>   On november 25th I bought a sun conure cage and all supplies for 300.
> The bird was 6 months old at the time so it was definately young
>enough. The last few months have been extremely entertaining. While he
>does partially deserve his reputation for being loud he is also talking
>quite plain now. This is something that I was told probably wouldn't
>happen..at least not too quickly.
My first conure, a female Jenday, began talking at 4 months. They seem
to learn things that THEY can associate with some action or object--my
Rio first learned "Come here!" because I said that every time I picked
her up, which she wanted me to do. Just talk to yours like you would to
a small child, using the same words or phrases for each object or
situation. He'll pick up the ones he likes best.
>   My one question right now is does anyone have an idea on life
>expectancy? I don't particularly pay too much attention to the average
>numbers but would like to get some kind of an idea. Thanks for listening
>and any info anyone can provide.
The average for the jendays/suns seems to be between 25-30 years in most
of the literature I've read about them. My oldest bird, Rio, is going to
be 10 years old this coming October, and is still going strong. She
still happily plays with toys, fights with her mate over treats, and
raises 1 or 2 clutches of babies a year.
--Kathy
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