My first GCC

[Reddington]

Hi, this is my first time here and I just got my first bird which happens to be a GCC a few months ago. At first I was looking at lovebirds, but when my wife and I stopped at the pet store they didn't have any so we looked at this conure. It was so great that we couldn't leave without taking him home. I never would have expected to get one.

I never knew they could talk until he started talking! So far he's already learned his name ( Bijoux ), my wife's name ( Beth ), flip and jump. Once in a while he'll go crazy and flip on his perch or jump from perch to perch and say "Bijoux flip/jump". Pretty amazing.

The only thing I see that I need to work on is that he seems to be afraid of things he's unfamiliar with (like pens, paper, etc). Is there a good way to introduce him to new things without him always being afraid?

[Luvmygrey]

Welcome to BirdBoard! One way of helping your fid get used to new things is to put the new items somewhere ouside of his cage in view so he can see them from a distance.

[ray1457]

"Play" with whatever you want your fid to have an interest in while they are either on or close to you; they are naturally curious and if they see that you are enjoying "playing" with whatever "it" happens to be (and that it poses no danger), they are likely to come and investigate...
Do LOTS of research / reading; when I was given my first conure a few years ago I had NO idea of how much interaction and stimulation these little guys need! This forum (and others) are a good place to start; just browse thru the posts and you'll gets lots of good advice!