How to Care for a Nanday Conure

Nanday conures can be mischievous birds but they can also make great pets. Every bird is different just like people, but they are known to knock bowls over on purpose or even open their own cage doors! With proper care your nanday could live up to 30 years and be lots of fun its whole life.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Enclosure
• Substrate
• Three food and water cups
• Commercial pellets
• Fortified seed
• Fresh fruits and vegetables

1. Purchase or build the largest bird cage possible. The minimum requirements should be 20 by 20 by 30 inches tall, but larger is always better. The cage bars should be 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch apart.

2. Line the bottom of the cage with newspaper or corn cob to make cleaning easier.

3. Place three cups in the cage: one for non-chlorinated water, one for food and a third for treats.

4. Give your nanday conure a 70 percent to 30 percent mix of commercial pellets and fortified seeds. You should also feed fresh fruits and vegetables as a treat a few days of the week.

5. Change all of the food and water dishes as well as the substrate every day.

6. Clean the cage and all of its contents on a monthly basis with a dilute bleach concentration.

7. Furnish your conures cage with plenty of activities. Several bird toys to interact with and a few perches of varying make and size for the bird to hop around on will accomplish this task.

8. Devote at least three hours a day to spending time with your nanday conure. Your bird will crave your attention and needs this time every day to interact with you.

Tips & Warnings

• Think of your nanday conure as a child. You will need to devote a lot of time to it, and it will always be pushing its limits. The nanday is notorious for playing tricks and will do things like tipping bowls, taking down toys or opening doors just for fun.
• Do not feed your nanday any avocado, caffeine, alcohol or chocolate as these foods are very dangerous to your bird's health.
• Locate the cage away from direct sunlight and drafts because these extreme temperature fluctuations can be dangerous to your conure.
• Nanday conures have a very loud squawk and can be very annoying, so be sure you understand this going in, because you will have to put up with it for the next 30 years.

[ChetWomach]

on 2/14/2008 Be Sure to switch out all of your teflon pots for stainless steel or some other variety. If the teflon burns the vapors will kill a little Nanday.

Chet Womach
http://Birdtricks.com