Conures make delightful pets!... because they are so affectionate and comical!

The conure is a remarkable bird, popular because of their beauty and intelligence. They are easily tamed and very social, quite active and they love to learn tricks. Most conures can learn a few words though their voices are high pitched and so what they are saying is often unclear. They are hardy birds that rarely get sick.

   The conures form a very large and diverse group of parrots. Many conures belong in the genus Aratinga. In this genus, there is some disagreement among ornithologists as to the number of species and subspecies, it ranges between 15 to 21 species and 55 to 57 subspecies. In the genus Brotogeris there are 7 species and 15 subspecies. The genus Enicognathus has two species, the Slender-bill Conure and the Astral Conure. The genus Cyanoliseus has the Patagonia Conure and its' three subspecies. Lastly, in the genus Pyrrhura, there are 18 species and 37 subspecies. There are two endangered conures at present, the Queen of Bavaria or Golden Conure, Aratinga guarouba from northern Brazil and the Blue-throated Conure, Pyrrhura cruentata.

Description:
   Conures come in many sizes. They are small to medium size parrots, ranging from the large Patagonian conure that gets up to about 20 inches down to the painted variety that is about 9 inches. Colors range from lush greens to brilliant yellow, reds and oranges, and into the whites and browns. They have slender bodies with tapered graduated tails. Some varieties have short tails that become narrow at the tip, while others have long, slender tails. They have broad heavy beaks of black or light horn color and a fairly broad cere at the base of the beak. Almost all have a clearly defined eye ring, with the females generally having a somewhat narrower ring than the males They have a harsh screech, though for some conures this may temper with time or as they become comfortable in their surroundings.
  The sex of most conures is difficult to determine by physical characteristics alone even if you are an experienced breeder. In some birds sex can be determined by iris coloring, with females having red while males have black, and in several birds sexes can be distinguished by differences in the coloration of their plumage. Pelvic bones may be closer on a male than a female. The sex on all others must be determined by either a surgical probe, endoscopy, which can be done by many veterinarians or by a DNA testing, usually a blood sample or a few plucked feathers sent to be diagnosed in a lab.

Distribution:
   The conure parrots natural habitats range from Mexico and Central America to the Caribbean Islands and South America. Many of the wild species are becoming scarce and some are on the brink of extinction.

Care and feeding:
   The personal hygiene of your conure includes a morning bath to keep their plumage glossy and beautiful. Use either a flat earthenware dish that your bird can step into and use it's beak to throw water on itself, or spray your bird with a light mist of lukewarm water. It may very well open it's wings up to get a complete bath if you use the spraying method. There will be a lot of preening after it's bath! This is where your conure will reach with it's beak down to the oil gland at the end of it's body, using the oil to lubricate it's feathers and end up with a beautiful sheen.
   The wings should be kept trim if you want to discourage flight and to prevent the loss of your pet through an open window or door. Conures generally maintain their nails and beaks pretty well on their own through climbing and chewing. There are many mineral blocks, lava blocks, and other beak grooming items available at your pet store to help your bird keep it's beak in shape. However both the nails and the beak should be trimmed if they get overgrown.
   Conures are much more sedentary in captivity than in the wild so their diet should be somewhat restricted. In the wild they feed mainly on grass seeds, nuts, berries, fruits, flowers, buds, insects and grains. A conure's diet consisting of a good seed mixture mix supplemented with various fruits, green foods, millet spray, and occasionally some mealworms is generally regarded as suitable. A cuttlebone, or gravel and oyster shell in a separate dish should be provided. Vitamins can be added to the drinking water or the food. Some of the supplemental foods include apples, grapes, many garden vegetables such as spinach, watercress, field lettuce, poppy, chickweed, dandelions, carrots, corn on the cob, peas, endive, and sweet potatoes, peanuts, monkey chow, and even dog food. Do not feed avocado as it is toxic to birds! Additional proteins can be offered such as cottage cheese, hardboiled eggs, peanuts, monkey chow, and even dog food. Fresh water should be provided daily.

Housing:
   A cage best suited for a conure must be large enough so that the bird's head does not touch the top, it's tail does not touch the bottom, and it has enough room for unrestricted movements. For a small size conure, a minimum of 24"x16"x20" (60 x 40 x 50 cm), and for the larger species, a minimum of 44"x26"x40" (120 x 65 x 100 cm). This will provide room for both horizontal exercise and vertical climbing. Provide two Perches, sized between 3/4" to 1" (2 - 2.5 cm). Place one up high for roosting and one low by the food, water, and gravel dishes. Natural perches from willow, poplar and fruit trees are good for the bird's feet and for it's beak. The gnawing it will do on the perches will also alleviate your pet's boredom. Place the cage where it will be away from harmful fumes and drafts. To provide you pet with a sense of security, you can cover the cage at night.
   An indoor aviary is a cage set up in a room. A bird room is an inside aviary with sand or corn cob covering a tiled floor. An outdoor or breeding aviary needs to have a protected shelter that can be heated and cooled where necessary. The ideal size of an aviary is a length which is 10 times the length of the bird and a width and height of 6' (2m).

