Squash came to us unexpectedly at the age of 4 years. I’d known her through work & was in desperate need of a new home approx 2 year previous to me taking her in. At work all I knew about her was how beautiful she looks but how terribly noisy she was. She drove everyone mad with her screams & she’d always become extremely excited when she was approached by someone. I thought nothing more of this until I received a phone call through work asking if I would take her in. I didn’t hesitate to YES! But once it sunk in I panicked. Squash is a sun conure. Sun conures are known to be screamers. I already had 2 beautiful & quiet birds in my house, what have I done?
She was to arrive in approx 2 weeks from the phone call. Then it was shortened to 1 week. I didn’t have to get anything for her, she came with all her property, but we did get ourselves parrots prepared for her arrival. I had a person on standby just in case further down the track it didn’t work with us, I knew it would work with this other person. I heard her before the car pulled all the way in the driveway. Oh dear......that’s loud. I was excited & terrified of her arrival. She was my first adopted bird & a screamer. This isn’t something I am familiar or experienced with at all.
Squash came from a wonderful loving home but the previous owners weren’t able to give her the time she demanded. Her original name was Mr Cranky until she laid an egg, then she became Mrs Cranky. She was tame but quite nippy. She seemed desperate to get our approval of her & our attention but she bit every time we attempted to have her step up. She was also cage territorial & hated men. As I got to know her my confidence in re training her grew. She only appeared to be a screamer through lack of attention & this was something I was very confident in curbing. My birds spend a large amount of time playing on their gyms & with their toys. I gave her a few days to settle in the house & she was very pleasant through this time.
I was scared of that beak though. I jumped every time she bit me but after a few bites I realized she was all bark & no bite! Her bites weren’t felt at all. This gave me more confidence & determination to curb these nasty behaviours.
She clung to me like glue, this was wonderful, or so I thought...She refused to have anything at all to do with Dave. Poor Dave couldn’t breath without Squash screaming at him. Squash was named by Dave. He didn’t like her previous name. Over the next couple of months I would jokingly tell everyone her name is Squash for one of two reasons. For the colour of her & the vegetable squash or because that’s what’s going to happen to her! Over this period she was also nick named cling on or velcro bird. Squash would live on my shoulder if I let her & her demand for the shoulder needed to be stopped.
I built her a play gym out of white eucalyptus. This gave her the opportunity to hack away happily at her stand & not have it destroyed within a day. I bought her loads of different toys & over time learnt that her favourite toys were chewable, paper, bark, round balls with bells in them. Most of her toys were given to the other parrots & she kept her chewable toys. I even spent $15 on a specific conure foot toy only to have Squash demolish it within minutes! So i wanted easy to replace toys & non destructible. I found one. Her favourite toy is a colourful thick rubber cat ball with a bell in it. She loves to rip into it & to this day it is still in one piece.
Squash took to Cricket my weero instantly but she hated Eddie my Eclectus.
Since my work takes me away from home for 2 or 3 days at a time I saw this as a good opportunity for Dave & Squash to get to know each other. Before going off to work I put Squash in her cage in the bird room & gave Dave strict instructions that if she attacks him for attempting to bring her out, to leave her alone. I figured since I wasn’t around for Squash & she was always desperate to come out of her cage then she would give in after several attempts of letting her out. She didn’t hesitate to lash out at Dave the first time he tried to have her step up on him & come out, so he walked out of the room & shut the door behind him. He returned about 10 minutes later & she was more than eager to leave her cage & she stepped up on Dave's finger without a single bite or threat!! From then on she’s accepted Dave & expects to get equal time with him as well as me.
After about 4 months she began to really relax, explore her stand & play. Her screaming was now down to a dull roar & it was time to tackle her cage aggression. By this time I’d done endless research on sun conures behaviours, screams & cage aggression. All the time I’m continually reading “once a screamer always a screamer” or “they’re sun conures, it’s just what they do”. I only came up with one option to beat her cage aggression & if this didn’t work I was back to square one. I started opening Squash’s cage up & instead of putting my hand in their for her to step up, I encouraged her to come to the edge of the cage & to my hand. It took a few attempts before she got the idea of what she’s supposed to do. I still do this now & see it as having a little respect for her space. After doing this for a long enough period her cage aggression disappeared completely. When I do place my hand in her cage on a rare occasion I move slowly so I don’t startle her. Now if she is definite about not coming out of her cage, instead of biting or screaming, she will gently grab your finger & push it away. When she does this I know she means it.
