Sun Conure - toys, training ect

[oceanaussi]

Stormy has been with me for nearly 4 months now and we've bonded well. He's my first Sun Conure and my first tame bird ever - so I don't have a lot of experience. I'd like some advice from more experienced members and hopefully from somebody who has a Sunny as well.

We're still in training for the harness so Stormy cannot come outside with me yet. In the morning and when I come home, I take him out of the cage and he's inside with me. He either is on his playground or on my shoulder. Very often he flys from his playground to sit on my shoulder. He doesn't want to sit anywhere else. He was clipped but moulted and since can fly pretty well. He just doesn't want to go anywhere else which is ok. When he's on my shoulder he eats holes in my shirt and eats my earrings (I'm on the 3rd pair).

I've got a few toys but he's just not interested! I try to sit him on the couch and play with some toys or on the table or something and have his toys and show him how to play with them and he just doesn't want to play with them.

Can anyone please give me any tips on what I should do?

[robert]

Hope Lisa comes on soon. this is what she has written
eclectusparrots.net/sunconures.html
from Robert and Precious

[just4birds]

Hiya

Thanks for the link Robert tho i cant take credit for that info my friend Kim wrote that about her own sun conure that she adopted

I own 2 sun conures as pets ... started with just one .. my girl Pino (short for pine-o-) and i have to say i find them quiet hard to train compared to say Eclectus parrots ...

I also find mine are at their happiest running all over me as the human tree stand ...

Mine dont play with foot toys much .... my loves boings ... happy huts and the jolly ball .... I've been trying different things with my lately with offering foraging toys ... and home made toys that lets them find treats ...

I normally do pop corn in brown paper bags ... its taken my suns a while to workout whats in the bag ... but they are finally getting the hang of it ...

My suns also love this toy thats a green rubber ball that hangs from the top of the cage that has holes in it where you stuff nuts etc into it ... i fill that up with nuts and paper and they spend hours pulling it all out ...

I believe sun conrues can be trained tricks ... i've seen some youtube of a sun conure fetching and things ... i think it mite just be a matter of finding the right treat/reward and keeping there attention ..

Me personally havent had much luck in training my sun conures anything besides the basic step up ... and then only one of them does it .....

I guess the question is ... what do you want? do you want the bird to play by itself or to just play more with toys ?

As for training the best advice i can give is to youtube Barbara Heidenreich or buy her dvds ... or even attend a Parrot workshop ... who has Jim McKendry speaking or Barbara (if your lucky to catch her in the country)

Feel free to pm me if you want to ask me anything about what i do with my suns etc

*Lisa*

[Robyn]

Hi Oceanaussi,

I am certainly no behavior expert on Parrots but i do breed suns. My babies are taught the basics before they go to their new homes. Step up & down, play hide an seek, give kisses and so on. As far as any bird chewing on my gems its a big NO NO. And believe me i do wear heaps. As soon as a baby sun for instance gets hold of a ring or earring, i stop them by getting their attention elsewhere, saying a stern no and placing my hand over what ever has caught his eye. I think i have only ever had 1 earring damaged ever. But then its easy for me because i start the bird from an early age and the fact i do wear heaps of jewels means the babies are all used to seeing it. As far as eating clothes can't say i have that problem either. I mean they do try to pull at the buttons but i do the same as with my jewelry.

Maybe if you can get his attention, i have heard a lot about using a clicker as part of training. I think Lisa is right as far as the suns go they just love being on their owner, happy huts come a close second. I also find that a cat ball with the bell inside is a favorite with my suns. Mine also like the big bells. Would love to get a jolly ball but no one has them up here. This might sound really strange but my babies once they learn to fly we play me running through the house with them chasing me, once they get the hang of that they will turn in the opposite direction. I think they just like to see who can land on me first.

But like Lisa has said it depends on what you want him to do, I love mine just the way they are. Funny cute and cuddly. Hope its helped a wee bit.

[oceanaussi]

Thanks for your replies! What do I want him to do? Well, mainly just be happy - that's all what matters to me. I don't care if he can't do anything else. And I wish to keep my shirts and earrings but that's about it.

