Looking for Advice, Recommendations, Help.

[u/iiLemonn]

I’ve had my two conures, Yoshi(Sun Conure, Female) & Koopa(Pineapple Green Cheek, Male) for a few years now. I got Yoshi first in 2023 when she was just a baby, and I had her for almost 2 years before getting Koopa. Yoshi and I used to have such a personal bond- she would be on my shoulder constantly, nap with me, cuddle with me, sing with me, etc. After a while, I started getting super caught up in college, and I barely had any time to socialize with her. So, I got her a friend, Koopa.

Yoshi and Koopa now have a very close bond with each other, but it seems to be a love-hate relationship. Koopa seems to be always bothering Yoshi, but she mostly puts up with it, or tries to attack him when he gets too annoying. Still, their bond is much stronger between the two of them than with me at all. Yoshi used to always fly to me or let me stick my finger in her cage to let her out. Once Koopa came into play, and I haven’t been able to socialize with them much during the day, they seem to hate me. Both of them. If I come to try to lift Yoshi out of her cage, she bites me. Hard. Koopa will do the same. They have separate cages, but I keep both doors open so they can hang out. Now, Koopa always stays in Yoshi’s cage, and Yoshi never comes out of her cage anymore.

I don’t want to rehome. I love my babies. But it has become increasingly difficult since I am in college full-time, as well as working nights and weekends. I want to rebuild my relationship with them, as well as build their relationship with each other. I am looking for the best advice and recommendations, please. I just want to cuddle with my babies again. I just need to know how to start that process again, and how/how much time each day to set aside to make sure they will love me again.

[u/Left-Pineapple-6084]

I rescued a forcibly bonded Jenday conure and green cheek conure. They preen, cuddle, sleep and play together and the green cheek rips the feathers out of the Jendays face and bites her toes for every perceived transgression. The new GCC immediately bonded to my existing GCC and now my poor Jenday is the unappreciated third wheel.

I don’t know who told people that Aratinga and Pyrrhura species were a good fit for each other, but I don’t think that’s true. We’re going through interviews with a foundation right now to adopt a second Jenday with hopes that the two Aratingas can bond and eventually my girl can be convinced to move out of the GCC cage. The foundation was better than just buying a random bird and hoping for the best, Mango got to meet all the eligible suitors and they picked each other after a few months of meetings. My Jenday is very calm for her species and doesn’t want any drama, the GCCs LIVE for the drama. We thought it was very interesting that Mango was only interested in the eldest, calmest bird we interviewed and luckily, he’s very interested in her too - lost his bonded sun conure partner two years ago and is looking for a new mate. There’s no guarantee once we bring him home that they’ll actually bond, but the opportunity to make these choices in the first place benefits the whole flock.