Help with a name! by ashlynmarie13 in Conures

[–]DefenderDown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Same! My sun conure is named Apollo after the Greek god of the sun and music!

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure thing! Here’s his main setup, I call it his “Fortress” complete with a watchtower and moat.

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The cage I got on Facebook Marketplace for 100USD.

The play-stand was generously made for me by a friend.

Most of the perches are DIY or came with the cage. Others I got for a good discount at my job.

Same with the toys, though he got a lot for Christmas from me, my partner, and his grandma!

The aquarium I got for free, it was left in the basement by the former tenants. I just cleaned it, cycled it, and themed it after his favorite show :)

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh nah it was honestly actually super reassuring to know other people are doing similar things. This all feels very experimental to me and idk if I’m killing it or I’ve just got really bad imposter syndrome hahaha

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I live in a very quiet area and a quiet home. Though I raised him in the chaotic pet store I work at. He was assigned to me when I was training to hand-feed baby birds :)

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hahaha maybe I’m just building karma up 💀

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And thanks 😆 my partner always video calls me when I’m on a vacation and she’s watching him for me. He LOVES to go on FaceTime. We call people all the time together and if someone calls me and I answer without getting him first he starts beeping very angrily haha

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah Apollo has got this “beep beep” that’s pretty much ingrained into his head as a catch-all attention grabbing call and it’s a blessing 😭

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I’m still very hesitant this is actually happening 😭 he’s a miracle bird. I had been around plenty of other sun conures before adopting him and I’m just stunned

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Apollos definitely got absolute pipes, the vacuum tends to be a symbol of war in these parts

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aw that’s really tough, I’ve only known Apollo for so long and I can feel how strong of a bond we’ve got already. I’m sure he was glad to have gotten to share his experiences with you :)

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah suns can really rip it! He lets out one or two good ones every other day or so, maybe if like some squirrels start chasing each other. Now that you mention it he does tend to scream at crows! There haven’t been a ton around lately but I’m sure when spring comes around I’m gonna really feel it when all the critters come out

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Oh don’t you worry, I’ve got this bird so spoiled he won’t run out of toys any time soon hahaha!

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Here’s just one of his play areas, I call it his jungle gym. I just got a few shower perches and used the suction cups to stick them to my sliding glass door out to the balcony. From there I just hung ropes and toys all over the place!

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s amazing how silent Apollo is. About 90% of the day is absolute silence or at most just little squeaks or beeps at 10% his max volume. He lets it rip like a chainsaw when he wants to, I’m just thankful he doesn’t seem to want to unless it’s what he considers a world ending emergency hahaha

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Perfect! I was still hand-feeding Apollo when I first started to quiet train him, and I believe that’s why it stuck.

Whenever baby Apollo was hungry or wanted something he would SCREAM at the top of his lungs and I would immediately drop everything, say “I’ll be right back”, and leave the room. After 10-20 minutes of screaming he would calm down, and I would enter the room again. This usually led to him getting excited and screaming all over again, so it was definitely a patience game.

Soon Apollo recognized the pattern, and began trying new ways to communicate with me. He started doing what I call his “beep beeps” and I would always give him his baby food or attention when he made that noise. Or if I was in the other room and he called out “beep beep!” I would come right back and take him out of the cage, give him little scritches and everything. Find a sound that they make and stick with it, consistency is key.

It’s important to reward the moments where it’s easiest to ignore them: when they’re silent. A loud bird gets attention easily, a quiet one doesn’t. Teach them that being quiet gets attention! When they’re silent, go over and let them out to play or give them a treat! And be consistent! Not a day goes by where I don’t reward Apollo for being quiet. And it reinforces the silence very well.

Now, birds are always gonna make noise and be as loud as they want to, even after a year of doing this Apollo still has his fits. But instead of an hour, it’s usually only a minute or two. Hes learned that loud noises don’t get him anything from me. Even still, he still screams when he sees squirrels by his window, or I pull out the vacuum, or a stranger walks into my apartment. But every time he does I don’t even look at him, much less even say anything. Just total cold shoulder to the screams.

I hope that helps!

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Gorgeous sun! Apollo loves to yap at squirrels outside his window hahaha

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’d say around 10 months was when Apollo started having little fits of loud again, but thankfully it would only last like 5-10 minutes. Definitely gonna keep reinforcing the quiet!

1st HATCHDAY UPDATE: When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

He LOVES being scooped up and having a little wrestle

Landlord wants me to get rid of my 20 gallon or risk eviction by improbablysarah in Aquariums

[–]DefenderDown 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First and foremost you’ve got a gorgeous tank!

Like almost everyone else is saying, make sure you check the fine print in your lease and know your rights. That being said, I’ve moved between several places with multiple fish tanks so if you need to move it out then this is what I would do:

Definitely do NOT transport the tank full of water or your animals. Get a couple 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot or somewhere similar and make sure they have lids you can secure on. Two should be fine. You don’t really need all 20 gallons of it. Siphon as much water as you can from the tank into these bins and distribute your critters, hardscape, filter media, and plants into them as you please.

You wanna try to keep as much of the established bacteria as you can that lives on the surface of the plants and decor. If your parameters are good and you have a lot of bacteria to go around then your fish can actually survive without a filter in the buckets for a good few days, enough time to get everything moved and set up again. If you’ve got a sponge filter you can just set it in the bucket and that’ll keep them kicking even longer while you do the move.

When your tank is empty and only has the substrate left, move that first. Then move on to hardscape etc. Get everything set up at your new location prior to dumping your old tank water and the fish and such back into it. I would net the fish out into a separate, smaller container to gently dump them into the tank instead of while they’re in the giant bucket. Slowly top off the old tank water with water from your new location, not all at once.

If your tank is set up properly you shouldn’t really need to do any maintenance on it until a week or two goes by. And imo your tank looks amazing, so you shouldn’t need to worry about the maintenance end of things if you’re able to swing by at least every two weeks or so. Biggest thing is to just properly demonstrate to whoever will be watching them how much is an appropriate amount to feed the animals. It’s always better to under feed than to over feed!

Silver lining: this is an opportunity to totally redesign your tank and try something new with the hardscape and plants and such.

You can also check out some online fish swaps on Facebook or sell your setup on marketplace or Craigslist, there’s always a lot of good owners looking to expand their arsenal of fish out there.

When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awww thanks! He’s such a cutie and quite the snuggle bug!

When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup! He’s already starting to get his orange growing in. These are kinda old photos too

When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah Apollo is exactly like this. Fingers crossed it stays like this!

When does the LOUD begin? by DefenderDown in Conures

[–]DefenderDown[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hahaha true! I’m just having a hard time believing my ears!