Squash’s play gym was another matter. She showed no aggression on it but would do all sorts of acrobatics to avoid stepping up on our finger. It looked very funny but it did start to become a nuisance when she had to go to her cage if we were leaving the house. I started to use a stick & pressed it against her chest with my hand below her to prevent her from doing her acrobatics. This worked & she would always step up. During this time we also discovered Squash knows the words “step up” & 90% of the time she did on command.
After about 6 months Squash became a non screamer & non biter permanently. Of course she does still scream but only if she’s dobbing in one of the other birds for doing something they shouldn’t be doing, or if someone is pulling in the driveway. New nick names: dobber & guard dog. By this time her wings also grew back enough for her to be able to fly. We always had intensions of keeping her clipped. I didn’t want to lose her but Dave & I discussed this & noticed that Squash’s screams ceased when she began to fly. She was no longer dependant on lifts around the house. She & Cricket occasionally shared their gyms with one another. She was able to join us on the swing in the kitchen or on the lounge & fly straight back when she had enough. These are the only places she would ever venture to in the whole house so we didn’t see this as a problem.
Squash is now 5 1/2 years old & nick named Little Squishels. She knows the meaning of “going to work” & “going to the shops”, she occasionally will protest when I say going to work. She knows “you’ll go to bed”, she behaves when she’s reminded of this. She knows “breakfast, lunch, dinner time”, these are very exciting times for her! She likes to go to bed when Cricket is ready for bed. She’s learnt to be patient 90% of the time & she has learnt not to be a cling on!
Squash really loves neck scratches but every now & then 1/2 way through a scratch she’ll suddenly turn on us & snap without a warning. Perhaps over more time this is something that will gradually disappear. Squash is eager to please & gets excited over the littlest things. She makes odd little ‘barking’ noises when she’s content. She can say a very croaky hello, she imitates coughing & she learns good things form my other birds. She still dobs them in when they’re doing something wrong.
16 April 2009
Today Squash is the quietest bird in the house. She is a very calm & peaceful girl. She has no behaviours & doesn't care about the otehr birds in the house.
Squash came from a wonderful loving home but the previous owners weren’t able to give her the time she demanded. Her original name was Mr Cranky until she laid an egg, then she became Mrs Cranky. She was tame but quite nippy. She seemed desperate to get our approval of her & our attention but she bit every time we attempted to have her step up. She was also cage territorial & hated men. As I got to know her my confidence in re training her grew. She only appeared to be a screamer through lack of attention & this was something I was very confident in curbing. My birds spend a large amount of time playing on their gyms & with their toys. I gave her a few days to settle in the house & she was very pleasant through this time.
I was scared of that beak though. I jumped every time she bit me but after a few bites I realized she was all bark & no bite! Her bites weren’t felt at all. This gave me more confidence & determination to curb these nasty behaviours.
She clung to me like glue, this was wonderful, or so I thought...She refused to have anything at all to do with Dave. Poor Dave couldn’t breath without Squash screaming at him. Squash was named by Dave. He didn’t like her previous name. Over the next couple of months I would jokingly tell everyone her name is Squash for one of two reasons. For the colour of her & the vegetable squash or because that’s what’s going to happen to her! Over this period she was also nick named cling on or velcro bird. Squash would live on my shoulder if I let her & her demand for the shoulder needed to be stopped.
I built her a play gym out of white eucalyptus. This gave her the opportunity to hack away happily at her stand & not have it destroyed within a day. I bought her loads of different toys & over time learnt that her favourite toys were chewable, paper, bark, round balls with bells in them. Most of her toys were given to the other parrots & she kept her chewable toys. I even spent $15 on a specific conure foot toy only to have Squash demolish it within minutes! So i wanted easy to replace toys & non destructible. I found one. Her favourite toy is a colourful thick rubber cat ball with a bell in it. She loves to rip into it & to this day it is still in one piece.
