AustinMatties
New member
Hello, I just recently [about two weeks ago] got two conures one is a YSGC female and the other a GC male approximately 8months old
The woman whom I got them from gave me the two birds in a small cage with a couple toys for $75.00 [craigslist]
She told me that [she was told] they were hand raised but were left alone afterwords to become a mating pair, they have not been DNA tested but are both banded. They basically came to me untame and untouched other than their hand feeding.
I put the two of them in [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Prevue-Products-Wrought-F040-31-Inch/dp/B00176F5L0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325311424&sr=8-1"]this[/ame] cage which i ordered off of Amazon. I tried to get the pair to get comfortable with my hand in the cage but one would get flighty and the other would follow immediately. My solution was to divide the cage in the middle so that there is a top and a bottom portion both seperate from each other. Ever since I seperated them they have been coming along wonderfully. The male will hop up on to my finger in pursuit of practically anything. The female takes a little more coaxing but when they are seperated they handle fairly well given the little amount of time they have had with me.
For the past 3-4 days their only "true interaction" has been outside on the top of the cage [I have the middle of the cage covered with cardboard and newspaper so they cannot see eachother but can hear each other].
-They get around 1.5-2hours together per day on the cage while i clean, do homework etc.
When the male is out [and in sight of the cage] he will wiggle his whole body side to side with his head pointed out, sometimes he will slightly arch his wings and other times he doesn't. The female also does this inside the cage sometimes. Does anyone else's conures do this? Is this some sort of mating ritual dance?
When I have the female out [and in sight of the cage] she kind of freezes up. If I set her on my shirt she climbs up to just under my chin and just sits there clinging to my shirt. She will not take treats or food while out of the cage. I am thinking that she just needs to get more comfortable with being outside of the cage.
When I took the female to a different room, she perked up a little bit and climbed around and up on to my shoulder but then just sat there.
I have not yet taken the male out of the room with the cage and have not let him on my shoulder for fear of a nice bite on the ear.
Both birds nip just a little but for the most part only when moving from hand-to-hand and/or finger-to-finger.
They also both let me scratch their heads, and "pet" down their back. The female seems to enjoy me rubbing her stomach but again she kind of freezes so i'm not sure if she is actually enjoying it or if she is tolerating it for now.
When I go for the male's stomach he nips me and steps up onto the point of my finger.
It takes quite a while to get them on to my finger and out of the cage [5+minutes each coaxing them]
What I am wondering is if I am making good progress with my birds, if there is anything different I could try doing, any of your experiences etc.
The woman whom I got them from gave me the two birds in a small cage with a couple toys for $75.00 [craigslist]
She told me that [she was told] they were hand raised but were left alone afterwords to become a mating pair, they have not been DNA tested but are both banded. They basically came to me untame and untouched other than their hand feeding.
I put the two of them in [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Prevue-Products-Wrought-F040-31-Inch/dp/B00176F5L0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325311424&sr=8-1"]this[/ame] cage which i ordered off of Amazon. I tried to get the pair to get comfortable with my hand in the cage but one would get flighty and the other would follow immediately. My solution was to divide the cage in the middle so that there is a top and a bottom portion both seperate from each other. Ever since I seperated them they have been coming along wonderfully. The male will hop up on to my finger in pursuit of practically anything. The female takes a little more coaxing but when they are seperated they handle fairly well given the little amount of time they have had with me.
For the past 3-4 days their only "true interaction" has been outside on the top of the cage [I have the middle of the cage covered with cardboard and newspaper so they cannot see eachother but can hear each other].
-They get around 1.5-2hours together per day on the cage while i clean, do homework etc.
When the male is out [and in sight of the cage] he will wiggle his whole body side to side with his head pointed out, sometimes he will slightly arch his wings and other times he doesn't. The female also does this inside the cage sometimes. Does anyone else's conures do this? Is this some sort of mating ritual dance?
When I have the female out [and in sight of the cage] she kind of freezes up. If I set her on my shirt she climbs up to just under my chin and just sits there clinging to my shirt. She will not take treats or food while out of the cage. I am thinking that she just needs to get more comfortable with being outside of the cage.
When I took the female to a different room, she perked up a little bit and climbed around and up on to my shoulder but then just sat there.
I have not yet taken the male out of the room with the cage and have not let him on my shoulder for fear of a nice bite on the ear.
Both birds nip just a little but for the most part only when moving from hand-to-hand and/or finger-to-finger.
They also both let me scratch their heads, and "pet" down their back. The female seems to enjoy me rubbing her stomach but again she kind of freezes so i'm not sure if she is actually enjoying it or if she is tolerating it for now.
When I go for the male's stomach he nips me and steps up onto the point of my finger.
It takes quite a while to get them on to my finger and out of the cage [5+minutes each coaxing them]
What I am wondering is if I am making good progress with my birds, if there is anything different I could try doing, any of your experiences etc.
