Hi! I have had Skeet, my GCC for 5 years now and he is about 8 years old. I too was discouraged after I adopted him. The previous owner RAVED about him. I guess I should have wondered my why he was being rehomed. I just thought he was lovely and he hopped right on my finger and I brought him home. That began the adventure. However, even after all the blood and tears... we love the little booger.
First and foremost... they aren't called Velcro Birds for nothing. They LOVE to be on you. Skeet has a thing about my fingernails. He loves them and basically the only thing I'm good for is food and my fingernails. This caused a big issue as whenever I was typing (how I spend 90% of my day) he would become INCENSED that I was not scratching him and that my hands were moving so inconsiderately and thus disrupting his perch. And as a result I got bit. A LOT. And I bled, A LOT. In the time I adopted him I met my partner and Skeet fell in love... with HIM. He spends the majority of the morning on Jeff, cuddling up and nuzzling and chirping sweet nothings. Jeff has no fingernails so he doesn't have the hand fetish with him. It's all about love. And Jeff rarely if ever gets bitten. I am sought for my fingernails and then viciously nipped for my troubles. Ungrateful wretch.
Secondly, they are morning creatures and LOVE to call out first thing. HELLO! Sunshine! I am not a morning person. But I call out every morning "GOOD MORNING, SKEET!!!" and this seems to satisfy him. Even if Jeff is down there I have to rouse myself enough to call back or he won't shut up. This is when he wants to play and interact and since Jeff IS a morning person, it all works out. They play. I sleep in just a little bit longer. I have an outside cage and in the summer I would put him outside first thing in the morning so he could talk to all the other early risers while I went back to catch a few zzzzz's.
Thirdly, they are very active and seem to love foraging. Skeet is really not in his cage all that much. He's basically been "free range" since I got him and goes pretty much where he wants to. He loves roaming around on the floor. He loves to play in a light colored sheet I keep just on the floor. He goes under the sheet and will spend hours just going in and out and chirping. I also have cardboard boxes filled with wrapping paper and other things he can mess with or shred up. He spends most of the afternoon playing in the boxes or under his sheet. He just happily chirps and whirs away.
Skeet is very particular about where he poops and will poop on command. He rarely poops on you, never poops in his play boxes or under his sheet and will almost always poop when you perch him. I tell him "go poop" and give him tons of praise. I'd rather this than get poo in my hair. You do have to remember to do it every 15-20 minutes or so. Unless he's sleeping or something. In his cage he will only poop if he's perched on the door (so yes, we mop the floor a lot) or on one particular rope in one particular spot. He seem to be pretty clean so far as poop is concerned. He does leave poop bombs if he is roaming the floors or on the bed or something. His finicky pooping seems only to apply in places he deems important enough NOT to be pooped in/on.
Skeet does NOT like my younger kids. I look in jealousy of adorable photos of kids holding the GCC. No. For the most part they pointedly ignore each other. The boys do like to feed him and WISH they could hold him. But they understand holding him is often painful. They think he's beautiful and love to watch him. For the most part he is good and ignores the boys. He will get in "moods" though and attack the boys' feet. They squeal in fear and I immediately lock Skeet in his cage. This is pretty much the only time his door is shut and locked. Then he gets covered. He hates that. He has learned if he goes after the kids, he gets put up. End of story. It's been awhile (about 8 months) since he's tried anything.
He can be very loud and bossy. Especially if anyone has food. He will scream his head off. We are bad and give him "offerings". It's a joke in the house. "Someone give Skeet his offering!!!" He can't stand to WATCH us eat. Otherwise we try not to reward him if he squawks. If he's loud at inappropriate times (company is over and he's acting a fool) he gets covered until the situation has passed. At night he WILL yell and hollar if all his lights are not off. He wants it DARK. We could have a concert in there otherwise, as long as the room dark.
We love our Skeeters. He loves cuddling and can be very funny.
I just adopted a Severe Macaw on Sunday. I am learning her and she is learning me. She and Skeet ignore each other pointedly.
Good luck!
