Step U.... OUCH! Any suggestions?

[Addicted to Tequila]

Originally Posted by mmr

How in the world did you do that? How did you make it hard?

If you use a whole horse-sized roll and go up around the thumb and such... it is close enough! LOL

It is a darn sight better than those neoprene ones they want $20 for at WalMart!

[Addicted to Tequila]

He honestly seems to WANT me to pick him up by cradling the back of his head firmly with my thumb and first two fingers and letting him brace himself with a foot on my extended pinky. It assuredly does not hurt him... but looks just horrid! Do you think I should just do as he asks"?

[hollyhawkz]

Wow, we just took in a Cherry Headed Conure (Pepper) on Sunday that could be the twin... LOL and... who would pick up a bird by the neck!!!! No comment. Maybe you could fake the neck pick up with one hand while slipping the other under his feet, until you don't need to do the neck thing any more. Ours had quite the talons too..... (not after the AV) Maybe it's hurting him to use his feet to step up. I'm glad yours allows tummy rubs. We are slowly working on hanging out and touch..... everything is with a bite LOL and yes previous owner flinched and pulled back. I will pm you about this ones previous life. Pepper lunges, bites then says "I love you" brat.... I know he will be fine eventually. I agree with you A to T... SHOW NO FEAR... LOL

Your bruised and bleeding comrad Holly.

[Addicted to Tequila]

Originally Posted by hollyhawkz

Wow, we just took in a Cherry Headed Conure (Pepper) on Sunday that could be the twin... LOL and... who would pick up a bird by the neck!!!! No comment. Maybe you could fake the neck pick up with one hand while slipping the other under his feet, until you don't need to do the neck thing any more. Ours had quite the talons too..... (not after the AV) Maybe it's hurting him to use his feet to step up. I'm glad yours allows tummy rubs. We are slowly working on hanging out and touch..... everything is with a bite LOL and yes previous owner flinched and pulled back. I will pm you about this ones previous life. Pepper lunges, bites then says "I love you" brat.... I know he will be fine eventually. I agree with you A to T... SHOW NO FEAR... LOL

Your bruised and bleeding comrad Holly.

That just may work!

Fear? How can I fear him when he loves me so? LOL

(I will PM you back later... gotta get some office work done! LOL)

[Monica]

Do you have any pictures of your new conure???

It took several months/years before Noel (cherry head) stopped biting, but now she only bites if she feels unsteady or she's mad at me!

Charlie (mitred) on the other hand, well he bites and nips a LOT! Thankfully, he can't really do any damage because of his beak, but it can still hurt! (and to think how crazy I am to wish he had his entire beak so that he could bite even harder!!! crazier to think how happy I was the first and only time he was able to draw blood! ). I usually ignore the bites and such. In cases where I know he'll "unexpectedly bite", I usually don't get into such situations! Such as at the sink with running water... he may bite then, so I try and make sure he's not with me while I'm at the sink. If he is, I make him fly away! (only to have him fly back! )

It'll probably take time before your conure learns that he doesn't need to bite!

[Addicted to Tequila]

DONE! No bites while stepping up for 4 days now!

He/she "lunges intimidatingly if he "disagrees" with me or if you move too fast... but just hits you with his beak, no chomping down.

Next we work on getting back OFF the shoulder when asked! LOL

BTW...

MONICA:
Is there a way to tell the mitered from the CHC when they are young? If this guy truly is only about a year old, he would not have the full head coloring. I cannot compare sizes as he is the only one I have... or have ever even seen.

Is their breastbone more prominent than say a Sun or such? If he is standing up... he looks fine, but on his back (which he loves to lie in your hand on)... he looks thin. We have a vet visit on the 2nd, but meanwhile I am trying to "fatten him up". He was on a seed diet and is a sunflower seed junkie. I spent 2 hours picking all the sunflower seeds out of my seed mixture.

I have pics and I think I kept a video of him eating his pellets... which he now loves. The first time I replaced his seed cup with them... he threw a temper tantrum worthy of a CAG! He looked at the pellets... rooted to the bottom of them looking for seeds that he thought might be in the bottom... grumbled... rooted again... threw them out with the 90mph shovel technique... grumbled into the dish again... sat upright and stomped his foot, screamed, and banged his beak about! LOL

Do your guys have trouble perching? Every once and a while he falls ungracefully to the floor. As the cage is 4 foot high livable space... the poor dear bruised his beak a few days ago! I am going to make him a sleepy tent (he falls a good two or three times a night... he perches on the side of the cage bars just like my GCC and Sun used to... but apparently sleeps so soundly he relaxes his grip!) Once I gave my other guys a tent, they started sleeping in it... hopefully, he will do so as well.

Do these guys NORMALLY have wickedly long toenails? I figures they were just overgrown... but hit a quick right near the very tip when I tried to trim them!

[Monica]

Cherry heads are born completely green! Mitreds are born with a small amount of red on their heads (along with a couple other species, I believe). Of course, this doesn't help you since your bird has probably gone through it's first molt already...

But the red described in the cherry head/mitred thread in the conure forum may prove this one is a mitred! I haven't seen any cherry heads with the darker burgundy red right above the nares... actually, I think (although am not entirely sure) that it's a mitred trait only (so long as we don't have any hybrids running around!). How much does your red head weigh?

His breastbone shouldn't be prominant. He may need some weightgain. LOL! I know what you mean about those temper tantrums! Charlie occasionally has those, too! Why? I'm not entirely sure, as his dry food is pellets, and seeds are treats!

Charlie has a great grip, so he doesn't fall, unless he's playing with a toy and looses his balance while fighting the evil creature! Noel however, well her grip is terrible, she has had seizures, usually caused by trauma, her balance isn't all that great on slippery objects or a fast moving hand (walking is fine, but not beyond that!) because she can't grip. I believe this has to do with the fact that she was attacked by a ferret about 12 years ago. When Noel had manzanita perches, she'd lean so far forward while sleeping that she'd literally fall off the perch! It honestly scares me when she does that! You can see in the picture below...



It's one thing if he falls while sleeping or while playing, but it's another if he falls for some other reason.

Noel's nails really aren't overly long... they are somewhat disfigured, but not really long. Charlie on the other hand gets talon like nails! And he screams like a girl when I trim them!! I had the same problem as you when I first trimmed Charlie's nails. (as well as an alexandrian who's nails really weren't overly long but the quick was...) Just trim the very end, or even use a nail filer. Do this every 2 weeks or so, and the quick should recede. I can now trim much more of Charlie's nails than I could in the past! Thus, I can keep them shorter!

Just be sure to get a vet checkup for these two new guys as well as a full CBC to ensure that they are healthy! It sounds like you are doing fantastic with them, especially the red head!

[Addicted to Tequila]

We go to the vet Tuesday Sept 2nd!

It was the soonest we could get in. But on the good side... the avian vet here only charges $33 a bird... not including tests of course! LOL

[Addicted to Tequila]

OK... I have a MALE MITERED conure! (Lots of red on cheeks and dark red next to beak)

I am thinking of naming him Dudley. I don't know why... he just looks and acts like a Dudley to me!

I think the new BCC might be male too... but need to see others eye patches of those that are POSITIVELY male or female to be able to guess better.

[guest1717171]

im glad to hear my patty isnt the only conure to sleep clinging to the side of her cage
she doesnt do it as much now as when we first got her but she occasionally does
i thought she was crazy

good job at being patient with this guy. sounds like you're a wonderful burdy mum :)