Need help with conure

[Slytheria]

My dad's girlfriend moved in recently and with her came two birds. One is a Conure, the other is an African Grey.

The Conure hates my dads girlfriend. He tries to attack any time she goes near the cage. And though it has not been a long time, the conure seems to have bonded with me. I am the only one capable of taking him from his cage without suffering for it. So, sadly, the only time he gets any interaction at all is when I take him out. He's not even my bird... -__-;;

But that's all I can do. I can take him out and he just sits on my shoulder and does absolutely nothing. I can't get him to play or anything. What can I do? I feel sorry for this poor bird and I think it's terrible that this woman still insists on keeping it. (I think it's purely vanity for her to own an exotic animal. She always has excuses as to why they don't get the proper care they need.)

So at least while I'm around, I wish to brighten his day. If only he'd let me. This bird seems to be so insecure. I've bought him toys that he has shown actual fear to. Even a single square of toilet paper is given a wide birth by this bird. It's so sad.


As for the African Gray, he's lucky if he gets out of his cage once a month. He's incredibly cage aggressive. My dad's girlfriend insists that this is normal behavior and can not be changed, I find that hard to believe myself. Is there steps that can be taken to ease his aggression?

Other than that, I'd like to focus on the conure for now.

 

[BillsBirds]

There's lots of info here. Just search different threads under "Conures", or "African Greys", or "Aggression", "Taming", etc. Plus maybe your dad's girlfriend should also. No maybe about it, she is absolutely wrong about everything. Thanks for trying to help these birds.

 

[Akraya]

You have to be careful here, because while it's great you want to enrich their lives, if they do come around and become wonderful, what happens if she leaves your dad? It could end up damaging them further. It's a tough decision but one I had to face with my brother's cockatiel, so I am speaking from a little experience.
Though I can't say I'm any sort of avian psychology expert, hopefully more opinions and advice will help you with your decision.

 

[MonicaMc]

My conure loves toilet paper... very easy to destroy! I'm not allowed to blow my nose, otherwise I'll get attacked for not sharing that TP!!!!


The best I can offer, if you are still reading this, is to look into clicker training. You can teach the conure a bunch of fun tricks, and you could even teach the african grey to be accepting of humans and to come out of the cage.

 

[majoth]

I'm no expert but the first day I picked our conure up he took a good chunk out of my hand and drew blood. Now we can put our hand in and he will hop on and come out. He hangs on with his beak while he climbs on but it isnt painful. So that woman is completely wrong. But they only learn by getting attention, ignore them and they will be agressive naughty birds. It sounds to me like the conure has been abused by someone....he sounds like hes scared of everything. Poor lil bird

 

[MikeyTN]

Birds can be sexist or pick the person they prefer. It doesn't mean they're abused! She probably isn't able to hold them well that's why she doesn't take them out. She obviously don't know much about birds. But with the conure doing the attacking like that towards her, she may never be able to take him out period as the bird don't like her at all but seem to like you instead. Some birds may just sit there and be comfortable, they're animals, doesn't mean they need to play on you for play for you to be happy and content. Let them be themselves and play when they want to when they're ready.