Our new baby

[ryanjury]

I got the pleasure of travelling back from Christchurch with Pepper he certainly loves humans and unless he was sleeping (which he did quite happily on the car headrests in the moving car) he was trying to climb all over us. It is good to hear he has settled in is he loving his mansion of a cage? Glad you have found some training info on how to get him to do some cool tricks.

[Caryl]

He is rarely in his cage :roll:

Settles in at night though so he can have a good sleep.

Haven't actually looked at how to train him yet :-?

[livingart]

one of ours sleeps in an empty wine cask

[Adrienne]

I thought I read somewhere they shouldn't have sunflower seeds :-?

I am not worried about over-eating, I am worried about Pepper not eating enough.

Unless Pepper starts to play games, it is not getting much exercise so far as doesn't seem interested. Happy to just perch on a shoulder all day long :roll:

(must be male :lol: )

You'll know he's a male when he sits on the tv remote control thats resting on the couch arm

[livingart]

and if it is a female it will perch on the phone or will be found in the kitchen

[bronze-dragon]

and if it is a female it will be found in the kitchen

haha you wish!

[livingart]

wishes are good to have

but reality bites

[Caryl]

So does Pepper :lol: (not too badly though)

I think Pepper is male as he keeps trying to get at my bra strap through my T shirt :lol:

Err, what's a kitchen?? :-? :roll: :lol:

[lmsmith]

Aw, I really wish I wasn't scared of flying things. I really love birds, but I don't think I could ever have one without freaking out every time it moved.

Pepper is very cute, and you're lucky he likes people. From what I understand, lots of birds are very shy around people when they're small.

[Jennifer]

The black sunflower seeds are not as bad as the white/grey seeds but they still are too high in fat and too low in Vitamin A so are the most common culprit of Vitamin A deficiency and obesity in parrots - I don't know why they put those in bird seed!! Would be great to get the seeds individually like safflower, milliet, red millet, niger and rape seeds - again though, seed should comprise only 10% of the diet after 20% quality bird pellets and 50% fresh food.

Anyway... as far as feeding fresh foods you are not likely to cause obesity that way (unless you feed high fat foods all the time) especially with smaller conures. Feed fresh foods freely, you will see that Pepper will only eat until his/her crop is full.

The 'bean mix' recipe is as follows:

Cook 1 kg of whole grains just until tender, not mushy (try wheat, barley and brown rice - use a different type for each batch to ensure variety). Cool and spread onto a baking sheet to dry slightly. Put in the freezer on the tray so taht the grains freeze separately, not in a big clump.

Cook 1 kg of beans following the same protocol as with the grains.

When the grains and beans are frozen, scrape them off and add them to a large bowl and add 2 kg of frozen watties vegetables (any variety, or you can make your own combination - again use variety for each batch if possible)

Also add to the frozen mixture a couple of cups of chopped fresh greens (save all of your vegetable stems, they are great for this).

Add a cup of chopped fresh or frozen fruit (use variety for each batch) but avoid watery fruits like apples, and grapes, avoid pips of any kind and they can have toxins.

You can also add a handful of treats like pasta, nuts, wheat germ, bread,cheese, mealworms, cooked meat, etc. depending on the bird's preference.

Mix all ingredients well and freeze in an airtight container.

Each day, scoop out about a half cup of the mixture (for a bird Pepper's size) and feed when it has thawed a bit.

Wash the bowl and clean the cage paper each evening to prevent rotting food.

[Caryl]

Thanks for that but what sort of beans are you referring to? Pardon my ignorance :oops:

You mean he should be eating half a cup of food per day?

My local shop does have those seeds separately bagged.

He won't get any fat or sugar here as we are a Weight Watcher's household

[Jennifer]

Any kind of dried beans are just fine. This may seem a bit fiddly but you will soon get the hang of it. Also, you may enjoy feeding him part of your daily meals instead. Yes, he will eat up to a half cup. You may want to build up to it slowly as he may not realise the mix is food - try sprinkling seed on it so he begins to associate it as good to eat. After a while, he will be waiting eagerly for the fresh food over anything else!

[Caryl]

Thanks, I will give it a go. At the moment I am feeding him what we eat, plus he has the seed mix the shop gave us, but he is not eating anywhere near half a cup of anything!

[Jennifer]

A half cup is approximately a day's worth of food.

[Caryl]

Forgot to ask also, what paper are you referring to? I have paper lining the base, so I can replace it easily but we were also given a bag of shredded paper. Are supposed to be putting that in the bottom for it to play with or something?

So many questions but we want to get it right. I think we are but are just panicking a bit :-? :roll:

[Ira]

I don't think shredded paper is very good, they'll tend to eat a lot more of it if they can reach it. And it's easier just to lay a couple sheets of newspaper on the tray under the cage then roll it up than clean up a pile of shredded paper.

[Jennifer]

No. Shredded paper is not ideal for a few reasons:

1. you cannot observe the dropppings (a daily must)

2. it is so messy you are unlikely to change it daily leading to rotting food and deadly mold

3. shredded bedding can be very dusty, not good for avian respiration.

What I used to do for my house parrots is take a newspaper and open it up, then trace the cage tray so that I had a stack of papers that fit in there perfectly. Each evening I would just pull up the top layer of paper and debris and place the food cups in the dishwasher. Easy peasy!

Aim to clean the cage once a month, at least by rinsing it with hot water as this will remove any dust and caked on food.

Also, if your cage has a floor grate, just remove it. It is too difficult to keep clean and with daily paper changes there is no problem with the bird accessing food from the floor.

[Caryl]

Thanks for that. So much for my helpful starter kit items :-? It also has a large bag of grit in it but I read grit is a no-no as well :roll:

Daily observation of poo is not difficult as it is usually on my shoulder, head, or back, not the cage :lol:

[Jennifer]

LOL

No, don't ever feed grit to parrots. Their sharp beak is perfectly adequate for grinding up food.

Grit can cause impactions in the proventriculus - not good at all.

You should add a cuttle bone to the cage, although with a complete diet, Pepper may not eat it.

[Caryl]

He's got cuttlebone 8)

[Jennifer]

He's got cuttlebone 8)

With your diligence, he just might live 30 years!

[Caryl]

I hope he lives a long happy life. I cried today when I cleaned out Bud's cage and packed away his toys

At the moment we are new parents worried we are doing it wrong. Conures are different to budgies :-? (one of the reasons we got it, as it wouldn't remind us of Bud so much. Couldn't get another budgie)

[phoenix44]

yeah, i have a major bone to pick with those starter kits. gah! :lol: bane of the bird world. mirror toys should be banned for birds.

[Jennifer]

yeah, i have a major bone to pick with those starter kits. gah! :lol: bane of the bird world. mirror toys should be banned for birds.

+1

Can we say 'psychotic obsession?' :roll:

[Caryl]

None of the toys in the pack have mirrors on them so that won't be a problem. We didn't get anything mirrored for Bud either as we knew that wasn't good.

I have just been to the supermarket and got some brown rice, red kidney beans, haricot beans and cashew nuts so will make up the recipe tonight. I already had the other ingredients.