Ok so first things first..my baby is the featured sun conure on this website. She is the one in the oval
http://www.sunconure.com/photos.html

Second...does anyone have a sun conure that can maybe give me some advice?...Spree is so sweet and gentle but her beak is totally different then our QP's. She uses the thing for everything!! To step up, to taste my earrings, to climb my arm, to communicate with Elliot, to tell me she is happy and give kisses, to tell me she is scared. All of this is normal I know....but her beak is SOO sharp and she doesnt realize how powerful she is! I usually bleed one time a day and it isnt because she is being mean, she just likes to hold on to my skin (maybe a safety thing. Anyone have any tricks to ward off the beak from... *heaven*

Spree's a cutie- sorry, I don't have any tips for you but I know exactly what you mean-- my gcc is the same way. They seem to be very much into touching and feeling everything, loving to rub all over stuff and test everything out for taste and texture. Squirt loves to hang out on my head (argh) and i get a good welt on my ear at least every day or so!

Must be a conure thing! Spree loves to hang upside down too and its so cute. As far as the biting...we still love her just the same

Yup- hanging upside down or dangling from one foot- Squirt has no fear of slipping or falling which is totally opposite of Boo the QP. Boo pitches a FIT any time he comes close to loosing his balance. Major tantrum. Squirt couldn't care less, just grabs onto whatever he can find and dangles until he figures out what he wants to do next.

I wonder if all conures varieties are like this? Squirt's just like a 2 year old kid- he's very contented, easily distracted, loves to put everything in his mouth, curious, and VERY snuggly-- the biggest difference is that Squirt is MUCH quieter than a 2 year old The perfect fid.

Just have to be very consistent with the "easy" and "hand-quakes" to remind them not to nip

I have a sun conure too. They do indeed use their beak as a third foot/hand. Some ppl suggest the earthquake method ie shaking the arm before they bite too hard but this doesnt always work with suns because they use that beak as well to clamp down to get a better hold. What has worked for me is just making a loud noise as he starts to shock him out of doing it..try shouting no or whatever word you want to use and be consistant with it. It takes time to break them of the habbit.
The other thing I would refrain from doing is allowing your bird on your shoulder until he earns the right to be there. Being on the shoulder for birds is a sign of dominence. Keep your bird lower than you until he is trained.

The cool think about sun conures is that they are very clever birds. I have mine flighted and he is trained so that when I call his name he flys from whatever room he is in and lands on my arm. Its a beautiful sight to see.

The one thing about the biting is it wont stop overnight. Since he is not using his beak as a method of protection pushing into the beak serves no purpose because he is not trying to make you afraid of it. Just give the loud noise a try and see if that works and be consistent and soon enough he will know what he should be doing.

I am sure others will add other advice.

Congratulations on you little famous fid! She sure takes a good picture, what a photogenic girl! And I must say I love the picture of elliot and spree in your sig block...too cute

I have one too. Bo never bites, but he usues his beak for all things. It seems they use them for balance a lot. He uses his very gently and never even makes a dent in my skin, so I'm not sure why yours would be different. Maybe because she is so young, she is a bit insecure and feels she has to hold on a little tighter.

Bo "play bites" me now and then when we play war games (It would take a while to explain) and if he starts to get rough, I grab his beak and give him a soft "aaaaaant". He knows it means ease up and he does (after he stops and looks at me as if to say "well, you started it").

I know...my answer didn't help one bit. Sorry!

Well, before we got Spree she was not tame at all. She was left with her bird parents until almost 3 months and then a lady had her for 2 months and didnt work with her at all. So when we got her we had to start from scratch. It was a long process to even get her to this point. She used to draw blood on a weekly basis. I guess I should have explained that part better!

I have been working with my green cheek and it's been a process for sure.
One thing she responds to is the "aaaant!" like Weeza said. It's not a word/sound
she ever hears except in that situation.
I don't believe she knows how hard she's biting so when I "cue" her to let her know, she stops and looks at me like "OH! ok, I'll be gentler" and then she is. I praise her like crazy. It's very cool.

But, there are times that she's being a "butt" so I put her back in her cage.

As Carrie Anne told me .... patience and consistence.

I don't know much about a sun. But I do know the macaws do everything with their beaks thats how they explore the world. They feel everything with their beak. When Pita was here she never would step up onto Rays fingers until she put it in her beak then she would jump right on.

I think it's just away for them to talk through their beaks. I'm not expert, but I have done alot of reading on macaws!