formally introducing my new conure :D

[EnglishMuffin]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking and reading for weeks and finally today I brought home my baby yellow sided green cheek conure! She is a 13 week old baby girl

I haven't named her yet. Going to wait until her little personality shows itself!

 

[Cyrinaluna]

She's precious! Can't wait to hear her name!

 

[Terry57]

Awww, what a beautiful baby! So glad you joined us and can't wait to hear what you name her

 

[JennyB]

Such a little cutie! Love the picture... it looks like she's feeling Bashful!

 

[EnglishMuffin]

The poor thing has had a really stressful day. Her previous home with the breeder had lots of connies and she was caged with her brother. Had to make the journey to bring her home with her in a box, which lasted over an hour since I went to pick up her cage on the way and the woman selling me the cage insisted on me coming into her house and meeting all her pets (dogs, hamster, birds...you name it!)

Then when i opened the box when i got her home she flew right out and clattered against the wall She seems totally fine now. While I put her cage together she spent the whole time clinging onto me, hanging off my back or shoulder. Now she's just in her cage and doesn't want to step up! She's playing with her toys though so she seems quite relaxed.

 

[riddick07]

She will come around! Just needs some time to settle. Can't wait to hear her name either She looks so cute. I miss the baby days! My two are hormonal brats right now.

 

[EnglishMuffin]

Haha she just woke up and realised her cage was open and flew out and landed on me! Now she's going to town on a piece of spinach next to me on the bed.

 

[MomtoPercy]

What a cutie!! Just give her time to settle and get used to her new home - she'll come around soon enough. She's probably lonely now, without her brother, so be sure to spend lots of time with her to make her feel less alone.

Can't wait to see her settled and relaxed

 

[RockysMom]

awwww pretty baby

 

[EnglishMuffin]

We just had dinner- pear
, ham, scrambled eggs, some very fibrous and green soup that i made a couple of weeks ago and froze (which she went crazy for!), wholegrain bread, some pine nuts and almonds...whew! She's looking a lot brighter after a nap and a good dinner!

 

[EnglishMuffin]

Falling asleep on my shoulder after dinner

 

[EnglishMuffin]

I have finally settled on a name: Sootica! From one of my favorite children's stories as a kid (Gobbolino this witch's cat), and Sootie for short, from one of my favourite TV shows (Sooty and Sweep, obviously!).

Here are some good pictures of our first few days


I do have a question: Sootie is a serious velcro bird which is totally fine by me! However I am trying to teach her some manners. She sits on my chest and nibbles at my lips, which is very cute but also sometimes kind of intrusive...if I open my mouth she climbs right up in there to clean my teeth! She also has a tendency to climb on my and my plate while I'm eating and even flew and landed on my sandwich.

She loves her cage and is very quiet and comfortable in there, and I want to keep it that way, so using her cage for 'time out' is out of the question because I don't want her to associate her cage with punishment. When she's impolite or if she's too nippy I tell her 'No.' and hold her beak very gently to move her head away, or I pick her up and put her at arm's length from me over and over. But she comes back every time. Am I approaching it the right way or is she not going to get it?

 

[Starlit_Night]

She sits on my chest and nibbles at my lips, which is very cute but also sometimes kind of intrusive...if I open my mouth she climbs right up in there to clean my teeth!

I have that same problem with Aleta. I gently I blow on her so she moves away from my lips, but then she will put her foot up onto my lips, as if to shush my blowing.

 

[lquan]

My Lily is a velcro bird, too. Sounds like you just described ly Lily. For some reasons she knows to be very gentle with lips, nose, and ears. But I feel pretty scare when she nips on my lips or nose. When she is nippy around my face, I just say "no Lily" and she stops right away. To train her, I associated "no Lily" with grabbing her beak and moved it away from my face. She is responding to verbal command now.

Having a velcro bird is nice some times when you are not doing anything, but when you have a lot of house work to do, it is not so easy. At least my Lily is trained to poop on hard surface like table tops. When she needs to poop, she just fly down on the table in near me to poop. You can train your Sootie to do that, too. Train them while they're young.

 

[EnglishMuffin]

How do you potty train them? My friend's conure will poop on command if he holds her over a white sheet of paper, but she was already trained to do it when he got her so he doesn't know how she was trained!

 

[lquan]

Lily usually sits on my shoulder. Every 10 minutes or so, put her on the place (tables for me) I want her to poop, and say "poop" a few times. Wait for her to poop. Don't let her fly back on your shoulder until she poops. About a week later, she'll get the idea. If she wants to perch on your shoulder, she has to poop first.

My Lily's sleeping cage doesn't have a door. She comes out on her own in the morning and wait for me on the bathroom window silk. But before she goes into the bathroom, she flies onto the stand just outside of her cage to poop over the newspapper. I had to wake up the same time she does for a week to train her to do that. As soon as she comes out of the cage, perch her on the stand and say "poop" a few times. A week a so later she does it on her own. And I don't have to get out of bed so early anymore. I hate cleaning that big morning splash if it is not on the newspapper.