Mutation and personality

[Deviant]

So I'm just wondering, recently I read somewhere that different GCC mutations tend to have different personalities. Such as: Cinnamon GCC tend to like being left alone and aren't as playful as the common mutation ect. Is this true? I'm still very new to conures and don't know if it's something I should trust.

 

[Agapornis]

I've never heard that one, but i'm a fairly new-ish bird momma. I have 2 different mutations of GCC, and they DO have different personalities...but don't all parrots have their own personalities? They both have similar typcal GCC characteristics, i.e., they both squawk when I leave the room, etc. For some reason I thought that the males would be easier and less hormonal than the females. But it turns out, my younger male is the brattier one! Of course, he could be going through a phase...

I think a GCC's personality depends on how it was raised, and the relationship it has with it's parront. Just like human kids!

 

[Birdman666]

So I'm just wondering, recently I read somewhere that different GCC mutations tend to have different personalities. Such as: Cinnamon GCC tend to like being left alone and aren't as playful as the common mutation ect. Is this true? I'm still very new to conures and don't know if it's something I should trust.

Generally speaking, it's a bunch of BS...

What you do get sometimes if these birds were raised in a flock setting where you have a few mutuations, and a whole bunch of "normal" coloration, is birds that get "shunned" for being different, and then react differently because they have psychological issues...

Most birdie psychological issues can be gradually changed with the right behavior modification protocol.

I've worked with some doozies...

The biggest thing with conures is socialization. Socialize them properly and you get a happy go lucky, love everyone bird.

BUT they are also pair bond birds. Allow them to become one person birds, and you have a problem on your hand.

I've said this a million times, but conures and macaws are very, very closely related. What you are dealing with when you have a conure is a shrunken macaw...

 

[Birdman666]

Exactly!!!

And you can get two macaws, or two amazons, or two CAGS, line them up side by side, raise them the same way and they will STILL have different personalities.

My Greenwing is the sweetest, least tempermental, least dominant bird you will ever find, but "the book" on Greenwings is that they do tend to have dominance issues from time to time...

Read it. Understand it. Then throw the book away. It's only marginally useful. General tendencies of a species don't necessarily reflect your experience with a particular bird outside a flock setting. GET TO KNOW YOUR PARTICULAR BIRD, AND HIS OR HER IDIOSYNCRICIES AND EXCENTRICITES... that's half the fun, and a lot of the fascination, which, isn't that why we get these things to begin with?

Itty bitty bird, great big, personality?!

 

[kiwiS]

Kiwi is a cinnamon GCC and she's super playful and loves to cuddle. She's like a little monkey one minute, and the next minute she is snuggling under my ear. So yeah..I think what you read can be thrown out the window ^.^

 

[Birdman666]

Kiwi is a cinnamon GCC and she's super playful and loves to cuddle. She's like a little monkey one minute, and the next minute she is snuggling under my ear. So yeah..I think what you read can be thrown out the window ^.^

In other words, a normal conure...

 

[Echo]

Mutation refers strictly to color. Each bird will have its own personality regardless of their color mutation.

 

[kiwiS]

Kiwi is a cinnamon GCC and she's super playful and loves to cuddle. She's like a little monkey one minute, and the next minute she is snuggling under my ear. So yeah..I think what you read can be thrown out the window ^.^

In other words, a normal conure...

haha yes she is quite the normal conure ^.^ But she is special to me

 

[Featheredsamurai]

I've heard a lot of breeders talk about how specific mutations affect the character, especially with the blue morph amazons(breeders say they are more intelligent and are better talkers).

I agree with the above, it's all BS. They just want people to buy their birds.

 

[Echo]

I've heard a lot of breeders talk about how specific mutations affect the character, especially with the blue morph amazons(breeders say they are more intelligent and are better talkers).

I agree with the above, it's all BS. They just want people to buy their birds.

I can't speak for all species, but from my own experience raising 2 color mutations of GCC (Pineapple and yellow-sided), there is no distinct pattern as to behavior or personality between the 2. It's all individual.

 

[Birdman666]

ha ha yes she is quite the normal conure ^.^ But she is special to me

One of my best birds ever, was the little sun conure that lived inside my shirt for 12 years...

I didn't mean that as any sort of a negative way. It's that well adjusted conures are playahaulics and lover-birds... I love them all!

Even the GREAT BIG conures - like my Greenwing!

 

[khaiqha]

I could see how color mutations could affect personalities, but only because of the lack of genetic diversity from all the inbreeding that it takes to create a new color morph. Just looking at ringnecks and quakers, anytime there's a new color they tend to be more sickly. Also, I notice that color morphs are *generally* not as large as the normal color.