Caique Questions

[Graeme]

Hello All,
I have paid a deposit on a baby Black Headed Caique and hopefully it will be coming home around the 7th Dec.

Until then I have some questions and would appreciate any useful information you could provide.

I have purchased a cage, toys and a mixture of perches. I read that the ideal perch size is around 30cm, but I am unsure of the size of perch to start with, being a baby should I get smaller perches to start and then introduce the bigger ones?

Also what type of foods would be best to start of with?

What Human foods can I provide?

How have others bird proofed their houses? Things like all the electrical cords behind the TV and Surround Sound System, lamps ect.

No doubt I will have more questions as they cam to mind and hopefully you will be kind enough to answer them.

[Polarn]

About the perches you shouldn't have to start out with smaller perches and not really adjust perches in any way due to the birdies age IMHO. And the best possible perches are never really storebought. The best ones is produced by nature, so if your in an area where you have access to birds are trees bring a saw and get them there. The width of the perches should wary, and it doesn't hurt to wary them quite a lot to be honest, depending a bit on cage size and what you can possibly provide in variety to your cage. But not only the width of the perches should be variated but also the angle. The worst possible perches you can get is the smooth dowels there is no exercise of their feet and this produces a number of problems. I try to have some branches that will flex as the walk across them meaning if they walk all the way to the end they will be hanging there dangling in it, some hangs from the ceiling but are heavy enough not to be flimsy and others are mounted firmly, but their all natural branches of different width, length and angles. Personally I try build it up so that I have a few sturdy ones that they will not chew off in an instance to make a base for a ground structure and then I add flimsier ones that basically are put there for them to break, this means frequent changes of these while the sturdier base still lasts a bit. I also try when possible to make sure the flimsier ones is still fresh with leafs or seed pods etcetera still there for them. However I do not havy green ranches to bring in all year around... But when possible I always try to make sure they have fresh green branches even if it means changing them every other day. It is good fun for them making a leafy mess.

About the feeding it is a constantly ongoing debate weather or not to feed pellets and what brands of pellets or what type of fresh feed etc etc look around the forum and you should find plenty on this.

[cml]

Congrats! We will need pictures !

I have purchased a cage, toys and a mixture of perches. I read that the ideal perch size is around 30cm, but I am unsure of the size of perch to start with, being a baby should I get smaller perches to start and then introduce the bigger ones?

Him being a baby doesnt mean anything! Birds get fullgrown very quickly, and its doubtful he will grow many grams from when you get him for the rest of his life (unless you provide an unhealthy diet).
Stitch was 185 when we got him 12 weeks old, he is 190 today.
Leroy was 240 when we got him, he is 245 today, but we want to keep him around 235ish.

Hope that gives you some perspective, your baby parrot, while being a baby, wont grow . That said, their looks change quite a bit in the first year or two, so you will still see them "grow up".

On parrot proofing, here's a link where Ive written a little bit about specifically electrical wires:
http://theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=10471&p=71745&hilit=parrot+proofing+your+house+your+house#p71745

[Graeme]

Thank you for taking the time to reply

As far as perches go, I have a mixture, Cement, Sand, Calcium and Rope.

I am sure that I read somewhere that Bottle Brush trees are safe for them, can someone confirm this?
Also is everything safe, branches, leaves, flower and nut? If this is safe then I have plenty of those growing here at home and will be able to utilize those.

I want to get some string to make toys, so I am wondering if normal everyday string that is sold in the hardware store is suitable.

Who here knows of a very good online retailer that has a large variety of toys? I am looking for a site that will ship to Australia, the ones I have found require you to join some other site to get a US address.

Has anyone purchased the Parrot Wizard book, if so how did you find it?

[cmaygar]

I have a white bellied caique who is a little over 2 years old. He loves a variety of vegetables such as peppers, brussel sprouts, radishes, carrots, string beans, peas in the pod and broccoli. He also enjoys fruit and eats sliced apples, melon, strawberries and grapes.

Most caiques love to play in water so I have a Tupperware dish in his cage that he uses to dunk his food and toys and bathe in. Caiques also love toys so get him foot toys that he can play with. Caiques "surf" on their backs and hold their toys in their toes when they play. They also love to sleep in an enclosed area so a bird hut is ideal.

As far as perches are concerned, I would recommend natural wood perches if a variety of widths and at least one with a rough surface to help to wear down their toes.

Caiques are quite acrobatic and playful. They can hide behind pillows so be careful to keep a close eye on him when he is loose. They are better climbers than fliers so a sturdy stand with a rope attached to climb on is a good option.

Best of luck with your new baby!

[Pajarita]

Please do not use the cement or the sand perches at all. The cement are too hard (ugit has no bounce whatsoever which makes landing on them a super hard impact on the joints) and the sand are too rough on the tender flesh of their soles. I don't know who came up with these ideas but whoever it was was not a bird person, that's for sure!

I don't feed pellets and I don't feed any human food to my parrots. They eat a dish made out of cooked whole grains mixed with cooked and diced veggies (no salt) for breakfast along with raw produce (one fruit, one veggie, one leafy green or cruciform, a different one every day) and a measured and small portion of budgie seed mix for dinner (the bigger species get roasted nuts added to this). Everything that needs to be organic is and everything is organic.

But for a freshly weaned baby you are going to need three different kinds of soft food as well as the same formula the baby was handfed because they always regress a bit and always need the comfort of baby food when they go to a new home (it's a strange place with strange people and everything that reminds them of their own familiar place is beneficial). Soft food means things like polenta, couscous, pastina, cooked whole grains (like brown rice and/or barley, for example), etc.

[Graeme]

Thanks a lot for the info, it is really appreciated.

I have been shopping and bought a bucket load of stuff. I went ahead and ordered the Parrot Wizard book and training stands, the Aviator Harness, toys, foot toys, stands, perches and also stuff to make some (parrot safe) toys.
I don't expect it will have much to do with toys to start with, but the goal is to have plenty of opportunity to investigate and have fun.

I would still like to know if all parts of a Bottle Brush tree are safe?

Any other information you can provide would be most welcome.

Regards

Graeme