Squash took to Cricket my weero instantly but she hated Eddie my Eclectus.
Since my work takes me away from home for 2 or 3 days at a time I saw this as a good opportunity for Dave & Squash to get to know each other. Before going off to work I put Squash in her cage in the bird room & gave Dave strict instructions that if she attacks him for attempting to bring her out, to leave her alone. I figured since I wasn’t around for Squash & she was always desperate to come out of her cage then she would give in after several attempts of letting her out. She didn’t hesitate to lash out at Dave the first time he tried to have her step up on him & come out, so he walked out of the room & shut the door behind him. He returned about 10 minutes later & she was more than eager to leave her cage & she stepped up on Dave's finger without a single bite or threat!! From then on she’s accepted Dave & expects to get equal time with him as well as me.
After about 4 months she began to really relax, explore her stand & play. Her screaming was now down to a dull roar & it was time to tackle her cage aggression. By this time I’d done endless research on sun conures behaviours, screams & cage aggression. All the time I’m continually reading “once a screamer always a screamer” or “they’re sun conures, it’s just what they do”. I only came up with one option to beat her cage aggression & if this didn’t work I was back to square one. I started opening Squash’s cage up & instead of putting my hand in their for her to step up, I encouraged her to come to the edge of the cage & to my hand. It took a few attempts before she got the idea of what she’s supposed to do. I still do this now & see it as having a little respect for her space. After doing this for a long enough period her cage aggression disappeared completely. When I do place my hand in her cage on a rare occasion I move slowly so I don’t startle her. Now if she is definite about not coming out of her cage, instead of biting or screaming, she will gently grab your finger & push it away. When she does this I know she means it.
Squash’s play gym was another matter. She showed no aggression on it but would do all sorts of acrobatics to avoid stepping up on our finger. It looked very funny but it did start to become a nuisance when she had to go to her cage if we were leaving the house. I started to use a stick & pressed it against her chest with my hand below her to prevent her from doing her acrobatics. This worked & she would always step up. During this time we also discovered Squash knows the words “step up” & 90% of the time she did on command.
After about 6 months Squash became a non screamer & non biter permanently. Of course she does still scream but only if she’s dobbing in one of the other birds for doing something they shouldn’t be doing, or if someone is pulling in the driveway. New nick names: dobber & guard dog. By this time her wings also grew back enough for her to be able to fly. We always had intensions of keeping her clipped. I didn’t want to lose her but Dave & I discussed this & noticed that Squash’s screams ceased when she began to fly. She was no longer dependant on lifts around the house. She & Cricket occasionally shared their gyms with one another. She was able to join us on the swing in the kitchen or on the lounge & fly straight back when she had enough. These are the only places she would ever venture to in the whole house so we didn’t see this as a problem.
Squash is now 5 1/2 years old & nick named Little Squishels. She knows the meaning of “going to work” & “going to the shops”, she occasionally will protest when I say going to work. She knows “you’ll go to bed”, she behaves when she’s reminded of this. She knows “breakfast, lunch, dinner time”, these are very exciting times for her! She likes to go to bed when Cricket is ready for bed. She’s learnt to be patient 90% of the time & she has learnt not to be a cling on!
Squash really loves neck scratches but every now & then 1/2 way through a scratch she’ll suddenly turn on us & snap without a warning. Perhaps over more time this is something that will gradually disappear. Squash is eager to please & gets excited over the littlest things. She makes odd little ‘barking’ noises when she’s content. She can say a very croaky hello, she imitates coughing & she learns good things form my other birds. She still dobs them in when they’re doing something wrong.
16 April 2009
Today Squash is the quietest bird in the house. She is a very calm & peaceful girl. She has no behaviours & doesn't care about the otehr birds in the house.
Dave & Squash today, best mates
Squash