Crimson bellied conures are surely one of the  exceptional beautiful conures. Their strinking colors are simply amazing.  Handling one make us to appreciate how really nice this species is.  Handfed, flighted and well socialized crimsons are exceptional sweet, calm and quiet.  They are also very gentle and extremely playful.

Crimson bellied conures (Pyrrhura perlata perlata) have been breeding in Europe for many decades.  But they are fairly new to the U.S aviculture.  Only a limited number of crimson bellied conures were first imported to the U.S by Rick Jordan & Richard Cusick.

Crimson belly conures were first imported by Rick Jordan in 1998 under the supervision of the Fish and Wildlife Service.  However, crimson bellied conures are still very rare in the U.S aviculture, not many breeders or even pet shops have known about them.  Therefore, it is hard to find a mature breeding crimson bellied conure pair for sale but only young pairs are available.  

They are native to jungles of Eastern Bolivia and Western Brazil.  Its natural habitats are tropical rainforests.  Crimson bellied parakeet in the wild live in small groups or pairs.  They fly high in the forest canopy.  They eat flowers, fruits, seeds, nuts.... Here are some links of CBs photos.  Please click Back botton to get back to our site.

Crimson-bellied Parakeet - Pyrrhura perlata 

Crimson bellied conures on flower trees

- Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso, Brazil - Jun, 2006

A close up picture of crimon bellied conure

 Length: 9.5 inches 

Weight: 2.8 oz. (79 grams)

Average Lifespan: 20 years

Crimson bellied conure is about 9" to 10" long, just about 1" shorter tail than a green cheek conure but it has a much stockier body.  Their beak and irises are black.  There are a white skinlike ring circle around their irises.  They also have ligh gray to black feet. Their head is primary grey color with scalloped forming around their neck.  Their back is mostly green.  They have marron upper tail but solid black color under tail. There are yelowish patch and blue patch on its cheek

 and face.  some blue patches are on its hindneck. 

Crimson belly conure has a striking solid red on their abdomens like a

red flightsuit.  Reddish color also develops under its wings and shoulders making them exceptional beautiful and gorgeous birds especially when they are flapping their wings and in a close up.  Its cheeks and primary wing feathers convert from bueish-green to blue make it a stunning little gem. 

      Young crimson belly conures look more like a normal green cheek conure just a little bit stockier.  That is why we see the term "crimson bellied green cheek conure.  Baby CBs are mostly green except for maroon tails and bright crimson underneath its wings.They develop its whole scarlet red belly right below their scallopped neck when they are about 6 months.

Like green cheek conures, they mumble afew " quiet" words.  When they talk, their voices are soft and they make a very cute sound.  

 They are not a good talking specie of birds.

We feed our birds  with:

1. Seed mix: We mix Higgin Sunburst Medium and Higgins Autralian Diets plus millet spray, hemp seed...
2. Pellets: small conure mixed pellets of Pretty Bird, Roudybush & Zupreem Fruitblend... 
3.  Fozen veggies: We also give them frozen mixed veggies ( corn, brocoli, green bean...) - Just microvave in a bowl with water, grain and serve them warm.
4.  Fresh veggies are what they like the most: fresh corn, brocoli, green bean, green and red pepper, carrots...
5. Fruits: apple, orange, grape, blue berries, mango, star fruit...
6. Others: They also like boiled eggs  & canary egg foods.
7. Basically every food that is good for you is best for a bird
8. Fresh, clean water bowls
9. Some breeders give their birds extra supplements.  We don't.  However, we only give them some cuttlebone or calcium for our breeding pairs after their breeding season.

It is really hard to get a crimson belly conure eating pellets. But we always leave a lot of food options for them and slowly switch to feed them with a pellet base.

We keep separate bowls for each kind of food.  Pellets, egg food, crushed nuts and corn ( sell at Latino market)... in one bowl.  Fruits & veggies in one, mixed seed in another one and finally a large bowl of fresh and clean water.

Food that is poisonous to birds

Do not feed your birds fruit seeds, chocolate, avocados, alcohol or caffeine as these can cause serious medical problems

Avoid food: lettuce, cheese, potato...

They have personality similar to black capped conures but are less aggressive and much more curious and playful. 