In the morning after I walked the dogs, I take Stormy out of his cage, take him inside with me and we have breakfast together. When I leave for work, I put him in his aviary outside with all the toys and pellets as well as veggies or nuts or something rather. That's the first time he gets naughty. He checks out all the food and throws the veggies straight out. I read on a breeders website the following:

"Here at Perky Parrots we feed our Sun Conures a mix of Roudybush pellets, sprouted seed, and fruit and vegetables on a daily basis. The pellets are placed in a separate bowl to the fruits and vegetables which are mixed with the sprouted seed. Each day in the morning the birds receive fresh water and a mix of fruits, vegetables and sprouted seed. In the afternoon the water is changed and pellets are given whilst any uneaten parts of the fruit, vegetable and sprouted seed mixture are removed from the aviary. During the breeding season fruits, vegetables and sprouted seed are provided twice a day to birds with young. "

Should I do that to to force him to eat his veggies?

In the afternoon when I come home I greet him and put him inside while I walk the dogs. When I come home he comes inside with me until I go to bed or until he wants to go to bed. He's got a playstand with food and water and toys. Most of the time he just sits on the top perch. He might go for food or water but never has touched the toys. He also hasn't touched any of the toys in his cage. He hasn't even chewed on his perches!

Most of the time when he's out with me he sits on my shoulder. He always tries to pick on my earrings. When he does that, I normally say 'NO!', cover the earring, take him off me, put him on the desk or whereever and leave the room for around 30 secs. I do this every single time but he's just so freaking quick that he either pulls the earring out or - what's even worse - pulls the stone out. He does that with one bite!

Lately he also started chewing holes in my shirts. I normally put an old shirt on anyway, still I don't want him to do it so I do the same as with the earrings.

He doesn't need to be like bickitrainer's birds but I think he does these things because he's bored. So I put him on the table or playstand , sit myself in equal height and try to play with his toys - he doesn't show any interest! I've got foot toys, I've got foraging toys, I give him branches, flowers, paper, had one of those cat balls but he bit thru it within seconds, I've got beads and string and colourful as well as natural wooden things, plastic - there isn't any more out there, he just doesn't ouch it.

Like I said I want him to be happy and if he picks on my stuff I want to re-direct his attention to something else but he's not interested. He steps back and flys on my shoulder - that's it. I don't know how to engage him.

[farseeker]

If your schedule allows it, try perhaps putting pellets in before you go on your walk so he has time to grab stuff if he's really hungry, then pop in vegies until the arvo, at which point switch to pellets again. Also try presenting the food in different ways - Trouble will eat capsicum if it's cut into little cubes, but if it's in long, thin slices he won't touch it.

A way I get Trouble to give a toy a go if he's been completely ignoring it is to take it out and play with it on my own. He'll be around but I'll ignore him completely in favour of the toy. I think his reasoning then becomes 'Well if it's more interesting than ME obviously I have to try this time out!' along with 'Gotta get it away from her so she'll spend time with me me me!'.

What kind of foraging toys have you got? The problem with a lot of the commercial ones is that they can be quite advanced for a bird that hasn't foraged before. Start by doing things like placing bits of paper over the food dishes so they have to be knocked off before the food can be got to. It can take quite some time to introduce foraging but the benefit is that they generally become much more aware of and willing to explore their surroundings - which means playing with toys a lot more.

Also have you tried making toys that resemble your earrings? I'd also suggest taking them out before you play if he has a habit of removing them - you don't want to have an accidentally ripped ear lobe!

You could also try buying or making some jewellery like on here: www.featheredfinds.com.au/parrottoys/birdtoysfoot.html that's safe for him to play with that you can wear. He might make the link that the pony beads on his toys are just as fun to play with as the pony beads around your neck from there.

If I'm thinking of the right one the lattice ball that he broke was probably the flimsier type - there are ones that have thicker plastic that are harder to break. It might be worth trying to find them and giving them a try, since if he broke it he must have had some interest in it. ;D

[oceanaussi]

Well, I've ordered some new toys and different food from the PRC - maybe that will help.

[oceanaussi]

I think I went a bit overboard with Stormy's new toys, I've ordered about 15 new toys, 5 different new foods and today arrived his 2 new beds... ;D Stormy spoiled? Naaaaaaa!

Tonight I came home and greeted him as usual, checked his food and no he hasn't tried any of my new variety (potato, peas, bacon, egg). Hm.

After I walked the dogs I took him out and put him on my shoulder. I checked all his toys which I now have hung from the top rather than on the side - he didn't touch any of them.

