GCC napping allot since 1st vet visit, normal?

4sillyTilly

New member
Aug 31, 2021
10
8
Parrots
Pineapple green cheek conure
Hi guys! I'm a new conure owner and I've only had Tilly for 3 months. She is 10 months old & was in a home with a couple who were scared of her before me. I'm in love with her and she's very goofy and wonderful. I've looked for a thread with this question but I haven't been able to find anything similar- sorry to bother if I just missed them somehow!
Is it normal for a conure to be super sleepy after the vet? It was her first checkup Wednesday night and they took off her arm band and clipped her nails for me too. The avian vet has been practicing for almost 30 years and said she was so well behaved and in perfect health and that she doesn't need to come in for a year.(yay)
But its Saturday afternoon now and she's still very tired. She is on one foot all day still napping. She is very sleepy and it's worrisome to me because usually she's so active & driving me bonkers getting into everything! She's still eating, drinking, chit chatting and playing when I pop something new in front of her or make her do tricks she's very into it- but as soon as I'm not engaging with her she's back to napping, still near me or on my shoulder, but half asleep. Always on a different foot too, she rotates so it doesn't seem like a certain foot is bothering her.
Should I be worried? I tend to over research and stress myself out for no reason, so I'd love to hear any opinions. Could it be the weather? It just stated getting dark at 4:30pm here which is making me sad, but she has an avian bulb above her house from 9:30am to 8pm.
Or could it be she gets car sick in the car and that took allot out of her?
She did have a slip and fall after her bath yesterday & she bonked her food bowl before flying herself to the couch. Could that be it? I panicked but she just went right back to normal like nothing happened. I've had cockatiels before her and they used to wipe out once in a while and they'd just shake it off. I checked her over and she wasn't tender anywhere and I couldn't see anything.
Maybe I'm over reading, she's still very new to me. Maybe she's just a sleepy lil lady when it's cold out and it's just coming out now. Or maybe she's picking up on how the weather is affecting me? Or maybe the vet just took allot out of her since it was her first time. Or maybe she's injured and I need to take her back to the vet?
Any thoughts would be wonderful.
Thank you so so SO much!!
 

Birds lover from Hawaii

Well-known member
Parrot of the Month 🏆
Oct 8, 2021
165
Media
2
648
Honolulu Hawaii
Parrots
Senegal (RIP: 5/21/94-10/20/21)
Hi guys! I'm a new conure owner and I've only had Tilly for 3 months. She is 10 months old & was in a home with a couple who were scared of her before me. I'm in love with her and she's very goofy and wonderful. I've looked for a thread with this question but I haven't been able to find anything similar- sorry to bother if I just missed them somehow!
Is it normal for a conure to be super sleepy after the vet? It was her first checkup Wednesday night and they took off her arm band and clipped her nails for me too. The avian vet has been practicing for almost 30 years and said she was so well behaved and in perfect health and that she doesn't need to come in for a year.(yay)
But its Saturday afternoon now and she's still very tired. She is on one foot all day still napping. She is very sleepy and it's worrisome to me because usually she's so active & driving me bonkers getting into everything! She's still eating, drinking, chit chatting and playing when I pop something new in front of her or make her do tricks she's very into it- but as soon as I'm not engaging with her she's back to napping, still near me or on my shoulder, but half asleep. Always on a different foot too, she rotates so it doesn't seem like a certain foot is bothering her.
Should I be worried? I tend to over research and stress myself out for no reason, so I'd love to hear any opinions. Could it be the weather? It just stated getting dark at 4:30pm here which is making me sad, but she has an avian bulb above her house from 9:30am to 8pm.
Or could it be she gets car sick in the car and that took allot out of her?
She did have a slip and fall after her bath yesterday & she bonked her food bowl before flying herself to the couch. Could that be it? I panicked but she just went right back to normal like nothing happened. I've had cockatiels before her and they used to wipe out once in a while and they'd just shake it off. I checked her over and she wasn't tender anywhere and I couldn't see anything.
Maybe I'm over reading, she's still very new to me. Maybe she's just a sleepy lil lady when it's cold out and it's just coming out now. Or maybe she's picking up on how the weather is affecting me? Or maybe the vet just took allot out of her since it was her first time. Or maybe she's injured and I need to take her back to the vet?
Any thoughts would be wonderful.
Thank you so so SO much!!
My 27 year old Senegal used to do that too every time his nail got clipped at the vet's office. We figured it was very stressful to him as he needs to be wrapped in towel while each nail got trimmed. Sometimes some of the nails could be clipped a little bit too deep causing bleeding and pain even though they stopped the bleeding in the office. As soon as we were home, he would immediately wanted to be back to his cage lifting one foot up and slept through a few hours. Depends how traumatic the experience was and how deep the cut was, it could take up to two weeks to go back to normal. It could be even harder for such a young bird to take the stress so no need to be overly worry. Also the car ride and seasonal changes may be a factor too but for your case most probably due to the stress of the vet visit and is only temporary.

