Calisphere From Colorado

[calisphere]

Hello!

My name is Calisphere. I'm a 23 year old female from Colorado. I am currently parrot-less, but have fallen in love with a Green Cheek. I've never had a parrot, but do have experience with zebra finches. My last five could almost be considered tame. They loved to land on my head and hair when they had their daily free time in my bathroom (properly padded with towels and blankets). I lost them when my roommate at the time thought it would be funny to see if they could swim. I wasn't home at the time and he was drunk. Needless to say, the poor things died. I only got the story from my other roommate.

At any rate, I am scrambling to research all I can and come up with the money to bring this particular Green Cheek home. I've been battling with myself on buying this bird because it's at Petsmart, which isn't a place I would generally buy an animal from. I know that it's not the best place to buy a pet, but then I see how upset this bird gets if I don't say hi to him when I got to Petsmart to pick up stuff for my other pets. Yesterday he completely freaked out until I said hi. So, I'm breaking my rule and really considering buying him. I'm just hoping I can get the money together before someone else does.

I've been researching as much as I can on how to care for and train a conure. Today he let me pet him for the first time and almost stepped up. We got a non-clenched foot on the finger anyway. He's pretty young and has been at Petsmart for about three weeks. He's fully feathered, so I'm not exactly sure how old he is, or if he is a he for that matter. He does like to roll over onto his back for me sometimes, which made me fall in love with him.

I've read two parrot books so far and have one more in my library. I plan on buying a few more in the next couple of weeks to educate myself. I'll be getting a temporary cage off of Craigslist until I can afford the cage I really want (similar to Cages By Design but homemade). I'm also going to be getting an outdoor aviary for use everyday once the little guy gets settled and trained.

Any suggestions on keeping a Green Cheek would be welcome! I hope I get to know everyone here as well because this forum just seems so full of information and experienced keepers.

 

[Turquoise]

Welcome to the forum Calisphere. You will definitely love being owned by your Green Cheek when you get it. They are awesome little balls of feathers. They can be a bit nippy when young, not always. They grow out of it like most of our feathered kids do.

You are on the right track reading & learning all you can before the darling comes home & getting everything set up. Granted PetsMart may not be the best place to get a parrot, but this baby is already there waiting for you to take it home & give it healthy foods & lots of loving. It already shows you how much it wants to come home with you, what more can we ask for in our feathered companions. Good luck & I look forward to hearing all about your new baby when you get it.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Hello Calisphere, and welcome to the forum. Glad you joined. We have lots and lots of conure enthusiasts, and I'm sure your questions will be answered.

 

[antoinette]

Welcome, enjoy our wonderful forum

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Welcome, what a interesting name you have! The story of your finches is terrible, what a terrible room mate that was! I hope you kicked them out and have them a good whack in the head for being such a idiot!!! I have no sympathy for people who get drunk, I find it a pathetic lack of self control.

Sounds like this conure has already captured you heart, make sure you are thinking of everything you'll need in terms of funds. You'll want to get your conure vet checked before the 1 month(I think it's a month, might be 2 weeks) warranty ends so that Petsmart can pay for treatment rather than you. They may tell you this bird has been vet checked, but it's been exposed to all sorts of birds who have not so it's original check up is no longer viable. Also, it's much better to get in contact with a certified avian vet before it's a emergency.

Good luck! I hope you are able to get him before someone else. Ask if you can make a 50% deposit for them to hold him.

 

[Mirlito]

A very warm Scottish welcome to you from the sunny Costa del Sol, Andalucía, Spain!

 

[Kalidasa]

Hi calisphere! GCC's are incredible birds, hopefully you'll be able to get him on time. Have you asks if you could put a deposit down on him? Some pet stores allow that.

 

[calisphere]

I haven't asked but certainly will. There is just so much to buy before a bird actually comes in! I recently went to a bird shop in Englewood, Colorado off Broadway (for any Colorado residents who can give the name as I've forgotten). There were three birds there that I also liked. One was a "we think" female Green Cheek who was just a sweetie and then a sibling pair of turquoise Greens that were sweet too. This is a "just in case". Though, the person I talked to highly recommended that I do not get a bird at all because I have three cats and a dog.

Personally, I know my animals and know that a bird would be safe enough on a general basis, especially as I will be doing a double cage/ cage in a cage with locks. I know that two of my three cats like to watch birds. The third I am unsure of as I have never had a bird around her and she was a stray. I don't plan on letting my mammals play with a bird, so I feel that adding a bird would not be a bad idea.

At any rate, thank you all for the warm welcome and the tips on possibly getting a deposit on the Petsmart conure. I'll have to go check tomorrow! I'll be floating around the forum looking up things. Oddly enough, at this point I'm still not even sure what I'd feed a conure! Are they like horses and get fat on air? Lol. I suppose I should go read up on diet. Off I go!