Should i get a sun conure!?

Question

i have been planing on getting a sun conure for over a mounth i have researched and everything.i have heard that they are nown for there beauty not there entellegence.i am planing on getting a sun conure from this store.i feel bad for the poor sun conure it hasnt been played with or touched in mounths ( i know this because my uncle used to work there and they dont handle there pets) and its plucking his feathers.i feel bad for him.should i get him?should i get another kind of conure?or just a totaly diffrent bird?please tell me your opinon on sun conures and other good birds to buy!?

Answer 1

Sounds like you have educated yourself about the Sun's personality (noisy), keep in mind, they too are smart little buggers.

I agree with Loollea.

I wouldn't buy the bird at full price for the fact that the bird is plucking and may not stop after you buy him/her.

If you get lucky, the bird is plucking out of boredom/lack of stimulation and will stop when after you bring him home with a cage full of toys, a good diet and you showering him with love and attention.

If you do decide to buy this bird, start doing some research in regards to plucking.  From what I've seen, some don't get enough attention/stimulation, some have an infection of sorts and others, well, they just don't know why.

One board that I like to read:

http://theperch.net/

They have alot of knowledgeable posters there and you will get some good solid advice from there.

Answer 2

all birds r amazing. if u have special feeling toward that bird, i said don't hesitate and just get it. make sure u spend at least an hour with it per day though. birds need attention to be happy.

Answer 3

they are wonderful little birds and extremely beautiful BUT they are the loudest birds so keep that in mind

I don't think I would buy the "plucker" it might not get over it

only buy it if the store gives you a real good discount

another thing, don't get a bird unless you have plenty of time to devote to it, birds aren't like cats and dogs - they require more of your time, and when they don't get it they get mean or pluck

Answer 4

I had a sun conure for 5 years. They are actually amazing birds, and the one I had was very smart and learned extremely fast. She talked and was completely tame. Sun conures are very loving birds, they just need a lot of attention so the only thing I suggest is that you can spend a lot of time with it. They get lonely and that is when they make messes and lots of noise. I would definitely say yes get one, they are great pets. Good Luck

Answer 5

Conures are great birds the only problem is that the Sun Conure is extremely noisy and is very social so will need ALOT of time. If your fine with it then get the bird.

Answer 6

This happens in lots of stores. You can’t save them all. Tell the store you will do them a favor and buy cage, toys, food etc. and give them the opportunity to regain some of their money before the bird dies.  I have rescued lots of birds this way, showing the store it was in their best interest to sell the bird now while they can get a little of their money back.

Sun Conure Species Profile



Traits:  Recognized for their beautiful plumage, sun conures are also known for their vocalizing. They are intelligent, playful, and are quieter if kept as single pets. Sun conures make good pet birds for a family because of their sociable, upbeat and affectionate personality. They have an adventurous attitude and are quite active. Owners find that sun conures enjoy playing on the floor, making foot toys appropriate for these birds. They entertain themselves by playing in their water bowls or during bathtime. With the ability to pick up words and phrases, sun conures are often described as being inquisitive.

Behavior/Health Concerns:  Sun Conures need plenty of entertainment and interaction. Sun conures are susceptible to feather picking and common psittacine diseases. This pet bird’s diet needs to remain varied in order to keep a healthy pet. In addition to a pellet-based diet, sun conures need fresh fruits, vegetables and whole-grains.

The Complexity and Frustration of Feather Picking

Types of feather picking, pauses and what you can do about it

By Rebecca Sweat

Many veterinarians estimate that 50 percent or more of the pet birds they see engage in some type of over-preening or feather damaging behavior.

“Feather loss is one of the most complex and frustrating problems avian veterinarians see on a frequent basis,” said Jeffrey Jenkins, DVM, an avian veterinarian in Southern California. He sees between 15 and 20 birds a day and never goes a day without seeing at least two new cases of feather picking.

Pet Bird Species That Have Feather Damaging Behavior

Any bird can become a feather plucker, but cockatoos, cockatiels, quaker and Brotogeris parakeets, Eclectus parrots, African greys, lovebirds and parrotlets seem particularly predisposed to this behavior. All of these are species that live in large flocks in the wild. It’s not unusual in Australia, for instance, to see a flock of 500 or 1,000 cockatoos hanging out together in the trees.

“The flock species use their social environment as part of their mental health, and they do everything together. If one of them gets separated from the rest of the flock, the bird becomes fearful,” explained Larry Nemetz, DVM, an exotics-only veterinarian in Southern California. In captivity, a cockatoo that feels isolated from its human “flock” will become anxious as well, and this can lead to feather picking or other behavior problems.

In contrast, a nomadic bird, such as any of the Amazon species, Pionus or large macaws aren’t usually bothered as much when they’re alone. In the rain forests of Central and South America, these birds usually fly in groups of just two to four birds. As pets, nomadic species seem to be less likely to pick their feathers. “It doesn’t mean it’s impossible for them to do it, but it’s uncommon," Nemetz said. For every one Amazon he sees that feather picks, he sees 25 cockatoos that do it.

Other Destructive Behaviors

Besides plucking out their feathers, birds may also chew, bite, shred, strip, bend and over-preen them. This is done in varying degrees. A bird may only clip off the top half of its feathers and leave the bottoms, pull the entire feathers completely from their shafts, only nibble on certain feathers like the tail or the contours, or just pluck out the down and leave the top feathers. There may be only a few feathers missing in a particular spot, to every feather within reach of its beak being pulled .

A related behavior that some birds do is skin mutilation. A bird might nip on a bare spot on its body, yank out a feather shaft and make the whole area bleed, or gnaw on a scab or wound. Because it causes bleeding, skin mutilation is very serious.

