Meeko the Green Cheek Conure needs a good home.

Here in the Tampa Bay Area FL, I have a ~2.5 year-old GCC that needs to go to a better home. My job now requires me to work shift-work, unexpected mandatory overtime, and weekend 12-hr shifts. To boil it down, he is getting almost no attention in my house, which breaks my heart. He is a great little bird who would be perfect for anyone looking to have a fun little buddy.

I got him from a breeder (almost two years ago) who assured me he was hand-tame, ate fresh fruits and vegetables, and loved toys. None of that was true. But, after lots of clicker training, he is now hand-tame, loves certain toys, and can even do tricks like "turn around", " "tap/kiss", and "wave", but we're still working on the fresh food.

He is on a full pellet diet which consists of 80% Harrison's adult lifetime in fine, 10% Rowdybush is small, and 10% Zupreem in small/medium. For toys, he likes the bird kabobs best, pop-sickle sticks (those are his snuggle/bed-time buddies), anything with tissue paper in it, and some jingly plastic balls with bells in them.

Meeko is a talkative little guy. He constantly honks and makes little sounds while he's sitting on his playstands. He also likes to dance. Every morning, I wake him up and he comes out of the cage, dancing to a little good morning song. He'll also dance to certain music. Once, I found him swaying to "my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard..." and he likes classical. He loves baths, takes one every other day in a large, square Tupperware. He also LOVES juice (100% natural juice, of course). If he sees you drinking juice, he will dance and bob to show you he wants some. His favorites are apple and orange with pulp.

Meeko likes to "save" you from the running water of a faucet by flying over to you and yelling to tell you to beware. He isn't the cuddliest guy - he prefers to be near, not on, although he'll stay on your shoulder (or head) while you walk around. Beware if you have neck-freckles, though - he will try to groom them off of you. He likes to rub his face on your forehead (nerve-wracking because you never know when he'll STRIKE, lol) and likes to nibble on my glasses. He doesn't really like getting scritches (and will painfully communicate that with you), so he has lots of pin feathers on his head and neck. I think he needs a (kind, gentle) bird-buddy to help him with those.

He is comfortable with bigger animals - he came from a place with two Scotty-dogs and I have a large cat. If the cat gets too close, Meeko tries to bite him to say "stay away". It works out because the cat will flee when he sees the bird in close proximity.

I would really love for someone with experience with birds (and hopefully with GCCs) and maybe even another bird to be Meeko's new family. He has a ton of toys, play stands, and accessories to bring with him to his new house, along with his cage. I am committed to finding him not just a new home, but the right one.