wondering if this is common pet store bird behavior, and more importantly, what would it take to change it? I'm expecting any bird I purchase to require some degree of training, but this particular little bird couldn't even begin to be handled. I'm not sure that since I'm not extremely experienced I'd be able to modify his behavior, and not allow him to stay that way, or have him think he can bite or misbehave to get his way. I did however get to interact with a Dusky Conure they had, and wow, what a sweetheart! She stepped right onto my hand, and crawled herself up to my shoulder and began to gently nibble my ear and neck, lol. She also gives kisses on command, which I thought was very impressive for a Petco bird. So part two, any Dusky Conure owners out there, is this indicative of the species as a whole, and how do you feel they stack up with the Green Cheek Conures as far as personality and noise level?