They are smart

Crimson belly conures are smart and spunky.  They are inquisite nature, small bird with personality of  a big bird.  They  also  learn tricks quickly and rerspond to your command well.

They are always very easy going and strong bond with each other.  We

always see them perching side by side mutual preening  each other.  Keeping them as pair is probably the best thing to make them happy.

They love toys

Crimson bellies love all toys giving to them.   They especially love wooden toys with swings and small bells.  They pretend to attack the toys and that make them happy.  They enjoy shredding so newpapers and fresh tree branches are things they love the most.

You shoud give them small toys

Acrylic toys

wooden toys

swing toys

leather toys

small perch toys

They are very curious

Crimson belly conure loves to check out what going on around them.  They are attention getters.  Our crimsons call us loudly to get attention

  They are extremely high energy, fast moving and flying fast back & forth in an aviary. 

Due to their extremely active birds,  you need to be careful when you feed them.  You should install a safe door to prevent a crimson belly conure escaped.

They also love to bath

They bathe several times a day as soon as they see a water bowl they scoop in like a duck.  We change their water several times a day ( moring, noon and evening) to keep it fresh and clean

 The benefits of bathing often make its feathers smooth and shining.

They are social birds

Crimson bellied are noisy social animals.  It is the best to keep them in pair.  They are quickly keep each other occupied and entertained.

• Crimson belly conures and green cheek conures have very similar look.  Our friends come over and they all think what a beautiful mutation green cheek conures.  Some breeders even call their CB as" crimson bellied green cheek conure". 

The differences set them apart are:  Crimson bellied conures have a

stunning solid red, they are also much louder.  Their voices are a half volume of a sun conure's but without a shrieking voice.  Our green cheek pairs are the quietest in our aviary.  We rarely hear their voices unless there is a hawk circling around.

The CB conures seem much friendlier than GC conures.  They are easy going like a young sun conure.  However, they are much more teritorial and aggressive when they are in and around their cage.  To prevent this aggressiveness,  you should socialize your birds at an ealiest age and place their playgym in a neutral place that is away from their cage.  This way keeps them sweet and easy going.

Most crimson bellied owners keep them as pair.  That is one of a reason which makes them more aggressive.  They try to bite any intruders coming close to their "lovers".  If you have two CBs,  you should play with both of them everyday, then they are sweet and wonderful pets.

Crimson bellied conures seem more prone to feathers plucking than green cheek conures.  We have been breeding GC conures since 2001.  We just don't see they pluck at all.  In the other hands, CB conures seem pluck their feathers a lot.  we think it may pluck because of their intensed breeding, leading to stress them out.  Black capped conures seem much similar to CB conures in personality, breeding habits and behavior aggressiveness and plucking problems.

Crimson belly conures are extremely active.  Therefore, they need a big cage to roam and a lot of perches for them to chew and fly to. 

We recommend a parrot cage at least 24"x22"x 30" with a playtop or separate playgym is a must.  A larger cage is best for them because they are able to make short flights.

cage bar size should be 1/2" to 3/4".  Horizontal bars are the best as a bird can climb up and down much easier.

We recommend some economy HQ cages like models HQ flight cage

32"x23"x60"

 Perches prevent their tails being damaged by hanging and dragging on a wiremesh of their cage.  Perches should small enough to fit to their feet.  Be sure to provide them a lot of fresh branches to chew that make them active, strong and healthy.

you should set up your bird cage in a living room a dinning room.  The cage should be close to a wall in a well lit area but not direct from window or sunlight. 

 It also needs away from fan, draft free area.

Crimson bellies are one of the most beautiful Pyrrhuras due to their stunning crimson colored  plumage.  However, juvenile crimson belly conure has a dull color similar to a normal green cheek conure.  After 5 to 6 months, the reddish colors start to develop on chest and underwing.  The conversion to all red fully develops when a bird is around 1 year old. 

Crimson Bellied Conures are members of Pyhurra Conure family which are one of the quietest conure species.  Although crimson belly conures are considered "quiet birds",  They do make a lot of noise, as frequent noise as sun conures make, but just half the volume. That is their nature to communicate with others.  They do not shriek and not loud enough to be a problem.  However,  They are easy to get exciting like sun conures but half of the noisy level.  If you have a sensitive neighbor,  keeping them outside can be a problem.

