They are fast becoming one of the favorite  little  parrots to have as a pet  bird, there are lots of  reasons for that, they  have a sweet personalities, they 
are the perfect pet for people living in apartments,  they are  not very messy, are very  quiet bird,  they will learn to talk  and are very lovable and very playful.. 

If you own a Greencheek Conure, I would recommend you try to train him to drink from a water bottle. They love to take their food and dip it in the water bowl 
and your water dish will  look  like it contains soup in no time:>). They seem to just wait for a fresh water bowl and then immediately will put food in it. We
even have Greencheeks, that will take their pellets and try to stuff them in the small spout of the water bottle at times.

    One of the all time favorite things for a Greencheek to do is taking a bath. They simply delight in that. As soon as we put larger water bowls in the cages 
with our breeder birds, so they can bathe, they will dive in them, usually both  birds together and splash around like little children.  Our  breeder birds in the aviary 
want their baths  even if it is cold and delight  in getting themselves and their surroundings totally soaked. This is a daily ritual in our aviaries,  since we have a
watering system there  we  put out water bowls  for bathing and  take them  back up when they are through. 

    You can easily train you conure to take a shower with you, just make sure the water is not too hot for them and that they will not be in a draft when they
are wet. Also be very careful when washing dishes, so your Greencheek Conure does not dive in your hot dishpan.

    Green Cheeks in general love to eat fruits and vegetables, They are the only birds in our aviary that always empty their  fruit and veggie plates,  and before 
we had a watering system,  a lot of  the  veggies and fruits were  soaking in the water dishes. 

    They make very good pets for smaller children, our  Granddaughter got her first Greencheek when she was 5. She took the little one  with  her to school for 
show and tell and the bird  used to let  whole class handle him and play with him. It was a special need bird, that was given to her by another  breeder, it had an 
accident  very early in life, while it was  still in the nest box. When it passed away  our granddaughter  wrote a very  touching essay  for  a  national contest 
and won first prize.

   Children tend to be less frightened of a smaller bird  like a Green cheek Conure , because of the smaller beaks.  Greencheek  Conures have ( in  my opinion)
the undeserved  reputation, that they are nippy birds.  A lot of species  will get  nippy even if they have been  hand fed and  were tame at weaning, if  the 
owner does not socialize   with the bird and take it out and play wit it etc. i think the Greencheek  Conure  got the nippy  reputation,  because they seem to 
get unruly  faster than  some birds if not socialized with.  Even so we have some  breeder birds  that  do not have much socializing and stay  tame for a while, 
but on the whole  I found it to be true that   it takes less time for them to  get unruly.  That is  why it is better in most cases to buy a very  young, just weaned 
bird,  and  get it used to you, your schedules  and  your household. 

    Our advise to new bird owners is to play with the bird in the beginning about the  same time span per day, as you would have time for 
your bird later on.  Often people  get a new pet,  and the first few weeks, they give them constant attention and  than  just do not have that much time anymore 
and the bird will resent it.  But if he is used  to  just being taken out in the evening etc., that  that is all he has ever known and is happy   with  your routine and 
enjoys  extra  play time as a bonus, when  you  have the spare time, instead of pouting when  you do not  show him as much attention as he got  the first few 
weeks.

   As far as  speaking, the more patience you have with your birds and try to teach him, the  more he will learn.  I have a friend  whose Greencheek can say over 
50 words and phrases. They do not talk very loud, but  you can understand them.

   The  normal  green  colored Greencheek Conures  has some  beautiful  colors on them , deep  blue on the wing tips,  maroon  tail which they like to show off 
by flaring  it at times,  and  are very playful.  Swings  and  small foot toys are an absolute must have for every  Greencheek Conure.

   The reason they are called "normals"  nowadays is because   they  are now  being  bred in different  mutations. It  is hard to say which  is the "prettiest" mutation, 
to me  they are  all beautiful, and it depends on what  your  taste in  coloration is.

Some have muted  colors like the Cinnamon Greencheek Conure,  some have  much brighter  colors like the Yellowsided Greencheek and the Pineapple 
Greencheek and just recently  we have bred some turquoise Greencheek Conures and some  Turquoise Cinnamon Greencheek Conure.

       A lot of  people are getting  Mutation  breeding and hybrid breeding confused.  Mutation  breeding is simply  choosing birds  that  have a  different colored feathers,
but are from the same species.  There are some  mutations  in the wild also. 

    Hybrid  breeding is when  you take  2 species and mate them,  and you will get offspring that looks a little  like  each parent and therefore  will have different 
colorations also. For example  back in the 70ties people  bred Nandays  and a Sunconure and called them Nansuns.

      Hybrid breeding is  not looked on favorably  by  the bird breeding community and very few   breeder will  breed that way. A lot of  bird breeders will keep the 
species pure,  but will breed for different colors.