Know before you bring one home
Meet the Sun Conure.
Possibly the most beautiful parrot most people will ever see in a shop, and one of the loudest for its size. Sun conures are affectionate and easy to care for — the volume is the only real question, and it is a big one.
How they change
Juvenile to adult plumage.
A sun conure’s colour develops over the first one to two years. A duller young bird is not a different or lesser bird — and it needs exactly the same care.
Young bird
Predominantly green with limited yellow and orange.
Transition plumage
Yellow and orange increase while some juvenile green remains.
Mature bird
Predominantly yellow-orange with green and blue wing accents.
Jenday or sun conure? These two are routinely confused and sometimes sold as one another. The reliable field mark is the back: a sun conure’s back and shoulders are golden-yellow, with green confined to the wings, while a jenday keeps a solidly green back, mantle and wings above an orange-red breast. Check the back before you buy.
Daily life
Personality, housing & routine.
A safe enclosure is the starting point, not the bird’s entire world.
Personality
Affectionate, energetic, comedic and intensely social. Sun conures love physical contact and will bond closely, often to one person, becoming jealous of others if only one person handles them.
Cage size & type
Minimum 90 × 75 × 110 cm, larger preferred. Bar spacing 15–20 mm, with horizontal bars for climbing.
Perches, toys & setup
Natural branch perches (15–25 mm), shreddable toys, foraging puzzles, daily destructible wood and a bathing dish. Avoid fabric huts and loose-thread rope toys, which trap toes and tongues.
Time & social needs
3–4 hours out of the cage daily with company. An ignored sun conure screams for attention, and it works, which makes it very hard to undo.
Exercise & enrichment
Foraging toys, shreddable materials, puzzle feeders and trick training. Reward quiet deliberately; never answer a scream with attention of any kind.
Noise & neighbours
This is the deciding factor. A sun conure's contact call is sharp, repetitive and clearly audible several houses away — physically uncomfortable indoors at close range. It is normal species behaviour and cannot be trained away. Unsuitable for flats, townhouses, shared walls or noise-restricted estates.
Sleep
Provide 10–12 hours of quiet, uninterrupted darkness on a predictable schedule. Sleep-deprived parrots become irritable, scream more and are more likely to pluck.
Household safety
PTFE and non-stick fumes — pans, air fryers, self-cleaning ovens, some heaters and hair dryers — kill birds within minutes and are the most common preventable household death. Never house a bird in or near the kitchen. Also keep away from scented candles, incense, air fresheners, aerosols, cleaning sprays, pesticides, cigarette and vape smoke, ceiling fans, open water, hot pots, open windows and doors, electrical cables, toxic houseplants, and zinc or lead sources such as galvanised wire, costume jewellery and old paint. A cat scratch or bite is a medical emergency — cat saliva carries Pasteurella, which is usually fatal without immediate antibiotics.
Behaviour & warning signs
Expect one-person bonding and jealous nipping unless every household member handles and trains the bird from the start. Pinned eyes, a fanned tail and a stiff forward lean come before a bite. Sun conures also chew persistently and need daily wood.
Important: Use positive reinforcement only. Never hit, shout at, squirt, drop or “beak-flick” a bird for biting or vocalising — punishment reliably makes both worse. Parrots are prey animals: they hide illness and they bite because a warning signal was missed, not out of spite. Learn your bird’s body language and the biting mostly stops.
Nutrition
Build health in the bowl.
A seed-only diet is the most common cause of premature death in pet parrots. Every species below needs a formulated base, daily fresh vegetables and measured portions — change any diet gradually, with an avian vet’s guidance.
What to feed
- A complete pellet as the foundation, converted gradually.
- Fresh vegetables and leafy greens daily, with orange and dark green vegetables for vitamin A.
- Small measured portions of fruit — sun conures will otherwise eat fruit and nothing else.
- Cooked legumes and whole grains.
- Seeds and nut pieces strictly as training rewards.
- A cuttlebone and clean fresh water daily.
AVI Plus Complete Diet MaintenanceComplete formulated maintenance food.
Nature’s Nest Avian CompleteVet-formulated complete daily nutrition.
What NOT to feed
NEVER SHARE FOOD FROM YOUR MOUTH OR PLATE
- Avocado — every part of the plant, including guacamole.
- Chocolate and cocoa.
- Caffeine, alcohol and xylitol (sugar-free sweetener).
- Onion, garlic, chives and leeks.
