Input please: People who own a GCC and Sun Conure

[ValentinaVH]

Hi there, if you own a GCC and Sun Conure I'd love your input
We currently have a 1 year old yellow-sided GCC who is basically perfectly behaved. Not a picky eater, calls only when we leave and enter the house, and is completely poop trained.
He/she (not sexed yet) is content to play alone or with us and is a very happy bird - loves being preened and never bites.

I had originally been thinking of adding a turquoise conure but recently met a young Sun Conure who is currently 8 weeks (also unsexed).

For those of you who have experience owning both - please share your happy stories and cautionary ones.

They would be housed separately at night and eventually (hopefully) perch-roam during the day with supervision.

Thanks so much for your input!

 

[DerTier]

I love my new buddy (gcc) but any bird louder than him could not live with us at this time as my man works from home a lot. I've avoided suns bc i hear they are very loud but have not owned one. Gorgeous birds though!

 

[Behxo]

Yea, I believe the only deal breaker for me as well from not owning a sun conure was the noise level, they tend to be much louder than GCC's

 

[Jen5200]

I have both a sun and a GCC, they were a pair being rehomed together (they came to me in January). I can confirm the statements above about noise - a sun conure definitely has an ear-piercing call and my GCC is relatively quiet in comparison. They both have very sweet personalities and are very loving.

On the plus side - mine absolutely adore each other. They play, preen and sleep together. I imagine that this would be completely dependent on the individual birds getting along though. In my case, mine are very affectionate with us as well.

I have found that training is more difficult, as they do not like to be separated and it is tough to get them to focus on training with another bird in the mix. We're still working on that part lol. Eventually I will figure out what works best to have effective training time.

I like that they keep each other company when I'm at work, they both have very sweet dispositions, and I love both of mine. I suspect that the vocalizing from a sun conure is not for everyone, so that should be considered.

 

[dhraiden]

Gold-capped are by no means the same as Suns, but for what it's worth the resident Gold gets along just fine with the Green-cheek, probably because they've bonded. The former being very loud, the latter not as much. Separate cages, occasionally transport to work and back, sometimes share a cage for a few hours. Pretty "comfy" with each other.

 

[snowflake311]

Gold-capped are by no means the same as Suns, but for what it's worth the resident Gold gets along just fine with the Green-cheek, probably because they've bonded. The former being very loud, the latter not as much. Separate cages, occasionally transport to work and back, sometimes share a cage for a few hours. Pretty "comfy" with each other.

Yeah every bird is different. My Aunt has a Green cheek female and a male Golden cap. The Golden capped HATES the green cheek who was the first bird in the home and is almost 30 years old. The Golden capped is about 20 something. My aunt can not let the 2 out together any more. I don't know what it is. The Golden capped is loud but I don't mind it. I love that bird.

I love Sun conures they are the best I have always wanted one but I know I can handle the noise it is other people I live with that can not.

As for the 2 birds getting along you never ever know. Also things change too they could be ok for years then hate each other later.

Someone said training is harder with 2. I have a hard time training my one Black capped he is so Stuborn. I could see how it would be harder with 2 birds.

Good luck.

 

[haleyd]

I love both, the suns are especially beautiful. My breeder has both and I ultimately decided on the GCC due to the difference in noise levels. Suns also tend to be quite bossy little birds. Usually the two species get along well but with the bossy you have to watch that the lager bird doesn't hurt the smaller. But as individuals, it's really up to your resident bird who he chooses to accept and be civil with.

 

[PickleMeDickles]

Hi, I have 3 fids, 1 female GCC and 1f/1m Sun Conures. To me, they are completely different birds. My GCC is Ms. Chill. She is very calm and quiet, anyone can handle her, she just quietly chirps when she wants something or to talk to the other birds. Although all 3 were brought in as babies (I had to hand feed the Suns for 6 weeks) the GCC HATES the Suns and the Suns are totally bewildered by this.

The Suns are much like their coloring, loud, raucous clowns. They live together, are male and female but are totally bonded to me. They are loud. Like really really loud. Not just in volume but in their total personality. Winston zooms around the house just for the love of flying. They both like to sit on my shoulder and take naps. Winston is extremely aggressive with strangers and my daughter. He will fly into their face and try to remove their ear. So he stays in his house when others are over.

I spend way more money on the Suns as far as toys. They are like little wood shredders (notice I did not say paper). The noise is outrageous. My husband and I are both hard of hearing which has turned into a blessing with the Suns. We can literally hear them 2 acres away.

If I could only have 1 I think I would have a GCC. Only because of the noise level. If noise were not an option probably a Sun. Personally, I love both. It is kind of like comparing a chihuahua to a rottweiler or apple to oranges, they are just so different.

Good Luck!

-Jen

 

[Kalel]

I would say it would depend on your individual situation and the bird's personality. I don't know if all suns are like this, but mine is a mute if I am in the same room as him. So, as long as he doesn't need to contact call for me, you'd swear he has no vocal chords. Now if I leave, he does start calling for me. I have trained him to "tweet" instead of scream, but instinct is strong and he will still resort to the shrill sun conure call if his "tweets" go unanswered. So, if he bonds with your green cheek maybe he will be content and you'll barely hear his voice. Or if you will allow him to hang out with you all over the house if he's anything like mine you will barely hear his voice. Amazingly wonderful birds, though that sadly get rehomed often due to their voice. I hope this helps.

 

[Skittys_Daddy]

All suns are loud but not all suns are noisy. I find the more time I spend with Skittles, the quieter he is.

I can deal with the loudness as long as its not constant, which it isn't. I live in an apartment in public housing and I've not had an issue despite the loudness. But he is also not very noisy either. I do have one neighbor who has complained but she complains about every little thing. I only found out she complained because I asked housing if anyone had. When they told me they had, I asked why no on contacted me and they basically told me to 'read between the lines'. In other words, they ignore that major complainer. Housing also told me that unless it is going on for hours a day every day for a long period of time there isn't much they can do anyways. If its during sleep hours, then they can- but they told me its nearly impossible to evict someone for a noise complaint during daytime hours so they told me not to worry about it. They've heard Skittles too, doesn't pose an issue. If I lived with a private landlord, I'd probably have more issues, but I live in subsidized federal public housing and you have more protection in that than anything other than owning your own home as long as you pay your rent and keep your place clean and obey the law, they can't evict you.

That being said, I REALLY want a pineapple green cheek. But my reason for not getting one isn't because of the noise my sun may contribute, but more his over-possession of his daddy. lol. I also figured, why stir the pot.

 

[CarolineRose]

I know this is an older thread, but I thought I might chime in! We adopted our GCC in October 2016 and our sun less than a month later. We have noticed that Leif (GCC) is a bit of a bully! Tango (sun) will mind his own business and cuddle all day, but Leif insists on initiating preening and generally bothering him to the point of starting a scuffle. This is probably just their different personalities and the fact that they don't seem to be really bonded. Maybe also affected by levels of maturity? Leif is a couple years old while tango is about eight. It does make me nervous when they get in a tangle because Tango is much stronger and larger and Leif has no concept of backing off! So personality would be what I say is the biggest thing to consider.