Anyway I decided to take one ofe them out to put over my shoulder. I'm not sure what it is called. It has leather strings with beads, knots and wood. He has been happily chewing on this for the last 1/2 hour! As long as it's on my shoulder he's happy with it! To me that's progress! I'm very happy!!! ;D

[Robyn]

Sounds like your on a winner there with his toys. hopefully he'll grow out of chewing your stuff. And if you have gone overboard with the toys you don't have to use them all at once, put some away so you can rotate them.

Oceanaussi, if Stormy is eating heaps of fruit, some pellets and seeds, i don't think i would worry to much at least he is eating good food. You could put a multi-vitamin in his water 3 times a week just to make sure he isn't missing out.

I have very few toys for my pet birds, they are not really interested either. Our white cocky would much prefer to run round the yard, helping himself to the chillie bush and passion fruits. The aviary birds love new branches to chew and play on.

One more thing, this is just a thought what if you trimmed Stormy's wings again so you have a little more control over him. Might be just enough to put him in his place for the moment. That way when he does chew on your cloths and jems, you can remove him away from you and he can't fly back and keep doing naughty things. You could possibility do the wing trim as a last resort.

I think Stormy is already a happy little chap just trying your patience. ;D ;D ;D

[just4birds]

just be careful with the new foods (potato, peas, bacon, egg).

white potato i never feed my birds ... i have never dreamt of feeding my birds bacon neither ... and egg is high in protien and is ok in small amounts ...

I feed my sun conures 2 cooked meals a day the same as my eckies get ... and a small parrot mix ..

the cooked is of a morning streamed mushed up veggies,brown rice,veggie pasta and soup mix all cooked and mushed together .. with a sprinkle of hangens premium mix over the top ...

and of an after they get brown rice mixed with peas,corn and capscium with a sprinkle of hagens cockatiel pellets

these are like pre cooked meals .. i make them up in batches and then freeze them ... and heat them in the microwave before feeding ...

if you want a bird to eat something he hasnt had before .. it has to be given all the time .. other wise they dont get what it is ..

Also i forgot the topics of ear-rings and clothing in my very first post ...

I have my ears pierced ... i think thats just a training thing ... i just cover my ears and say no ... and after awhile they just learn not to touch ... sometimes they still do .. but no where near the point its so annoying .. and if we are having a bad day like that i just take them out ... i use to wear alot of necklaces and rings now i just dont bother

I also have a couple of eclectus parrots that like to put holes in my clothes while sitting on my lap or whatever ... that one is a bit harder to train out i think ...but if he starts to do it .. i would simply just pick him up and put him somewhere else and ignore him for a couple of seconds/minutes ...he will soon learn that doing that behaviour and being ignored go together ...

[vankarhi]

My birds love to chew on my jewels too. I say NO to Erik and push him away.....he doesnt tend to do it all the time but every now and then he decides "oh mum is wearing shiney stuff" He also seems intent on chewing on my brastrap through my shirts......how he can see it I don't know but he chews on it and once again I push him away and say NO. He isn't really a problem.....just every now and then. I also teach my babies to step up and down etc so they do have some manners.

I do give Erik mashed potato and mashed sweet potato and I add other veges to it when we eat it. Erik and his mother Skye before him and Takoda (actually all my pet birds in the past) love their mashed veges when we eat them.

We don't eat bacon very often.....maybe once a year ..... maybe and yes the birds have had a piece and they love it too.

I also agree with Robyn and her suggestion to clip Stormy's wings......I have found in the past it can help a bird with attitude and makes training a bit easier.....plus the wing feathers do grow back.

Oh and Robyn I just posted a video of Erik playing in his jollyball and I bought it from Lisa (just4birds) and I have bought other toys and foraging toys from her......and she can post them to you also ;D

[Robyn]

Yes i saw it this morning didn't get time to answer. Was on a mission today had lawns to mow ours and Mums.
Great i will PM Lisa thanks for that. Erik looks so at home in that ball and i know the sun conures love playing in things like that.
They really have crappy toys for birds up here. I went every where looking for that jollyball. No one even knew what i was talking about.
In Cairns we have 4 Pet Shops, 2 Pet Cafe Stores and 1 Pet Stock Store and they all have lots for dogs and cats and fish supplies but not birds. :-/And they don't go out of their way to help either.

[vankarhi]

I have bought a few toys from ebay and parrot society and Lisa (just4birds) and I must say I am very very happy with my toys from Lisa and Parrot society and some from ebay.

[oceanaussi]

I've ordered from the Parrot Society! Most of them as parts, so Stormy and I can make his own!