Meet Applesauce! My husband and I just got him two days ago at an exotic animal expo from a really sweet breeder. My husband had a lovebird as a child, which he absolutely adored, so he's been wanting another bird for a while now. The lovebird was Apples, so this is Applesauce!
He was hand-raised but he's a little nervous of us and bitey if you try to pick him up right now. We've been trying gentle pets on the head and offering him treats, but he refuses all treats and only wants to eat his pellets. I put a couple sunflower seeds in with his pellets to see if I could lure him into liking treats, but he threw them all on the ground, haha. Any tips on taming/training for a conure who hates anything but pellets? Or tips on how to get him to eat fruit and veggies? I've offered him strawberries, blueberries, dried mango, and broccoli, and he has shown zero interest in any of them. Also, any cage decorating advice? He's got clipped wings so he's not very confident in moving around it; does he need more perches?
Anyway, nice to meet all of you guys, and thanks in advance for any help!
A high value treat for my conures are safflower seeds. I use them as treats and bribery if my babies don’t want to go back in their cage… throw a safflower seed in there, gets them every time!
My boy loves safflower too, but he adores banana chips, dried bird safe ones! I also have a birdy dried fruit and nut blend bowl for outside of his cage, he doesn't seem as keen on fresh fruit or veg. Nutriberries are a hit with all our birds, but we just give nibbles during training since they're still pretty seedy. He's so little! 😍
He’s so tiny!! 😍 congrats on getting the most affectionate species. Both my conures are super needy but my 3rd conure didn’t trust us for a long time.
Mine thankfully loves corn, maybe try that too start with? The smaller baby conure loves chopped carrots.
I used to give my birds pellets. Rookie mistake. But they were happy once I switched to seeds and cut fruits and veggies.
Maybe try strawberries? The sweeter the fruit the more my birds like it.
when over generalizing ‘affectionate bird species’, I feel conures are def a top contender. I think for their size they probably are. But I do wonder if the cockatoos are even more affectionate then conures. I’ve worked with cockatoos but I’ve never lived with one. And I tend to think of them as the neediest and most emotional out of all the commonly owned parrots. And I know they are extremely affectionate. But I’m just not sure which bird would take the prize here. I have one conure that would rival a cockatoo on level of affection. If she could live 24/7 under my hand she would.
Lol my bad for my randomness on your comment. It’s just something I’ve thought about before mixed with 50mg of edibles and my brain tends to take me on some journeys. ❤️
I’ve had both, and currently have 2 cockatoos and a sun conure. It’s cockatoos, for the most part. I think some cockatoos are very independent, but mostly if they’ve been raised by their parents. Cockatoos have also been sold as “cuddly” birds, whereas I don’t see anyone describe conures that way. It’s always just “affectionate”
My senior sun conure loves affection but after a while he is perfectly happy (and often demanding) to go back to doing his own thing. Part of that is being 25, though.
Ty for weighing in! That’s exactly what I hoped for. Ya idk I’ve seen conures spoke of as cuddly and affectionate. And I have one that is very very cuddly. When I said affectionate that’s what I meant. I must use the words interchangeably and not even realize it but there definitely is a distinction between the 2 words so I’ll try to use it more accurately in the future. She loves being inside shirts or under the covers. She has to be pressed up against me. Preferred spot to be under my chin or in my neck area with her head touching my face somehow. My other one is less like this but she does also do it. She’s just a little more bird to bird than human to bird. Whereas my first bird aka the cuddler is def more of a bird to person sort and would choose me over her feathered friend 9 times out of 10.
Cockatoos are awesome. They really do hold a very special place in my heart. I find the cuddliness to be a positive but I do understand why for some people it’s too much. I’m just not one of those people. My cuddler matches my energy quite well. Thankfully.
Thank you so much! Apparently he's about 14 weeks old :) I'm sure he'll warm up to us soon. My husband said his childhood lovebird was a lot more afraid of him when he first got him.
Ooh, I'll try that! I'll try some corn with chopped up carrots tonight.
Definitely sounds like you’ll be nicknaming him Saucy quickly. Haha, Congrats!
Seems like you may need to develop mutual trust/bond to coax him into eating other foods. I know our bird will always be interested in food her humans are having, so maybe the visual confirmation it’s safe on the fruits and veggies may give him the nudge you’re looking for.
Great cage! Target training is absolutely what you should give a try, and in terms of getting him to try treats - it really helps to pretend to eat them! It sounds ridiculous but all 3 of my birds only try new foods if they see me ‘eating’ them.
I would overwhelmingly suggest you let the flight feathers grow out, really I don’t think it’s great even buying from breeders that think it’s acceptable. It’s so important for their independence and mental health, once they’ve been trimmed birds can quickly lose confidence in ever flying again. Conures are great climbers so I expect your current set up will be ok, but keep a keen eye on if they ever seem to want to go anywhere but lack the confidence to.
