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Post by george on Mar 22, 2008 20:13:59 GMT
Hi, I was hoping someone could offer me some advice. I have a green cheeked conure - Ivy - and I just can't seem to train her to do anything. She's hand reared and if she comes to me she's happy to have a cuddle and sit on my arm or climb all over me but if I go over to her she freaks out. She won't let me touch her at all if she's in or near her cage, she'll run backwards to get away from me. I can't even tempt her with food. I can't train her to step up because of this which is a pain because once she's out, I have trouble getting her back in unless I practically grab her. Also, she won't shut up! I know conures squalk but she's at it constantly. I've tried covering the cage every time she starts and then removing the cover when she shuts up, but she just starts again instantly. I also tried moving her into an empty room and then bringing her back but that didn't work at all. When she is being sociable, she tends to squeal at me and try to bite me if I stroke her too much. I can't let her out when I'm using the laptop anymore as she gets on the keyboard and tries to bite me everytime I try to move her. I often had to resort to poking her with the TV remote just to get her off. I hate to admit it, but she's getting on my last nerve! She's also a bit strange in that she's not at all interested in her toys and she only seems to eat seed, dried fruit and apple. I've tried different types of toys and foods but she's not having any of it! She doesn't like to bath either. I thought they were supposed to love water!? Maybe I've just got a duff one! She's my first conure but I've kept kakarikis for a few years, they were so much easier to look after. Ivy's a nightmare!! I don't want to give up because she's really sweet when she's being nice but the rest of the time I find it really hard not to lose my temper. I bet that sounds awful but I can't deal with the screeching. My friend has a sun conure and she can't believe how much noise Ivy makes and how one minute she's all over me looking for cuddles and the next she's backing away into corners. Anyway, any advice on how I can train her/bond with her more etc would be fantastic! Thanks.
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Post by telmadee on Mar 22, 2008 21:23:46 GMT
we're only just about to get our first conure, so i cant give any advise on them personally, i did have to chuckle when you called her 'a duff one' lol and have had to move her with the remote lmao.
theres a few conure owners on here so im sure you will get plenty of advise though
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mueb
Fledgling
Posts: 153
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Post by mueb on Mar 22, 2008 22:45:42 GMT
You don't say what age Ivy is? or how long you have had her? I can honestly say I have never heard of a greencheek being noisy we have bred pyrrhura conures of many varieties (including greencheek)for at least 18 years. I cannot understand why she is afraid of you, has she had a bad experience during her lifetime to make this happen?. Conures do have long memories so if someone or something upsets & frightens or hurts them then it is very difficult to get them over it. You must try to get her to like you and the way to do this is to speak very softly and slowly to her. When moving your hands near her do it very very slowly while talking softly, this will calm her. If you had her straight from her breeder as a baby then I suggest you get in touch with her breeder and ask these questions, maybe he/she will be open & honest and tell you of any problems that may have affected her. All our babies are mega tame when they leave us and none of them are afraid of hands, which is why I feel something has happened to upset your bird regarding hands. I can only assume the screeching is part & parcel of the psychological problem. Do not by any means poke her with anything at all, this will only add to her unrest.
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Post by Scully on Mar 23, 2008 5:21:59 GMT
Im no expert, but my little guy is pretty quiet, and hes a green cheek. Like Mue said, how old is she , and did you have her from the start, as a baby, if so, what was she like then? Write down a little more about her back ground, toys, food etc, and im sure we can help.
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Post by george on Mar 23, 2008 15:12:46 GMT
Thankyou all for your posts!
Right... a bit more info!... I haven't had her very long, I only got her at the beginning of february. My local pet shop ordered her from a breeder up north somewhere (I can't remember where but it began with a C!!). The pet shop always order their handreared birds from the same breeder so I assume they're good or they wouldn't keep using them! The breeder told the pet shop she was a 2007 hatched bird, although I don't know if thats early or late 2007. She doesn't have a leg ring either. I don't know if thats significant but I know they often have a dated ring on. Before she came to me, I don't know how the breeder treated her or where she was kept. I assume she'd of been looked after well as the breeder would know what they were doing. Obviously, I don't know this for sure. I guess if the breeder was busy looking after other baby birds, she may have just been left in a cage to amuse herself. Normally the breeder sells their birds as soon as they're ready to go but Ivy took longer as she has a beak problem. The lower beak is longer than the upper one so it needs trimming. Since I've had her it hasn't been done, but when I picked her up, she'd obviously had the top half trimmed down as it was very short. Could a memory of that being done be what's unsettling her?!
