Sun Conure:

Sun Conure, aratinga solstitialis, are about 30 cm (12 inches) when adult size. Their weight will be between 110 and 130 grams and will achieve 90% of their adult size by 4 months of age. To most people, this is considered the most striking Conure of all the small conures. It's exceptional beauty consists of it's body being mainly yellow and orange-or a fiery shade of orange-red, with most of the yellow areas tinged with orange. It's head and under parts are fiery orange and the wings are yellow with the secondary partly green. Primaries are dark blue, and the tail is olive-green and blue towards the tip and outer webs of the feathers and bright yellow, merging into the rich red of the under parts. Their bill is black and they will normally have a white ring of bare skin around the eyes. (This can be a darker ring if they are in the direct sun a lot.) Immature birds will have extremely varying degrees of color.

Habitat:

The Sun inhabits Guinea and in northern Brazil.

Noise:

As with most conures, they can be quite loud especially if they are taught to use their voice to get attention from the family. But of course each individual can be different. I have seen many very quiet Suns. If kept in pairs, they can be much noisier. They will also learn to speak a few words, but are not well known for their talking ability.

Social Habits:

The Sun Conure is easy to teach tricks to, (and there are some excellent videos which can help you with this) and they love to lay on their back even in your hands. Be sure to start this when they are very young ( hopefully at about 8 weeks of age). They love to be held and yet they are extremely playful. The Sun's are an excellent family bird because they will tolerate the loudness of a family and the quick actions of children. Although young children must be watched with any bird. They love to play with toys and are ALWAYS happy to have new ones.  Keep in mind you should always rotate their toys and give them new toys frequently. Sun's love to be under covers and in a little house (A Happy Hut is a great treat for this little Conure) or what ever else you might provide for them to crawl in. They will love to climb in your clothes and will quickly run under your covers and go to bed with you (although this is very dangerous and highly recommended that you never fall asleep wit your bird.)

Cages:

Sun's are very playful and need a fairly roomy cage 18"x18" would be the smallest you would want to go, but a 24"x 20" would be even better. Of course bigger is always better so this means if you find a cage with appropriate bar spacing you can go as large as you would like. You would need a cage with no more then 3/4" bar spacing, but 5/8" would be even better. If you have a larger cage, you will have plenty of rrom to hang those toys, and a snuggle bed (a must for all conures). They do not chew a lot on a cage, but a power-coated cage would be an excellent recommendation (as with any bird) .

Diet Information:

The best diet for a Sun Conure would be pellets and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables (corn on the cob being a favorite). With a good pellet diet additional vitamins are not necessary except maybe spirulina. Spirulina will enhance the color, and make those glorious brilliant colors even more vibrant. There are a lot of mixes on the market today which will broadened a vegetable and fruit diet. Seed should be fed only in small portions by hand, maybe when doing trick training or "good-bird" offerings.  A must with any parrot is a water bottle system. This will provide fresh, clean water to your bird at all times, even when you aren't home for a couple of days.

Maturing:

Sun Conures will mature at about 2 years of age. Whether your Sun is a female or male, it will not make any difference in their pet quality. The sex can only be determine by blood sexing or by surgical sexing by a vet. Both Male and Females will make a delightful charming pets.

Breeding:

If you do pair up two Sun Conures, you will find that they will usually breed at about 2 plus years of age. They can only be sexed by Blood DNA sexing or surgically by a qualified vet. For their nest box, any cockatiel size nest box will work. Since they love to chew wood a ABS plastic nest box should be considered. Provide pine shavings, and eucalyptus in your next box. The female will usually lay 2-4 eggs in a clutch.  Incubation time is about 26 days, although they don't always sit on the eggs immediately. Commonly the first 1 or 2 clutches will not be fertile. Be sure to remember that they quite frequently will make terrible parents  especially the very first time around even when their eggs are fertile. But they usually make excellent parents once they have this routine down. They will often have 3 or more clutches a year, if feed a good diet with plenty of nutrition..