# conures



## ipaq3115 (Jan 27, 2007)

ok so my aunts cleaning lady has a conure that she cant take care of and im doing a little research about them to see if i want it so my brother has a tiel and i was wondering is a conure the same size with a shorter tail(i dont like the long tail) or is it small and by how much. also could they live in the same cage if they learn to like each other. are conures hard birds to take care of of i know they need lots of love and playing with. my other question is how do you train them or any bird not to screem very morning to have the cover taken of. Can you train a conure too fly(home in side your home) to its cage everytime it has to go to the bathroom in other words can you pooty train a bird. also are they good talkers and smart and how smart.

Ethan

pigeon talk fan # 1


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## Charis (Feb 11, 2007)

What kind of conure is it? There are many different kinds and each has different characteristics.
I have a Sun conure and he can be some what annoying with his squacking. 
He doesn't like to poop inside his cage prefering to hang bottom just outside his cage door. He is not a great talker but is very charming non the less. He is one of the rare birds that never learned to fly. 
I think that if you accept the responsibility of a conure you must accept that the screaming and squacking is just part of the total package. So is pooping.


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## flitsnowzoom (Mar 20, 2007)

*Smarter than most people think*

is a conure the same size with a shorter tail(i dont like the long tail) or is it small and by how much. 

_Like Charis said, there are many different species of conures so you will need to know what species it is first as they all have different "personality" traits._ 
also could they live in the same cage if they learn to like each other. 

_I would not put a conure in with a 'tiel until I knew that they would get along and I certainly would have a very large cage in any case. Dueling beaks and territorial issues would definitely come into play with the mix of species._ 

are conures hard birds to take care of of i know they need lots of love and playing with. 
_Their basic care is not particularly hard but you cannot ignore them and expect the bird to be happy. Parrot types tend to pluck and self-mutilate if they do not get the attention that they need. If this is a companion bird, then you will have to be its companion. And these birds do get jealous. They are extremely intelligent and need one-on-one attention and love as well as companionship._ 

my other question is how do you train them or any bird not to screem very morning to have the cover taken of. 
_The morning conversation is to help locate its flock, check on the neighbors, chat, and discuss the best places to go for munchies. It is part of the inborn behavior of the birds -- not unlike the rooster crowing in the early morning. You are going to be its flock and until you get up, take care of it, and reassure it about the day, it will continue to call and talk to you. Typically these birds (conures) evolved in forested and or open plains and need a loud speaking voice to call to the flock and locate or warn its flock mates. We keep them as caged birds because they are so pretty, but even hand-raised parrots are not domesticated animals like the dog and the house cat. They still have their wild instincts and this is part of its instinctive behavior_.

Can you train a conure too fly(home in side your home) to its cage everytime it has to go to the bathroom in other words can you pooty train a bird. 

_Yes, you can "potty-train" the bird to an extent but it really requires that you train yourself to recognize the pre-potty signals and postures of the bird so you can get the bird back to its cage in a timely manner to do its business. It is a relatively advanced trick for the bird to learn compared to some of the basic commands like "step up" and "step down". You must train yourself to recognize the bird's natural tendencies and postures and work with the bird when they are doing these things. As you progress in the training, then the bird and you learn together. There are bird books available that have ideas on training you and your bird. I don't know if you can ever completely train your bird to "hold it" but you can minimize the clean-up with a lot of love and patient training._

also are they good talkers and smart and how smart.

_Conures are not noted for their talking abilities and depending on how old this bird is, you may or may not ever get it to "say" a word in people language. However it is quite a talker in its own language!  Conures, like all the parrot family, are darned smart. 

Birds in general are pretty smart. I think it's people that have a hard time recognizing intelligence in other species. If it's not cute and cuddlely or trainable, we tend to think of other species as unintelligent. How many of us are conversant in their languages? There are some people who are more gifted in observing and "understanding" the non-verbal cues and some specific voices that non-humans show us, but as far as truly understanding a non-human language, we ain't there. _


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## naturegirl (Nov 7, 2005)

Well Birds scream because they can  No you can't teach them not to scream. I have a Jenday conure and he likes to carry on sometimes and no they are not hard to take care of, but putting them in the same cage as a cockatiel may prove to be a bad idea. Beaks are much larger, stronger. They are so close to being the smae size it isn't funny. The other thing to think about is Conures have been known to be a one person bird. Meaning they attach themselves to one person and don't always like to be handled by other people. Hope this helps 

Cindy


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## moonshadow (Mar 26, 2007)

We have 2 conures. We have a Nanday (very loud and there's no shutting him up!) who looks like a small macaw and we have a green-cheek (tiny and not so loud) who's personality is more akin to a parakeet.

