His Bite is Worse than his Bark!

By Laura Lewis

I received a call to surrender a sun conure who was in our system before and was adopted out for 18 months.

The wife said that she had to surrender him because he was screaming all the time and was getting aggressive towards her and her husband, but was attached to her young son. She wasn't willing to work with this little fellow and was pressured by the husband to get him out of there. So the husband brought him to my home and here was this bright little thing that had a high pitched screech. The husband was ready to leave almost immediately upon arriving at my house.

So here I am with this little guy and had to transfer him to his new cage full of toys and goodies. He got startled and flapped to the floor and I put my finger out for him to step up, which he did.......

But then he gave me a memorable hello. He bit my finger and then just looked at me. While blood was dripping everywhere ( I swear he has a worse bite than a cockatoo! ), I safely (at least him :-) ) got him to his new cage.

Chai was a loud, scared, very cage-territorial bird. I was not able to handle him for a good few weeks. Lots of talking and singing (poor guy :-) ) and accepting his terms. I had to use a perch to get Chai out of his cage and then we would quietly chat and walk around.

Chai is not your typical conure who likes to cuddle and be touched but somewhere along the way we fell madly in love. Chai is my bright and beautiful little one! He will give me wonderful kisses and rub noses like a Eskimo and has not bitten me since the first day. He has accepted me and I, him.

We have a very close relationship on his terms, with me pushing the limits on occasion. I can now touch his beak and can get him to step up from anywhere (except his sleeping hut ) within his cage. He is a dream and I could not imagine him not being there to let me know that something or someone dared come into his yard!

Chai will not allow anyone else to handle him and has learned to tolerate company. But his softly preening my eyebrows or trying to lengthen my eyelashes, and those oh so wonderful kisses has stolen my heart forever. Amazing how when you accept others limitations, what you get in return.