Conures! Anyone care to share their personal experiences?

[Celestial Fireflies]

cєℓєsтιαℓ ғιʀєғℓιєs:

Exciting times. We got a Nanday Conure in, and she seems pretty sweet. I say she, but we don't know; she's just going to be a she. wink

She chatters to us while we're working in the back room. Now. lol I say chatters, because I'm taking my manager's word for it. She says it's purring, but to me it felt like growling. I say that because she was on the back wall of the cage and shying away from me. More recently, it does feel more like chatter, because we're socializing with her she lets us pet her.

I'm doing my research now, because I want to be educated when the right customer comes along, but I was hoping some of you had experience with conures that you could share?  

[Gabrielle_AnimalLuver]

Conures are really smart for lil birds, and certain species of them have been known to speak. My friend had a fire shoulder conure who knew 1 or two armenians words and her name. She would literally run across the room to greet me when I entered her apartment, and gave me kisses. They CAN be very dominant and bitey if you let them take advantage though. I find them very similar to dogs. They need a firm owner who won't be afraid to handle them. If they start to get bitey and you stop handeling them it only gets worse as they get less sociable and bored. I've heeaarrdd, it's not a good idea to let them sit on your shoulder because having the high ground makes them think they are dominant. I once walked in on my teacher standing on a chair staring down her parrot cause it was "giving her attitude"  

[Celestial Fireflies]

Gabrielle_AnimalLuver

Conures are really smart for lil birds, and certain species of them have been known to speak. My friend had a fire shoulder conure who knew 1 or two armenians words and her name. She would literally run across the room to greet me when I entered her apartment, and gave me kisses. They CAN be very dominant and bitey if you let them take advantage though. I find them very similar to dogs. They need a firm owner who won't be afraid to handle them. If they start to get bitey and you stop handeling them it only gets worse as they get less sociable and bored. I've heeaarrdd, it's not a good idea to let them sit on your shoulder because having the high ground makes them think they are dominant. I once walked in on my teacher standing on a chair staring down her parrot cause it was "giving her attitude"

Lots of great information, thanks! :D Haha, oh my, that's funny about your teacher and her parrot. lol I can totally see it, though. People don't think a lot of animals have personalities, but they totally do and they can definitely be willfully defiant.

We ended up selling the Nanday Conure. I wasn't there, but I heard it was a really great home and the bird took IMMEDIATELY to him. Everyone who was working said that when he came in, the bird climbed right on him and started nestling against him. It sounded really cute, and the guy loved birds.

We got a new conure in, a Green Cheek, who is actually beoming more docile (with me) than the previous. It's kind of funny, because she's still kind of flighty, but she'll calm down if you start giving her scratchers behind her head. 3nodding When I first did it, she was like, "NO NO NO DON'T TOUCH ME DON'T TOUCH ME AHH HELP HElp help... hel... ahh, that feels good scratch me some more." My coworker was petting her, and she would duck away, but as soon as she started scratching the bird she'd stick her head way out for more.

I call her Sweetcheeks or Cheekers, and I hope it's the start of a wonderful friendship. She bit me once, but I kept going, like you said. I knew she'd just do it more if she learned that bite = getting what she wants.