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| ok, I have had my Sun Conure for about 3 weeks now, and at the start he was sweet and playful, but only wanted to sit on my shoulder. He seems now to only want to be handled by my boyfriend, because everytime I handle him he just tries to bite me. The strange thing is I am with him more often. We took him to the vet to be checked out and our vet said to start training him now before he hits puberty or he will become out of control. She said no sitting on the shoulder, don't pay attention to him if he is screaming( which we knew), but he is starting to scream and bite everytime I handle him. An he is starting to scream in general. I want to train him, but not sure how this is my first bird. He is only 4 months old, so he is still a baby, I do work 8 hours a day, but I leave the tv on, he has lots of toys in his cage, he has a very large cage so he doesn't fell confined. Just not sure what to do.
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| Hi I hope that you see this post, I was disappointed that nobody responded to your request for some input. I have bred and raised in well excess of 2500 Sun Conures in the 25 years I have been around birds. This behavior can be stopped and controled. First of all, stop with the TV or the bird will become a screamer that you'll never rehabilitate. Instead go to Radio Shack and get an out-going answering machine tape. Record on a regular tape recorder a word or short phrase you want the bird to learn and then when you leave during the day, leave the tape going in the stereo, then every 10 or 20 seconds the bird will be comforted by your voice and they will try to mimic it. Once the bird learns that word or phrase, record a new one. Now onto the biting. You have to grit your teeth and bare it for maybe a couple more bites to get the bird to stop this behavior. Get the bird up on your hand and cover one of his feet with your thumb. When the bird gets ready to reach down and bite you then quickly but gently drop your hand down 6 to 7 inches. This will cause the bird's head to bob down and up, stopping him from his intended bite. If you continue to do this while having him on your finger will discourage his biting. Now I totally agree with your vet about putting the bird on your shoulder. Once a bird is on your shoulder they are in control, you can't see them well enough to stop an on coming bite and you can't get them up on your hand unless you are directly looking the bird into the eye. Sun Conures are very smart and can be the best pet in the world but you really need to work with them to get the behaviors out of them you want. If I can be of any further help. please feel free to contact me. 
I love my baby birds!
Lee
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