- Fruit pips and stones: apple, pear, cherry, apricot, peach and plum.
- Raw or dried beans — all legumes must be thoroughly cooked.
- Rhubarb leaves.
- Salty, sugary, fried or processed human food.
- Dairy in more than a trace — birds cannot digest lactose.
- Mouldy or fermenting food, including fruit left in the bowl.
- Anything from your mouth, plate or fork — human saliva carries bacteria that kill birds.
- Grit. Parrots husk their own seed and grit can cause fatal impaction.
- Human medicines or supplements unless prescribed by an avian vet.
Sun Conure-specific: Chop and mix everything finely so the bird cannot sort out only the sweet items. Vitamin A deficiency is common in conures fed seed-heavy diets and shows up as recurring sinus and respiratory infections. Portions, hygiene and change: Measure food rather than filling a bowl to the brim, and weigh your bird weekly on a gram scale — appetite is a poor guide, weight is not. Remove fresh food after two to three hours in warm weather; bacteria in a warm bowl cause more illness than most owners realise. Wash bowls daily in hot soapy water. Change any diet gradually over several weeks under an avian vet’s guidance — a bird that stops eating during a rushed pellet conversion can die in 48 hours.
Health & veterinary care
Birds hide illness. Act early.
Watch for feather picking, obesity, proventricular dilatation disease, vitamin A deficiency and, rarely, conure bleeding syndrome.
Recommended specialist
Bryanston Avian, Exotic & Small Animals Clinic
99 Grosvenor Road, Bryanston, Johannesburg
011 706 1381 · WhatsApp 061 533 9950
info@baesac.co.za · baesac.co.za
Arrange an avian-vet examination within the first week after purchase, and weigh your bird weekly on a gram scale. Not every vet treats birds — find your nearest avian-experienced practice before you need one, and save the number.
Seek avian-vet help urgently for:
- Difficulty or open-mouth breathing
- Pronounced tail bobbing at rest
- Fluffed, quiet and sitting on the cage floor
- Collapse or severe weakness
- Bleeding that does not stop, including a broken blood feather
- Seizures or loss of balance
- Repeated vomiting or regurgitation
- Not eating, or noticeable weight loss
- Straining, a swollen abdomen, or a hen unable to pass an egg
- Sudden major change in droppings
- Any contact with a cat or dog, even a minor scratch
- Suspected poisoning, fumes or trauma
- Recurrent sneezing, nasal discharge or swollen eyes — often vitamin A related
Before you buy
Ask the seller for the hatch date, the closed ring number, a DNA sex certificate and any disease screening already done. A seller who cannot answer those questions, or who will not let you watch the bird eat, is a seller to walk away from. Ask what the bird is currently eating, so you can keep it stable for the first fortnight.
Your first month
Book a wellness examination in the first week, not just when something looks wrong. Quarantine a new bird for 30–45 days away from any birds you already keep, ideally in separate air space. Recommended screening: psittacine beak and feather disease (PBFD), psittacosis (Chlamydia psittaci), polyomavirus and avian bornavirus.
Ongoing & human health
Annual check-ups, moving to twice yearly for larger species over ten. Wing clipping is not routine care — discuss it first, because flight builds fitness, balance and confidence. Psittacosis passes to people as a flu-like illness or pneumonia: if you develop unexplained respiratory symptoms, tell your doctor you keep birds.
Is this your bird?
Who this species suits.
Being honest about this before you buy is the kindest thing you can do for a parrot.
First-time owners
Easy to care for, so a reasonable first parrot on paper — but only in a home where the noise genuinely is not a problem.
Experienced owners
A delightful, affectionate companion for an owner in a detached home.
Families & children
Good for families in detached homes, children roughly eight and up. Everyone must handle the bird or it will choose one person and resent the rest.
Whatever your experience: buy from a seller who lets you meet the bird, answers questions about diet and hatch date, and takes the bird back if things go wrong. Ask about adoption too — rescues and sanctuaries are full of the species on this list, and an adult bird’s temperament is already known.
The commitment
Can you provide a good life?
“A happy bird isn’t just loved — it is understood, fed properly, kept safe and cared for every single day.”
I have listened to a recording of a sun conure screaming and I can live with it.
My home is detached, or my neighbours genuinely do not mind.
Everyone in my household will handle and train this bird.
I am buying a captive-bred bird with paperwork — wild sun conures are endangered.
If several answers are “No”, this is not the right bird for you — and walking away is a good outcome, not a failure.
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