Like sun conures, they are exciting when we go to their aviaries but quickly quiet down when we are actually there.

Both male and female look the same.  Surgical or DNA tests are the best ways to determine their sex.

Like other conures, crimson bellied love sleeping in their Happy Hut or a nest box.  They feel safe and comfortable there so as soon as, We turn off the lights, they quickly huddle up together and move to their hut.

 At night, they also stay tight in their net and do not make any sound.  Unlike our african grey parrots, they whistle and call each other throughout a night.  If we turn on our patio lights,  our greys call us loud for attention.

Sometimes we house the pairs inside.  We cover their cages at night and turn on a nightlight.

Like a black capped conure, crimson bellied conures do pluck their feathers.  We have seen many ads with plucked CB conures.  A pair which we purchased, have also plucked.  We think that pair is being overbred and housed inside for years. 

 We house them in an outside aviary with different perches.  We also give the pair extra calcium and time to  rest.  We  can see their over feathers grow back and getting much better.

Most of the time, a crimson pair is side by side preening each other. 

Unfortunately, they do attack each other by chasing or bitting the other tail. Larger a cage and plenty of perches can solve this problem.

We also think stress and housing in a small cage are the factors make them plucked.  Relaxed environment is the best for a bird to be happy.

 They are absolutely wonderful pet quality.  They are for someone who knows how to take care of a bird and understand their behaviors.

Here are pros & cons

Pros:
 very rare, exceptional beautiful birds
 handfed & early socialized & gentle handlings are exceptional sweet, playful and curious birds
 Fairly quite
It is best to keep them as pair

Cons:
prone to feather picking if not socialized, stress or illness

Often mess their tails up due to climbing & dragging on a cage bar.

Crimson belly conures are matured and ready to breed at 2 years old.  Usually, their eggs are not fertile in its first clutch, but  they learn to take care of their young well after a couple of clutches. 

 Privacy is a must for a pair to breed.  Do not disturb them, even slight disturbances often result in eggs cracking or they dig the nest materials, bury their eggs or kill babies.

Crimson bellies produce 2 clutches a year.  All depend where you house them.  It is best to house them in a quiet, less trafic areas of your aviary.

  Their babies are exceptional sweet and not near as nippy as the green cheeks. 

 All in all, They seem breed well in captivity.  However,  due to their limited numbers, choosing a different bloodlines are important to avoid inbreeding them.

 If you intend to breed CBs, you should get a DNA or surgical sexed for your pair.  They are very easy to bond with each other even you put them together from purchasing from different breeders.  They soon have a very tight bond. However, they do attack each other mostly during a breeding season.  Larger cage & plenty of perches gives them space to get away from an aggressive mate and prevent injured.

We use cockatiel size's nestbox for them 10"x10" or boot style nestbox 10"x16"x16".  They love to sleep in the box at night even off the breeding season.  Like green cheek conures, they lay a clutch of 4-6 eggs.  The incubation lasts 24-26 days.

They start breeding during winter here in South Florida.

They mate thoughout the day and early evening.  At this time, they are more territorial and aggressive.  They squabble more often even in their nestbox.  Male feeds female often at this time.  When we feed them, We notice that the female is not out and we know she will lay soon.  She usually does all the egg sitting.  Like the green cheek conure, she stays tight in the nest until her young are about 2 weeks old.  Both parents feed their youngs.

Crimson bellied conures & mate aggressive

Crimson bellied conure pairs are very bonded & show a lot of love toward each other.  They spend all day preening & cuddling each other.  However,  Once in awhile, they are very aggressive to each other.  They chase after each other & pull its mate feathers especially its tails.

I have been observing my 4 pairs.  I see they are usually aggressive when a breeding season starts & either a male or a female are not ready to breed.  They are also " mad" when being disturbed often. 

To solve this problem,  I rarely bother them especially when I see any signs of their aggressiveness.  I also give them a large aviary for them to fly & a lot of toys.  They love toys & to chew wooden toys.

The chicks are fully fleged at about 8 weeks old.  At this age, they look more like a normal green cheek conure.  After their first molt, they develop more red colors and reach the adult plumage at around 12 months old.

Young crimsons are exceptional sweet.  They genly taste our fingers.  Well socialized baby crimsons are wonderful pets.

crimson bellied conure - wild

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