Green Cheek Conures

I'm the first to admit that I'm a huge sucker when it comes to cute animals like birds and bunnies and puppies and, well, you get the idea. Snakes, lizards, and spiders, not so much. But you throw a mini parrot in front of my face and chances are good that I'm going to go "Awwww!" and eventually buy it. Because, as I stated earlier, I am a sucker. My latest act of suckeritude? A green cheek conure. I saw one of these little guys at my local Petco and was instantly hooked. You see, he didn't just sit innocently on his perch, as so often birds do. He climbed down to where I was and he bobbed. Furiously. Bobbed! Up and down! Repeatedly. It was, needless to say, adorable. I pulled myself away from the little guy and went home to sleep on the idea. In the morning I still thought he was awesome and went back to buy him. Yes, I impulse purchased a bird. Because that's just the kind of girl I am. So now I'm the proud mother of a lutino cockatiel (Chauncy) that I've been too lazy to teach to whistle cool stuff (which was the whole reason I bought him in the first place. Oh, and to love.) and a little green cheek conure who likes to lick my fingers and climb like a monkey all over his cage.

This newest addition to Rachie's Private Zoo is named Jiles, after The Big Bopper. 'Cause he bops. Get it? Get it?! Honestly, though, I wouldn't have named him Jiles if I didn't think it was an awesomely stodgy name that fits perfectly with a super-stodgy name like Chauncy. Chauncy and Jiles... They hate each other. Mostly they can sit like nice boys on their matching play gyms, but every so often (okay, only twice) Jiles gets a hankering for some cockatiel feather and goes and rips him out a beakful of Chauncy's. A little antagonistic, yes, but when you see him all snuggled up in his Happy Hut (see image), you can't help but melt a little. He also croaks like a little frog and you can teach him to do tricks. Right now, though, I'm just trying to teach him to step up onto my finger consistently and not to bite great chunks of flesh out of my hands. Is that so much to ask? Wait, that doesn't help recommend green cheek conures... Okay, here are some things that I like about Jiles:

• He's surprisingly quiet. I've only heard him go into full-blown sqwak mode about four times in two weeks, and even those were instigated by the big, scary orange garbage can. Otherwise, it's just little frog croaks.
• He likes to be petted (unlike Chauncy). Jiles will let you snuggle him up a bit and scratch him anywhere you like.
• He's a quick study. Homeboy went from not having any idea that you were even supposed to step up on a finger to stepping up like a champ in three days. Of course I went through a lot of bites and swearing and frustration during that time, but really it probably only took him about four non-consecutive hours of training to turn him from a baby bird with ZERO training (he wouldn't even step up on a stick if you put it in front of him and gently pushed him with it) to a nice baby bird who almost always steps up and rarely bites.
• He holds food with his foot!
• It hurts like $@%! when he really bites, but I bet it's a fraction of how bad it would hurt if you got bitten by a larger conure or a macaw. Great for people with a low pain tolerance!

So, do I recommend green cheek conures? Yes. But not for children because one good bite would really hurt their small fingers. Get them a cockatiel or parakeet, which have much smaller beaks. But if you're an adult and you'd like to have a parrot, but don't want the noise or mess of a big parrot, go grab yourself a green cheek conure. Big fun in a tiny package.