Maintenance:
   The basic cage care includes daily cleaning of the water and food dishes. Weekly you should wash all the perches and dirty toys. The floor should be lined with newspaper and changed daily, or covered with an absorbent bedding such as corn cobs or pine shavings and changed weekly. A total hosing down and disinfecting of an aviary should be done yearly, replacing anything that needs to be freshened, such as old dishes, toys and perches.

Social Behaviors:
   Conures are very friendly, peaceful birds. They live in flocks in the wild, and very seldom fight each other. It is this disposition that makes many of them very easy to finger train in just a few weeks in captivity.

Handling/Training:
   Always handle your pet conure gently. If a person is a afraid of a bird, the bird can sense this and it can make it impossible to develop a relationship. Never hit your bird or you will loose it's trust, probably forever.
   To train you pet, the first thing you should do is have it's wings clipped. A bathroom is a good area for working with your conure to train it. Be sure to cover the mirrors, have the windows closed and covered and the door closed. Place the conure on a perch. If it insists on flying off, pick it up and replace it on the perch until it becomes use to the perch and is comfortable with it. The next step is to take a second perch and gently push into your pet's chest to encourage it to step up on it. Sometimes offering a treat to coax it up on the perch as it reaches for the treat will help. Once it steps up without hesitation, you can then substitute your finger for the perch. If your conure tries to bite, you can blow on it and it will soon learn to behave. Always reward good behavior and each success with loving praise and a treat. Some treats are a cracker, fruit such as a piece of grape, or a nut. These are very bright birds and love learning tricks. Some of the tricks you can teach it to do are to play dead, lay on it's back, and even pick up objects and bring them to you. Your conure can also learn to talk with patience and persistence.

Activities:
   Conures need a great deal of exercise, and all conures are chewers. They must have distractions to keep them from becoming bored and lonely. Gnawing and climbing are great activities for this. They will generally chew up anything wooden! Natural perches and fresh twigs from willow, elder, poplar, and hawthorn work well. Other great toys include bells, ropes, swings, untreated leather, chew toys and ladders. They love mirrors and shiny unbreakable objects. Exercise and play are important activities for the physical well being and psychological health of your conure, but remember, they also need 10 - 12 hours of rest per day.

Breeding/Reproduction:
   Conures are fairly easy to breed. They must first adapt themselves to their environment before they will breed. Once they do breed, however, they will continue to breed year after year. Due to the destruction of their natural habitats, all conures shall ideally be breed in captivity to insure continuation of each species. Smaller conure species are ready to breed at 2 years and the larger at 3 1/2 to 4 years.
   They will need a nest box placed up high that is filled 2/3's full with pine shavings, peat, or other soft materials. Metal nesting boxes are nice as conures will often chew wooden ones. Pyrrhura and Aratinga can use a nesting box that is 12"x12"x12" (30 x 30 x 30 cm). Humidity is best at between 50 - 55%.
After mating, the female will spend a lot of time in the box. When she starts laying, she will lay an egg about every other day until she has laid between 3 to 8 eggs. She will brood for 27days. The young will leave the nest when they are about 50 days old.

Potential Medical Problems:
  

Conures are very hardy birds. In fact, they are so disease resistant that during the times of commercial avian importation, conures were often accused of being disease carriers. There are plenty of stories where an illness would strike all the amazons and pionus that were in a quarantine facility and leave the conures alone or at least relatively unharmed.  In almost all of these cases, this was due to the conures' resistance to the disease, not their carrying of it. Kept under optimal conditions and fed a balanced diet, they are remarkably resistant to disease. As with all parrots, signs of illness to be aware of are ruffled plumage, resting often with their head tucked under their wing or rump, not eating, discharge from the nostrils or mouth, cloudy eyes, loose watery droppings, weight loss (chest bone starts sticking out), large water intake, labored breathing, opening and closing it's mouth, listlessness, perhaps sitting on the bottom of the cage, stops talking, and growths around the beak.

Behavioral feather picking is frequently observed in conures; it often starts as the birds reach their sexual maturity, and then becomes habitual.  Naked chests are common with conures.

Bacterial infections are commonly seen, probably due to the inquisitive nature of most conures. Cultures are important in detecting and selecting the proper treatment.

Pacheco's disease, a systemic herpes infection that can be rapidly fatal in susceptible birds is frequently carried by asymptomatic conures. There has been a recommendation that breeding colonies of conures be kept separate from other species, and that extreme caution be used when introducing a new conure into an existing population of birds. Testing is available through your vet, though sadly not yet routinely done.

Polyoma virus is also thought to be carried by conures, though this has not yet been proven but yet another reason to use caution in introducing a conure into a new environment and another argument for good veterinary review of all new birds.

Psittacine Wasting Syndrome ( Macaw wasting syndrome), has also been described in conures, though very infrequently. This is believed to be a viral disease, yet it has not been conclusively proven and research continues on this disease.

Though no more prone than other Psittacines, conures are susceptible to Chlamydiosis.  As well as being difficult to diagnose, Chlamydial infections can occur without symptoms and spread rapidly if conditions are right.

Some of the other common illnesses your conure could contract are Aspergillosis - respiratory infection, Candidiasis, cold and sinus inflammations, diarrhea, egg binding, egg pecking, eye infections, frostbite, goiter or thyroid gland enlargement, mites, psittacosis, Salmonella, worms. Any ailing parrot should be taken to an avian veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment.