I’ve noticed that a lot of people describe their green cheek conures to be cuddly, affectionate “velcro birds” that bond closely to their humans. Kermit is not cuddly at all — he doesn’t like being touched, and he’s actually very independent. He tends to be hyperactive and always getting into trouble when I’m not watching. But most importantly, I don’t feel that strong connection people are describing. Kermit likes me and will fly to me sometimes, but I don’t feel like he is truly bonded with me. Why is he not like other green cheek conures? I feel like he’s not the bird I’d hoped for. I’ve seen many videos of conures rolling on their backs, playing eagerly with their people, delighting in scritches, and snuggling up to people.

Every bird is an individual, and quite a lot of them turn out to not be the bird that we hoped for. Some like to snuggle and play with humans and others don't. The videos that you see online are usually of the very best (or worst) birds, because it isn't very interesting to watch a video of a bird just sitting around looking at its human indifferently.

So just accept him for what he is, and look for ways to interact that suit his personality. He doesn't like to snuggle, but maybe he'd like to learn more tricks. This video shows some props for bird tricks that can give you some ideas, and if you look around you'll find more. You don't necessarily have to buy props, you can come up with your own ideas on what to do.

In my experience, the best way to get 'the bird that you hoped for' is to look for a bird that shows an interest in you while you're shopping or displays a charming personality in some other way. When you buy a bird because of its pretty color or because it's a species that you always wanted to have, you won't always get the personality that you were hoping for. But a bird that shows a fun personality at the store will usually turn out to have a fun personality when you take it home too.

I prefer cued tricks over prop tricks, but there’s only so many tricks you can teach. Kermit can wave, spin, lift his wings on command, flip over a perch, fly to me on command, and fetch. I REALLY want to teach him to play dead/roll over but like I said in my previous thread, he won’t let me handle him. I’ll try teaching him some more prop tricks though.

That makes a lot of sense. Before I got Kermit, I’d really wanted a green cheek conure and I thought almost all of them were cuddly and playful. When I went to pick one out at the breeder’s house, Kermit was skittish and didn’t step up for me. I thought once he was warmed up to me he’d have the same cuddly personality as any other conure. Ducky, on the other hand, was drawn to me from the start, and she turned out to be very cuddly.

Danny isn't an outgoing, social conure either. He's very guarded and not overly touchy, and I had him at 4 months old! I did his step ups, a few tricks, exposing him to household objects and touches all over and yet he still isn't a people bird. He'll still scream and panic when someone new comes in, or he sees something that frightens him. He can talk like nobody's business and is smarter than a whip, but being open and social isn't his thing.

maybe clicker training will help

I have not clicker trained Kermit. I have a clicker, but it’s too loud and I’m worried that it would scare my birds.

You can also do positive reinforcement training without the clicker. It's actually easier that way because you have one less thing that you need to hold in your hands.

That’s what I’ve been doing. Right now I’m just trying to get him comfortable with me touching him; I put my hand over his back and then give him a treat. He is doing really well lately and allowing me to put my hand over him, grab him and pick him up. For tricks he knows wave, wings, spin, flip, and fetch.