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Question:

February 6, 2023

Adopted 2 conures 1 green check and 1 pineapple.


I adopted these 2 beautiful souls. Now l found out l am there 4th home. Theirc1st home there were paired and had 3 litters. Then they sell to this man Kodi. I would assume to breed l do not know. Now l adopted thisx2 beautiful souls 4 days ago. They ate finally eat apple from me. Will they eventually warm up to me. I feel for them. Thanks for your time. CATHI-ANN


Answer:

Hi Cathi-Ann,

I’m glad you were able to adopt these birds – 4 homes is a lot! To clarify, both of your birds are Green-Cheeked conures – the Pineapple is a color mutation, so it’s a Pineapple Green-Cheeked Conure, just like a color mutation of any species. This means breeding them is fine – they are the same species – as long as they are not related to each other. While the first owner claims they had 3 clutches, that doesn’t mean the eggs hatched or the chicks survived. My guess is they didn’t. Generally nobody sells a good producing pair unless they decide they don’t care about breeding birds after all. Since these have gone through so many hands, my guess is they aren’t successful breeders, and because they are together, they aren’t great pets, either. A bonded pair or even just two parrots who share a cage and get along well, will rarely be interested in human interaction. But they can certainly be good pets, if you adjust your expectations. Green cheeks are fun, and very entertaining. Get them a lot of toys and a large cage and just let them be birds. They do not need a nest, bird hut or tent or anything like that to sleep in. Should you want to try to breed them, they need a nest box only when they are breeding, and not year round. But it sounds like you want them to be pets. I would not have high expectations of them ever being hand tamed, but you never know. Be patient with them and never try to grab them. They are prey animals, so when you grab a parrot, he thinks a predator is grabbing him and he stops trusting you. Talk to them, give them treats and they should gradually learn to trust you. Once they aren’t scared of you, they can probably come out of the cage and be enticed back into the cage with the right treat. I’ll give you the links to our pages on behavior and training, but again, they are not likely to have a close relationship with you.

Pet Bird and Parrot Behavior

Teaching Your Bird

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda

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