How to Care for a Sun Conure

The sun conure is known for its vivid coloring of yellows, green, blue and orange. They make beautiful pets and can live up to 30 years if cared for properly. They crave your attention and can be very vocal birds.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bird cage
• Substrate
• Three food dishes
• Bathing dish
• Spray bottle
• Bird seed
• Fresh vegetables
• Perches
• Bird toys

1. Purchase a bird cage that is at least 20 by 20 by 30 inches and the bars should be one half to three quarters of an inch apart. Buy a cage with horizontal bars which allows the conure to climb the sides of the cage.

2. Place three bowls in the cage. One bowl should be for water, one for seed and one for treats like fresh vegetables and fruits.

3. Cover the bottom of the cage with an easily cleaned and affordable substrate like newspaper or corn cob.

4. Change out the substrate, water and food daily. Clean the entire cage as well as any toys and perches once a week. Clean them with a diluted bleach mix.

5. Situate the cage in an area of your home away from temperature fluctuations caused by drafts and direct sunlight.

6. Feed your conure a regular diet of fortified seed or commercial pellet. Augment the diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables as well.

7. Give your bird a large dish in the bottom of the cage to bathe in. You should also mist them with room temperature water from a spray bottle daily or as much as they like and you have time for.

8. Add several perches of varying type and size into the cage. Also add plenty of wooden chew toys to help keep your bird entertained.

Tips & Warnings

• Spend lots of time with your bird. This is a very social bird and you will need to give it a lot of attention for it to live a happy healthy life.
• You can teach your sun conure tricks with enough practice.
• Be sure you provide plenty of entertainment, in the form of toys and perches, for your conure as they are very inquisitive and will need a lot of stimulation.
• Thoroughly rinse away any bleach residue when cleaning the cage; the fumes could kill your bird.
• Do not feed your bird avocado, alcohol, caffeine, chocolate, iceberg lettuce or cabbage as these can all harm your conure's health.
• Keep the birds cage away from your kitchen because Teflon pans can put off fumes that may kill your bird.