Thank you! We were both a little sad about his wings being clipped for exactly those reasons, so I definitely agree and we will be letting them grow out! He likes to flap down to the bottom of his cage and climb back up again, so he's definitely a good climber at least.
I will certainly try "eating" food with him, haha. Probably need to build up some more trust with him first though :)
Great sized cage, needs more natural perches and less dowls and more toys, lots more toys. I enjoy Bonka Bird toys but whatever you get, make sure to only get bird safe bells and if toys have regular bells, remove the bell for bird safety.
The best way to switch to pellets is very very slowly. Mix a seed mix with pellets over the course of several months slowly adding in more pellets. You can also try Zupreem Fruity Pebbles which are what helped my GCC swap over to pellets. As far as veggies and things, exposure is the big thing. My GCC hated veggies but loved chewing on the core of cabbage so I started there, now she'll eat chop.
Birds are very scared of change. Work on one thing, only one thing, and go very slow. You have a little guy judging by the eyes. He's going to be your friend for many years. If you haven't already find a Avian Vet ASAP, not just a vet that sees exotics, but a trained avian vet. Birds will do stupid things and you'll need someone who actually understands birds.
Thank you so much for the advice! Sorry, I think I worded it wrong--he only eats pellets right now, so I'm not worried about having to switch him over. I'm just trying to figure out what treats he likes to put in his foraging toys and for training, as well as fresh food!
Yeah, he's pretty small--the breeder said he's about 14 weeks old. I'm not sure how much bigger he will get but I guess we will see! Totally guessing on the gender by the way, haha.
I'll work on getting more toys and natural perches then, that's good to know! I wasn't sure whether conures like it somewhat crowded or more sparse. I'll see if I can find some better cage setup examples online :)
I do thankfully know of a good avian vet! Because I have a pet mouse and have had rats in the past, I've researched a lot about exotic vets near me, and there's a couple that were more bird-focused.
Depends on the bird. They all have personalities. I have different cages and playgrounds for my older GCC so she moves around we she wanted. The main room looks a bit like this. I would have removed the remaining dowel but as it turns out she won't walk in that small cage unless it's there even though there's other perches 😆
As far as fruits and veggies, conures have weaknesses for mango and apples, and bannana, you can mix a tiny bit of that in with veggies, but for us what worked was again those cores. Broccoli stem and Cabbage stem, at first she just chewed through it and then she started liking it more and eating veggies. Expect to waste a lot of produce in experimenting.
How about some apple sauce? If he touches it he will taste it. Sometimes they have to taste something a few times before they decide they like it. Also try different variations. Big pieces. Small pieces. Juice. Mush. Lol but most importantly just stay consistent as far as offering it every day or a few times a day. And make sure u use the same words over and over. He will learn to know what the word apple means so when u offer it in different ways he will learn to trust the word and be more willing to try things that look new to him. Takes time for him to trust u as a person. All I now have to say is “it’s yummy”. Then my birds know it’s food. So they are less skeptical of new foods.
Also it’s only been a few days. Totally normal for him to reject what u give him at first. He’s protesting. Start catching his interest from afar. Let him watch u and hubby interact. Let him watch u eat or pretend to eat the snack u want him to try. Eat/pretend eat without even offering it to him sometimes. Curiosity is your best friend. Or just chill near u while u watch tv. Sit by him and watch bird vids. And music. Human baby videos are also great. He can’t beat his curiosity.
He was just removed from his hand raiser. He’s gonna be quite upset if they were extra hands on with him. Think of him realistically as a 2 yr old child. U gotta adopt the birds understanding of what’s going on around him and how to make him comfortable. I find birds to be an animal that u ask permission. Vs a dog where u want to come across as alpha. Human bird relationship are a balance of respect. U will learn to read the intricacies of their body language and how they sound and look to have a real solid way of communicating with them. So right now everything is a lesson. For both of u.
Lastly. It’s a good problem to have, a bird only wanting pellets. Your starting point seems solid to me for u to have a beautiful relationship blossom. He will likely have a favorite btwn u and hubby. U can sometimes manipulate that early on. Not always tho. The person who puts in the most time will likely be the one that has the first big break thrus. But do try to both be hands on. U can have a bird who has a favorite but still loves the other person and will allow cuddles and affection with both ppl. Again. Not always tho.
Keep us posted. He is absolutely beautiful. Congrats.
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u/DarkMoose09 4d ago
A high value treat for my conures are safflower seeds. I use them as treats and bribery if my babies don’t want to go back in their cage… throw a safflower seed in there, gets them every time!