However, make sure to monitor closely and make sure he eats and poops normal. If anything unusual pops up, a trip to the vet is a must.

Also, my opinion is it is not necessary to trim nails too frequent as longer nails could make your bird to have stronger grip when perching unless they are way overgrown causing problems. Her slip and fall was likely due to the shorter nails that she was not used to and not able to grip tightly.
 
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4sillyTilly

4sillyTilly

New member
Aug 31, 2021
10
8
Parrots
Pineapple green cheek conure
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  • Thread starter
  • #3
My 27 year old Senegal used to do that too every time his nail got clipped at the vet's office. We figured it was very stressful to him as he needs to be wrapped in towel while each nail got trimmed. Sometimes some of the nails could be clipped a little bit too deep causing bleeding and pain even though they stopped the bleeding in the office. As soon as we were home, he would immediately wanted to be back to his cage lifting one foot up and slept through a few hours. Depends how traumatic the experience was and how deep the cut was, it could take up to two weeks to go back to normal. It could be even harder for such a young bird to take the stress so no need to be overly worry. Also the car ride and seasonal changes may be a factor too but for your case most probably due to the stress of the vet visit and is only temporary.

However, make sure to monitor closely and make sure he eats and poops normal. If anything unusual pops up, a trip to the vet is a must.

Also, my opinion is it is not necessary to trim nails too frequent as longer nails could make your bird to have stronger grip when perching unless they are way overgrown causing problems. Her slip and fall was likely due to the shorter nails that she was not used to and not able to grip tightly.
Thank you, that eases my mind. I do think the nails look too short to me!
 

Ryled1

New member
Sep 4, 2015
10
12
Parrots
Bare eyed cockatoo
Hi guys! I'm a new conure owner and I've only had Tilly for 3 months. She is 10 months old & was in a home with a couple who were scared of her before me. I'm in love with her and she's very goofy and wonderful. I've looked for a thread with this question but I haven't been able to find anything similar- sorry to bother if I just missed them somehow!
Is it normal for a conure to be super sleepy after the vet? It was her first checkup Wednesday night and they took off her arm band and clipped her nails for me too. The avian vet has been practicing for almost 30 years and said she was so well behaved and in perfect health and that she doesn't need to come in for a year.(yay)
But its Saturday afternoon now and she's still very tired. She is on one foot all day still napping. She is very sleepy and it's worrisome to me because usually she's so active & driving me bonkers getting into everything! She's still eating, drinking, chit chatting and playing when I pop something new in front of her or make her do tricks she's very into it- but as soon as I'm not engaging with her she's back to napping, still near me or on my shoulder, but half asleep. Always on a different foot too, she rotates so it doesn't seem like a certain foot is bothering her.
Should I be worried? I tend to over research and stress myself out for no reason, so I'd love to hear any opinions. Could it be the weather? It just stated getting dark at 4:30pm here which is making me sad, but she has an avian bulb above her house from 9:30am to 8pm.
Or could it be she gets car sick in the car and that took allot out of her?
She did have a slip and fall after her bath yesterday & she bonked her food bowl before flying herself to the couch. Could that be it? I panicked but she just went right back to normal like nothing happened. I've had cockatiels before her and they used to wipe out once in a while and they'd just shake it off. I checked her over and she wasn't tender anywhere and I couldn't see anything.
Maybe I'm over reading, she's still very new to me. Maybe she's just a sleepy lil lady when it's cold out and it's just coming out now. Or maybe she's picking up on how the weather is affecting me? Or maybe the vet just took allot out of her since it was her first time. Or maybe she's injured and I need to take her back to the vet?
Any thoughts would be wonderful.
Thank you so so SO much!!
Did the vet take blood? Just the handling by new people in a new place might stresses them out. Give her a few days. As long as she is eating, drinking. Make sure the bird in not in a cold room away from drafts. Good luck.
 