If you don't like noise and want a smart talkative bird then a conure if probably not the bird for you. Conures are the type where they're really fun to watch playing in their cages and some varieties do enjoy being handled. They take hours of consistant training to do much talking. They're much more likely to mimic the phone or the dishwasher than your voice. 

Oh, and if it's an adult bird with a biting problem, then skip it. The bird would be better off with a bird expert who can start retraining it to not bite.









This is our little Green-Cheek Conure Rosebud.









This is our Nanday Conure Pepe'.


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Moonshadow - thank you for those pictures. Rosebud and Pepe' are beautiful. Didn't realize they were so small.

Flitsnowzoom - loved your informative post.


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## ohiogsp (Feb 24, 2006)

I think I got bit by one of those at bush gardens last year. There was a really cool avairy and you could feed the birds. I thought the bird was biting me to get on my hand "you know how they do that and climb on you" well he was not and he just kept biting harder. It only took a few seconds for the blood to come it hurt and they have very strongh beeks. Everyone thought it was pretty funny.


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

ohiogsp said:


> I think I got bit by one of those at bush gardens last year. There was a really cool avairy and you could feed the birds. I thought the bird was biting me to get on my hand "you know how they do that and climb on you" well he was not and he just kept biting harder. It only took a few seconds for the blood to come it hurt and they have very strongh beeks. *Everyone thought it was pretty funny*.


*EVERYONE??? * My little teil can draw blood and it AIN'T funny..........


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## arnieismybaby (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi - I have a Nanday Conure ... this is me with Arnie







so you can see the length of his tail and get a pretty good idea as to how big he is.










As far as I can tell, the varying species of Conures have different personalities. 

Arnie is sometimes extremely noisy, and when he gets a bee in his bonnet about something, there is no shutting him up. 

As for teaching them to talk and training them. I guess it is the same with any bird, the younger they are, the more you can teach/train them. 

Arnie came to me when he was about 4 - the only word he could say was "hello". He can now say "alright" and my favourite "I'm sorry". *lol* he only says sorry when I've yelled at him for doing something naughty - and he is frequently naughty - but lovable with it. He spends the entire day outside his cage and has the run of two rooms. He knows that where the newspaper is placed, is where he can poop. He also knows that when I switch my tv off for the night, it is time for bed and will happily be put into his cage. However, if I try and put him into his cage during daylight hours, it is a major fight, the little monkey simply will not have it.

He can be a bit of a pain when I have visitors, since after about half an hour or so he will start squawking madly . He has even been known to be spitful, bite me and draw blood, simply because I am not paying him any attention. Conures are extremely loving but in my opinion extremely possessive birds.

Before I got Arnie (I have had him 12 years now) he was my sisters; when she went away on holiday one year another sister of mine, who had a tiel, looked after Arnie, needless to say neither Arnie or the tiel got on at all. But this could just be due to a clash of big personalities and due to two birds who were used to being on their own.

All I can say is I love my Arnie to pieces. He is funny, naughty, adorable, lovable, entertaining ... my constant companion when I am at home ... since he always sits on my shoulders ... and I am glad that I have him.

Michelle.


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## arnieismybaby (Jul 24, 2006)

moonshadow said:


> We have 2 conures. We have a Nanday (very loud and there's no shutting him up!) who looks like a small macaw and we have a green-cheek (tiny and not so loud) who's personality is more akin to a parakeet.
> 
> If you don't like noise and want a smart talkative bird then a conure if probably not the bird for you. Conures are the type where they're really fun to watch playing in their cages and some varieties do enjoy being handled. They take hours of consistant training to do much talking. They're much more likely to mimic the phone or the dishwasher than your voice.
> 
> ...


Moonshadow - Pepe and Rosebud are beautiful.
Michelle


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