Our sun conure

[Jason8356]

We’ve had a sun conure for about 5 years now and we have had problems with him. He is scared of everything. Even a banana scares him. He doesn’t let us pet him in certain spots like his stomach or he wont let us touch and see under his wings. He is also very aggressive to people except me and my son who he’s deeply bonded too. The previous owner told us he was attacked by a pitbull and almost killed. I was wondering if that trauma was why he is aggressive towards people and scared of certain objects.

 

[wrench13]

Parrots are intelligent and aware enough to have definite opinions on things. Example, my little Amazon Salty absolutely hates having anyone touch him under his wings, just like your sunnny. He likes certain people and hates others, that very common with parrots, especially if they were not socialized early in their life. SOme parrots are more curious and outgoing, and some are nervous and take more time to get them comfortable with new things. Very much depends on the individual parrot. They are each their own bird, so to speak. But most do respond to patient, loving and careful training and work with people. Emphasis on the patient. Do you or the family spend one on one time with him? That is so important with parrots, they really are social creatures. They gave access to a wide array of feelings and emotions, much the same as humans do, it is really amazing but very true.

And they can be a little nuts too. Speaking of being fearful, I will relate a little story. Salty (my parrot) and I train to do tricks almost every single night. He is 7 years old now so easily over a 1000 training sessions ( likely much more) and we use a lot of props in these tricks. Occasionally, he will act like a given prop, say a ball or a little bird figurine is kryptonite and he is all fearful, getting thin and running away to the far corner of the table, even though he has seen and worked with the prop many many times. And then the next night he's fine with it. No idea why. Like I said , a little nuts.

 

[HeatherG]

My Willow (Quaker) is afraid of new toys. I’ve saved the same things for him that my previous Quaker loved to hide in her cage, but he runs away in fear of these fun little toys and gadgets.

You never know what’s going on in their minds. Your bird may just be suspicious of new things, like my Willow. And if your bird doesn’t know that you can eat a banana he might be scared of it. If he sees you eat it then he will probably want some.

I have been getting Willow used to a new toy, a Jolly Ball, for a week. I have been learning to handle and play with his toys first. Then he thinks they are ok and he will touch them instead of running away. As soon as he touches the new object I tell him what a good smart bird he is. You can try that with your conure to introduce him to new things.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

I have an 18-year-old Sun Conure who was abused. I don't know what kind of abuse. It could be as simple as neglect.

If a pit bull attacked him I would say yes, that could be very traumatic.

I don't pet my sun anywhere but her head and neck. You really don't want to pet below the neck because, to them, it is sexual.

I have young nieces and a nephew, and they use a perch when handling her and also do targeting with her. They are not experienced with birds.