OP
4sillyTilly

4sillyTilly

New member
Aug 31, 2021
10
8
Parrots
Pineapple green cheek conure
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  • #5
Did the vet take blood? Just the handling by new people in a new place might stresses them out. Give her a few days. As long as she is eating, drinking. Make sure the bird in not in a cold room away from drafts. Good luck.
Thank you everyone for the helpful replies. She definitely snapped out of it a week later, but now she's biting allot more than before. It's like everything annoys her now 😔 it's like she did a 180 from being very docile and sweet and gentle, to attacking my hands more than ever before.
I try putting her on a chair when she bites and ignore her but she doesn't care and just flies back to me.
 

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
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Yes, mine will be quiet fir a few days after vet.
And yes sometimes you have to re build trust. Its very easy for them to develop a little fear if hands. Lots sbd lots of hand feeding bribes! Lots of talking to them. And showing they can trust you. Read body language give some space abd go slower than you used too. For a little while they my not let you do what you used too. But you can earn back the trust. Fasterr if you feed lots of treats by hand. Walk up and say hi abd give treat lots and lots of times a day, in addition to your normal routine and hang out time
 

Birds lover from Hawaii

Well-known member
Parrot of the Month 🏆
Oct 8, 2021
165
Media
2
648
Honolulu Hawaii
Parrots
Senegal (RIP: 5/21/94-10/20/21)
Thank you everyone for the helpful replies. She definitely snapped out of it a week later, but now she's biting allot more than before. It's like everything annoys her now 😔 it's like she did a 180 from being very docile and sweet and gentle, to attacking my hands more than ever before.
I try putting her on a chair when she bites and ignore her but she doesn't care and just flies back to me.
Good to hear! Try make some begging noise to tell her it hurts so bad when she bites and she may stop. It worked on my bird :)
 
OP
4sillyTilly

4sillyTilly

New member
Aug 31, 2021
10
8
Parrots
Pineapple green cheek conure
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  • Thread starter
  • #8
You guys are great! ❤Sadly she's still biting allot. She's gotten really good at flying now, do you think that might have anything to do with it too? She has had all of her flight feathers back for a few weeks now too. She had her wings clipped when I got her, but now she's a pro going wherever she wants (wherever I am). Would that maybe contribute to the biting? She doesn't want to get off me either& bites to stay on my hand 🤦‍♀️
 

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
10,702
USA
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Full house
Flying doesn't equal bites. All my burds are flighted.
Likely this is age, now she feels grown up and self aware and ready to assert her opinion. Baby birds put up with everything, adult birds correct you.

Time to get better at reading your bird. And to not allow her to control you with bites.

Do lots if stepping from hand to someplace, give treat. Have her step back to you move someplace new repeat. Always give treats for stepping off. Repeat off and on all day long. Even after she does great do it randomly or make a game of it.

This article covers basic bird language, then on to bites, screaming and other stuff
 

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