having a sun conure while in school

MannequinMan_

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Sep 28, 2022
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two budgies.
Hi, I've been stalking these forums for a while but I wanted to ask this question from my point of view.

I am in 8th grade. I will be going to highschool next year, but I really, really want a bird, a sun conure to be more specific. I've done plenty of research and have gone to my local bird place but my question still stands on if I would logically be able to get a bird at this age.

I have a very stable living situation and the opportunity to live with my parents until I can get my own place. I don't plan on going to collage, I cannot afford collage and have no interest in getting a further education. And if that were to ever change I would get online courses.

I plan on being very, very close to this bird. my schedule would be set up so that the bird would get at the very least 3 hours outside of the cage, and at most closer to 5 or 6, leaning more towards to latter.

I come looking for advice, and if one of the vet forum people tell me not to, I probably won't until I'm older lol. the main reason I'm posting is because I just, desperately want a bird because I know how much fun it is to own them, I had a green cheek conure as a temporary living situation and she made me fall in love with birds. I would love to hear feedback, really.
 

Chomper

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Sep 27, 2022
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Green cheek conure
Im in the 10th grade, and recently I just bought my green cheek conure. Both my parents work and while me and my sister are at school, my brother, who is in a virtual college this semester will usually check up on him time to time. If you have a lot of toys to keep your bird busy, or have a radio playing in the background, than you should be fine. You can also wait for a long school break before getting your bird, so you have more time to bond with it before school hits.
 

Laurasea

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Aug 2, 2018
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Full house
welcome to the forum and to the budding love of parrots. Brave of you to join and reach out for knowledge and experience of others.

This is a difficult one to answer for me because my heart goes both ways. It could have a profound positive impact on your life, or be a source of endless stress. Often a mix of both .

Things to consider, your life will changes in ways you can't predict and imagine, when you are a young human. That isn't a reflection of your maturity or intelligence its just a fact.

Sharing a life with a parrot on that journey will require sacrifice and change choice options. Like housing, roommates, hobbies, travel, significant other relationships, future pets. It's whether the rewards hold more value than the sacrifices to you.

Family, friends, significant others may not appreciate or understand the sacrifices a d safety issues. Like toxic deadly fumes from non stick cookware, and other products containing the same chemicals found in Teflon kill birds...no second chances no degree of poisoning they die in seconds in any room in the house behind closed doors it doesn't matter the toxic gas reaches them . I will link later some info on this. Many fumes from cleaning and other products are deadly. Pest control, oven cleaning, paint fumes....burning plastics. ( plastic bag fell on my burner, I flicked it off jumped 3 steps flung open my door dragged parrot cages out in seconds!!! They were already woozy falling off perches and gasping. Their cages are at the door i had them outside in 10 seconds . They all survived but I can't even imagine how close it was seconds from death)

This is a good start but I argue seconds not minutes to death ....as we have had numerous horror stories shared on this forum.

Its often hard to have everyone in the home truly united and on-board with parrot screaming, mess, safety issues. Veterinarian health care expenses.

I always try and to prepare all first time parrot care givers the mess is way more than you expect as is the noise.
 
Last edited:
May 2, 2021
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Hi, I'm around your age, and have 3 budgies. As long as you understand what it takes to own a bird, and you have everything you need to do so, you should be OK. Keep in mind, smaller birds usually need MUCH more exercise than larger birds, so you will have to allow your conure plenty of time out of it's cage so it can fly around.

One more thing, and I'm sure you're aware of this, is the NOISE! Sun conures are an extremely loud conure species, so if you or anyone you live with has sensitive hearing or just plain doesn't want a screaming, destructive chaos-chicken in the house, you will have to respect that.
 

wrench13

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You want advice or just re-affirmation of what you want? Advice- wait. Wait until you graduate High School (at least) and have a J-O-B. Parrots are not cheap and by no means easy-care companion animals. Between good foods, toys and vet visits you can expect $500-1000 a year out lay of cash (maybe even more). And, being out of the cage is great, but a parrot left alone from say 9AM to 4PM is not going to be very happy, and then you get into screaming, plucking, being pissed off birds. I assume you are going to have a significant other at some point - that takes time away from the parrot and you better hope he/she likes them.
 

maddox

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Maddox is a green cheek conure
This is kind of tricky. I'm unsure if I would recommend getting a conure while still in school, mostly because they are VERY expensive in the first place, and as @wrench13 mentioned, very expensive to keep. This is nothing against you, but being in 8th grade means the finances will rest on your parents, so they would have to be willing to take this burden up. Birds, especially conures, need a ton of interaction time, and being gone for 6-7 hours a day is really not fair for the parrot and will undoubtedly cause stress. I feel like it will be best to wait until you have more stability, a job, and more independence before getting a sun conure. You mentioned that you are not interested in going to college, but that could change by the time you finish high school which will mean having to figure out what to do with the bird. You have your whole life to enjoy the company of conure and I would definitely wait.
 

ShanCaz

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Jul 21, 2022
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Sun Conure
Green Cheek Conure
i would probably recommend to wait a little bit longer due to costs unless your parents are willing to help you buy toys, vet bills, ect (you’ve done your research so I won’t berate you). Birds also need a lot of attention. If you come home at 3-4, you’ll only be able to spend time with your bird for maybe 4-5 hours (4-5 if you’re lucky and don’t have homework or chores that day). They NEED sleep to be content and curve aggression/grumpiness so you can’t make them stay up with you too late. Basically like every other human. It isn’t fair to the bird or you to only spend a few hours a day with them. Unless your family is willing to stay home with them and care for them while you’re at school, just wait a little longer!
 

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