Hey Chucho... Chucho loco

by Jay
(New York City)

With this chant my Green-cheek conure sure goes crazy playing and jumping from brach to branch. Even though he/she is no human I can tell by his actions he is very happy to see us.

He was born this season 2010 and he is about seven month old. We keep him in the foyer where the foyer, the livingroom and hallway meets wich is a good location as there will always be interaction and when it comes time to sleep we just shut the light in the foyer and it gets dark for him to sleep. When it comes time to sleep, chucho climbs up the bars to the top righthand front side of the cage above the water bowl so I had to ad a perch there for his comfort it seems to me that he goes up there cuz that's the closest that he can get to us, I also have to buy a water bowl that attaches to the bars so I can change the location cuz his current location is right above the built-in-cage bowl. I bought a tent for him but he stays outside looking at it and only when one of us is there is the only time that he will try to go inside.

I let him out for a half hour only but not every single day and at different times that way he wont get spoiled and also wont screech. I like it when he bites but I wont let him so I pull my finger away and say "no bite" even though is cute now when he matures that cute bite wont be so cute then.


I want to have chucho out all the time but that's a mistake that people make when getting an unmature bird and it is the reason people get screaming birds or mutation. prevention is way easier than retraining and whatever your bird knows now is what he is going to know when matures. I have known people that make that mistake and after the novelty wears off they come to believe that is the bird's fault and end up punishing the poor bird. I don't like it when people let their bird go free because the bird is noisy or missbehave, that's how we get ferral birds and our exotic birds wont be exotic anymore and becomes pests like the Quakers in Brooklin or the cherry fronted conures in San Fransisco or the beebees in florida or the Rock pigeon in every major city. Even the small common house mice was an exotic pet a few hundred years ago and look at it now, would you adopt one? for free? I don't think so.
Chucho's home is his cage and when he's allowed out is to the playtop on the top of his cage and not the livingroom, kitchen or bedroom. The other room he can go is the shower room with company to take a bath and even then I just place a small plate with water on the bottom of the cage.

Don't spoil your bird and you will be rewarded, you can interact thru the bars, you can hold your bird and cuddle so he wont loose his affection for humans just please don't over do it.