I have been trying to move slowly and talk to her. I've sort of trained her that when I say "tickle tickle" it means I'm going to stroke her neck. It works when she's away from her cage all the time, she'll stop what she's doing and stretch her neck out, but if she's around her cage, even this doesn't work. Also, I started trying to teach her to step up but she flies away if I touch her feet and if I try to touch her belly, she tries to bite my finger (which thankfully doesn't hurt too much because of the beak issue!).
When I said I poke her with the remote, I didn't mean I hit her with it or anything, she's very protective of the laptop but if I let her stay sat on it she pulls the keys off (which is a problem!). I daren't touch her with my hand as she properly goes for me so I use the remote as a sort of finger extension to gently push her off. I have since stopped letting her out when I'm using the laptop as it's less stressful for both of us!!
As for food, she mainly eats budgie mix. I tried her on pellets as most internet sites said it was more nutricious than seed but she struggled to eat it with her dodgy beak and left it. She'll eat apple and pear quite happily and I give her some pets at home dried fruit stuff too. She has these foods every day. I've been tring to get her to eat some different things (grapes, carrot, cooked carrot because it's soft, broccoli, small pieces of chicken, millet sprays, bird treat sticks etc) but she licks it and drops it in the bottom of the cage. She also gets sunflower seeds and peanuts but only as a treat as I heard they're too fattening to feed as everyday food. She has a cuttlefish and one of those pink mineral block things too as I thought prehaps chewing them might wear her beak down a bit.
She has a lot of toys, I bought lots and rotate them every so often for variety. At the moment she has a budgie ball, a dangly toy made of wood with a bell on the end, another wooden dangly toy with a bit of fluffy rope on the end, a perspex toy thats like 3 cubes with little mirrors on, a rope ball and a ladder. Her perches are all those twisted rope ones in different sizes to exercise her feet. She also has one of those snug bed things (a sort of fluffy triangle of fabric that hangs from the ceiling that she sleeps in). She did have a big mirror but my friend with the sun conure told me they aren't supposed to have them because they confuse them so I took it out. She occasionally plays with the toy with the bell but they largely go ignored. Maybe she didn't have toys for the first months of her life? Could it be the toys making her screech??
I let her out as much as I can when I'm home but often, she'll wander out and sit on the open door for a few minutes, only to go back in and not come out again. At other times, she'll fly over to me for a cuddle and I can't get her back in! I have noticed she'll only come over to me if I'm sat down. I guess I look smaller and less threatening to her like that!
I hope thats going to be enough info! I certainly seem to have been typing for a long time! Sorry if I've waffled and sent you to sleep :-D
Thanks again for trying to help, it's really appreciated xx
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Post by george on Mar 23, 2008 15:42:21 GMT
I thought I'd just add this picture as it sort of shows her beak problem, sorry it's not very clear, I took it with my mobile.
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mueb
Fledgling
Posts: 153
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Post by mueb on Mar 23, 2008 19:09:17 GMT
By the looks of your photo her beak problem is an undershot bottom mandible not an overshot upper. Looks as though someone has cut the top mandible far too short, the bottom one needs trimming back so her top one fits over her bottom one (if you can understand me!). I would think this very likely is her problem, whoever did this may have terrified her of liking humans for a long time. Also the screeching could well be the fact that her beak is very uncomfortable or painful from what has been done to her, poor little soul. I would imagine she feels pain because the upper beak is actually pushing the lower one forward, how it has been cut. Hopefully she will soon realise that you are a friend to her and not there to hurt her. I would take her asap to an avian vet who can sort out her bottom mandible but the top one will be difficult because you will need to wait until it grows again. Btw - the breeder wasn't from Cleveland was he We feed all our conures on a good parrot mix - one that has various seeds, dried fruit, peppers, monkey nuts etc. They also love hemp seed and millet sprays as well as a little cockatiel mix - we don't use budgie mix at all. While she has such a poorly beak feed her as much fresh fruit as she wants, this is good for her and is probably not painful to eat.
