Last Updated on by Mitch Rezman
Jeanne wants to know,
Hi Mitch,
How are pineapple conures different from green cheek conures?
They look a lot alike, are there behavioral differences?
Talking about behavioral differences between two birds species is a slippery slope.
Now, let’s clarify the first big point. **Both of your birds are Green-Cheeked Conures**. I know, the “Pineapple” thing throws people off sometimes, but it’s not like you’ve got a tropical fruit flying around your living room.
“Pineapple” is just a fancy term for one of the color mutations of Green-Cheeked Conures, which sounds way more exotic than it actually is.
It’s like when your car’s official color is something like “Sunset Fire Metallic,” but you and everyone else just call it “orange.”
Same bird species, just a different paint job.
Here’s the thing with breeding: **As long as your birds aren’t related, you’re all good**.
In other words, no one’s going to be raising an eyebrow at the local bird club because you have two Green-Cheeked Conures cozying up together, one in a regular ol’ green suit and the other in its Pineapple get-up.
They’re genetically compatible, and if they’re not blood relatives, you’re in the clear.
Also, a little insider knowledge: **No one sells a “good producing pair” unless they’ve given up on breeding altogether**.
That’s just bird-breeder logic.
So if a conure pair have been passed around like a hot potato, there’s probably a reason.
Maybe they weren’t exactly… stellar in the whole egg-to-chick department. Or maybe they’re just, well, not really into humans.
MitchR relates: We have two gray cockatiels, Barney has been with us for 4 years now and Sweetie Pie has been with us for about 3 weeks.
Although the two share similarities like their lust for millet, their personalities are day and night.
I use that example begining to address your question because there’s really no way of knowing.
We’ve never had a pineapple conure but we did have an employee who brought his green cheek to work so we listened to a smoke alarm with a weak battery, all-day-long.
Environment, age, and sex all contribute to the overall persona of a bird.
Even if the two conures were hatched side by side and hand-fed until they fledged, there would be no accurate prediction of the two personalities’ outcome.
That said, our three youngest budgies all named 1-2-3 (long story) appear to be interchangeable whether perched or in flight.
While we’re on the topic of budgies, a term I use “specifically” rather than “parakeets,” because there are larger parakeet birds like Indian Ringneck parakeets and mustache parakeets (commonly just called parrots)
The same holds true for conures. Whereas a green cheek conure will weigh 60 to 70 G, a Patagonian conure can weigh between 240 and 310 G and is roughly the size of a Timneh African gray.
The good news? **Green-Cheeked Conures are FUN**.
They’re like tiny feathered clowns with just enough attitude to keep things interesting. If you give them a lot of toys and a spacious cage, they’ll entertain themselves—and you—without the need for a ton of human interaction. Don’t expect cuddles, but do expect a lot of personality.
Green cheeks are naturally **entertaining, mischievous, and full of personality**.
Give them a large cage, plenty of toys, and a whole lot of patience, and they’ll bring a vibrant energy to your home. And who knows? With time, you might just earn their trust and have them hopping onto your hand, ready to join you in your daily activities—on their terms, of course...
So let me leave you with this list of over 120 conure species.
Written by Mitch Rezman
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