“Birds can slowly bleed to death with chronic mutilation even if it looks like only small amounts of blood are lost at any one time,” warned North Carolina avian veterinarian, Gregory Burkett, DVM. If a bird hits a major artery, that can be an emergency.

Washington state avian veterinarian, Cathy Johnson-Delaney, DVM, figures that one out of every 10 feather pickers also mutilates the skin. “Mutilators generally start out as feather pickers,” she said. “There may be a spot on the bird’s body where it is accustomed to picking feathers, and there are no feathers there anymore and so it bites its skin instead. The bird may continually have scabs on its chest because it picks and picks and picks.”

In some cases, the mutilation may actually be a result of the feather plucking, added Julie Burge, DVM, a veterinarian in Missouri with a special interest in birds. For instance, she said. “If a bird completely removes a feather, the follicle will be open and more vulnerable to infection. There may also be pain from where the feather was pulled, just like if a woman yanked some hair from her head. The bird may begin to pick at the skin in the area in an attempt to remove the pain. This begins a vicious cycle, because the open wound hurts and itches, so the bird digs at it more and more.”

Feather Damaging Behavior Causes

What would motivate a bird to destroy its feathers or mutilate its skin? There is a seemingly endless list of reasons why. However, most causes fall into one of three categories: physical or medical problems, environmental factors, and behavioral or psychological reasons.

Included in the list of physical causes are viral infections (such as polyomavirus and psittacine beak and feather disease), bacterial and fungal infections (Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Candida, Microsporum, etc.), external parasites (scaly face and leg mites, quill mites, lice, etc.), allergic hypersensitivity reactions, nutritional deficiencies, poor wing-feather trimming, trauma (split sternum or other bone fractures) and hormonal imbalances.

A bacterial, viral infection or protozoal infection (Giardia) can lead to skin lesions or malformation of the feathers, which a bird may want to pick at. Nutritional deficiencies, protozoal infections such as Giardia, allergies and fungal infections can make the skin dry and itchy. Dietary imbalances can also slow down molting cycles and cause the feathers to stay in too long and become irritating.

A bad wing-feather trim may annoy a bird and make it want to do some of its own “trimming” to try to fix what the trimmer did. Likewise, a fracture that has healed improperly can cause the bird neurologic pain and make it start picking at the area.

If a bird's hormones are surging, it may pluck its feathers when it wants to nest. This is known as brood patch plucking. “Seasonally, some birds will pluck a patch of feathers on the chest or abdominal area that is used during incubation to transfer heat to the eggs.

There can also be a behavioral component to the hormonally-induced feather plucking.  Ã¢Â€ÂœMost pet birds are intact, but they have no mate, no territory and no flock,” Johnson-Delaney said. "They have anxiety from not being able to complete the instinctive breeding behaviors. They’re stimulated to breed, but they’re not in a situation where they can do so.” These parrots take out their sexual frustrations by picking their feathers, she said.

A bird’s sexual frustrations can be exacerbated if it has a “pair bonded” relationship with the owner. “A parrot can get really upset if it thinks its owner is its mate and then that person pays more attention to another person in the room,” noted Southern California veterinarian, Tia Greenberg, DVM. The bird can get so jealous or feel so rejected by its human “mate” that it responds by ripping out its feathers.

Environmental causes include housing a bird in a cage that is too small, placing the wrong size or type of perches in the cage, exposure to airborne toxins (such as tobacco smoke and aerosol sprays, which may make the bird's skin itchy), low humidity (most psittacines come from extremely humid climates and are bothered by the dry air in heated homes), and lack of full-spectrum lighting or the wrong kind of lighting. “The flickering sensation from a fluorescent light in the room can be very irritating to a bird and may be enough to make it pick its feathers out of frustration,” Johnson-Delaney noted.

Behavioral causes can also be a matter of the bird not having enough mental stimulation or being under too much stress. Often the parrot is simply bored and is chewing on its feathers to keep itself occupied. The bird may have never been taught how to entertain itself and not know what to do when it’s home alone during the day. Or, there may be something that is going on at home that is creating stress for the bird, such as a lot of fighting among the members of the household (maybe the owners are on the brink of a divorce), or the addition of a new pet or human family member. It could also be that the owner has moved the bird’s cage next to a window where it can see cats or crows outside, and that has it frightened.

Technically though, according to Jenkins, it’s not the stress that causes the bird to pluck its feathers but the day it figures out how to get rid of its anxiety. “The bird may have been stressed for quite some time and then one day, while it’s grooming, it pulls a feather too hard, which startles it, and then its adrenal glands fire off some epinephrine (adrenaline), and then suddenly the bird's anxiety goes away,” he theorized.

“Then another day, the bird does it again and its anxiety goes away, and then the same thing happens a

Answer 7

They do make a mess and they are actually intelligent. With most pet stores, by buying this bird that you feel sorry for, is going to provoke the store to stock more birds which will be in bad condition as that is generally how it seems to work. I think that it would be a better idea to get a bird from a proper breeder rather then get one where you know nothing of its past.

Answer 8

they are beautiful birds, I havn't heard that they are not smart, I think thats a lie because ALL birds are very smart. I would think that if you feel prepared to get the bird then you should, but maybe ask for a discount for the bird because it is not in the best condition. Maybe also you could go to the store a lot and see if you can spend some time with it before you buy it. Once I almost bought a cockatiel(later got parakeets instead) but I was able to handle it. So If your allowed to do that then go for it, it seems that you already want the bird already. Also the bird obviously needs a good home so why don't you be that one?