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Post by telmadee on Mar 24, 2008 8:25:22 GMT
Thankyou all for your posts! When I said I poke her with the remote, I didn't mean I hit her with it or anything, she's very protective of the laptop but if I let her stay sat on it she pulls the keys off (which is a problem!). I daren't touch her with my hand as she properly goes for me so I use the remote as a sort of finger extension to gently push her off. I personally never thought for one minute that you meant you hurt her in anyway or are forceful with the remote, i took it that you meant rather than her bite you you gently coax her away with it. I just thought it was funny how you said it with her only being a small bird but yu not daring to put your hands near lol. Her poor beak the little sweetheart, it must be frustrating for her (and you). I hope you can help her realsie that you love her and are her friend
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Post by george on Mar 24, 2008 10:32:08 GMT
Thanks again guys! I can't tell you how much help you're being! #cheesy#
Her top beak is VERY short, it doesn't have a hook to it at all (does that make sense??!!). I was a bit surprised when I saw it for the first time. I did consider getting back in touch with the pet shop but they'd already knocked £60 off the original price because of it, and it obviously wasn't their doing, she'd only been in the shop a day when I picked her up. I will ring the vet tomorrow and book her in. I'd ring today but it's a bank holiday! Unfortunately, there aren't any avian vets on the Isle of Wight so my birds go to the usual vet. They seem to be ok in there, I always ask for the same guy as he seems to know more about birds than the rest of the vets put together. Although he did think my lutino kakariki was a yellow budgie! #embarassed#
I took advantage of having easter sunday off work and spent virtually the whole day with Ivy, she'll now let me touch her when she's around her cage. YEY! But she's still very wary. Any sudden movements and she's off! Still no joy with the screeching though. Hopefully that will stop when I get her beak trimmed if thats whats troubling her.
Thanks again! xx
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Post by george on Mar 24, 2008 10:33:33 GMT
Ooo, I forgot, Mueb, it wasn't Cleveland, I think it was Cambridge!
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Post by kiwi on Mar 24, 2008 11:34:48 GMT
Awww poor Ivy - looks like someones made a right mess of her beak Poor poor baby Hope you get this sorted soon George and then you can start a fresh making friends with Ivy when she's not in any pain. Hugs to you both x
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Post by Scully on Mar 24, 2008 15:07:23 GMT
Keep us posted with Ivy, animals show pain in may ways, but put up with so much. Although thats from more dog experience than birds This really could be the answer to her getting to know you. Conures normally dont show alot of fear, even though they can be nippy, i have never found my Biggs nasty. Its normally 'Mum' doing something wrong, like forgetting hes got a few hidden pin feathers and scratching a bit harder than he would like I do think that breeder and pet shop wants shooting though. I almost bought a budgie recently with a deformed beak, but after a couple of visits , it had gone.
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Post by george on Apr 16, 2008 19:17:57 GMT
Hi again guys, just updating you... Ivy's been to the vets and had a beak trim. She seems much happier. I've also been spending loads of time with her and she's getting a lot friendlier! Somedays I can't seem to get her off me! Where as other days, she's just not interested. Which is fine by me. I love it when she's friendly but I'm also happy she can keep herself amused too. I still haven't managed to train her to step on my finger but she doesn't run away anymore. Generally, there's been an all round improvement and me and Ivy are both much happier now! Thanks again for all your help xx
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Post by Berserka on Apr 17, 2008 3:31:02 GMT
That is fantastic news! I bet she'll come along in leaps and bounds now.
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Post by Scully on Apr 17, 2008 6:10:20 GMT
Great to hear Ivys had a beak trim, i bet shes much more comfortable now. Is she eating any different?
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