Hey there, I am 17 years old and I adore animals. I live with just myself and my mother and I currently have 4 cats (soon to be more probably) 2 gerbils, and 2 goldfish. I look after my pets very well and make sure they are happy and healthy.

I have always loved birds and have always pictured myself having a parrot (such as a macaw) I have owned finches, budgies, and other small pasts in the distant past, but I haven’t had any for a while thus I will not get a large bird like a macaw. One that has really caught my eye is a Sun Conure. I think they are beautiful birds and would love to have one as a pet to commit my time to.

I will mention in a list-styled fashion what my concerns are:

-I am 17, very young and my life is just beginning. I don’t travel much but will likely travel every so often. Not to mention I may be starting university soon.

-I have 4 cats, obviously cats and birds don’t mix. My plan would mainly be to just make sure they are seperated at all times in the house but I am still concerned, should I be?

-Gerbils natural predators are birds, as far as I know, Sun Conures do not eat rodents, however they would still terrify my gerbils. Gerbils only live until around 4 years old so maybe once they are gone I will get my bird.

Besides what I listed, I cannot think of any reasons as to why I would not be ready. I will always commit my free time to looking after it and spending time with it, I will be sure it’s healthy, regular check ups, and so forth. Would like to hear some feed back. Am I ready?

I have bought a green-cheek conure(pineapple mutation) to handfeed it. I started to feed it Harrison’s formula with a specialized spoon from its 9 days old.
Around its 20 days old, it started to show regressed appetite for the formula. Even when its crop is completely empty, it only actively took in formula for the first 2-3ml. Every time I feed it with a spoon of formula, this little baby shows resistance to the next spoon of formula. After I fed it 4-5ml of formula, it becomes completely unwilling to take in any further formula regardless of the temperature or thickness of the formula.
Given its crop was far from full then, I had nothing to do but force it to take in another 3-4ml of formula in case it gets too hungry between two meals. This lasts for nearly ten days and I don’t want to force it to eat anymore because it may really hurts the baby conure or our relationship from the perspective of long-term.
Trust me, I have tried to feed it with a syringe and it didn’t work either. The baby conure still showed resistance to any further feeding after being fed with 4-5ml of formula. In addition, during the last week, I sparsely noticed any active eating behaviors from it after the first 2 spoons of formula.
If there is any similar problem you’ve ever experienced, please inform me with the solutions. Thank you so much!!!!