Introducing Nyx

[crystaljam]

Beautiful pictures!

Great info provided so far - Rosco can be VERY beaky at times...currently he's really hormonal so more off hands than on hands. Husband just sits in the bird room and reads with Rosco out on the cages and playstands when he's like this - it's just safer and keeps our relationship with him less tearful. As long as crazy Fynn (our excited dog) doesn't enter the room, Rosco stays relatively calm.

I don't take it personally (Rosco's moodiness) - it's just the way Caiques are. When he is playing with me, he is relatively beaky, so I find a variety of foot toys and food really help keep him busy not munching away on me.

 

[Bunnygirl]

Crash, my Black Headed Caique, has always been really nippy (which is rather ironic because he was the calmest out of him and his siblings....). He's about two and a half right now and I've noticed in the past few weeks that he's been a lot more gentle and not biting as much. He still goes into fits a lot and likes to nip as a way to play, but he is getting much better. My advice would be to, like has been said before, make sure Nyx gets plenty of play time. For Crash, I discovered that using a cat teaser works really well if he wants to interact with you but you don't want him to bite you. Also, I think one of the biggest things is to simply be patient. Hopefully things will get better once Nyx get's out of the terrible two's.

Honestly, the change for Crash was the last time I took him in to get groomed. He's been in there plently of times before for that but for some reason he's kept his more docile mood for about three weeks instead of 12 hours like normal. In all honesty, I think it's because he had finally got down the hang of flying and my dad got annoyed and really wanted his wings clipped. Along with the fact that he depends on us to get around again (or walking on the floor but he doesn't get to do that when the cat's inside so it's mostly us who ferry him around), I think he's finally realizing that he gets the attention and time out of the cage that he likes when he's nice to us.

Hang in there and good luck. Nyx is adorible!

 

[sweetpeaches]

Bailey is about 4.5 yrs old...and he displays the normal caique behavior described here. Everyone's advice is right on. I think because they are such "interactive" birds they perfer our fingers to toys because our fingers move . Most of the time Bailey does not break skin and it amazes me how he "knows" to be gentle, but when he gets those pinning eyes from over excitement he can bite too hard. That's his "time out" time to settle down. I have noticed as he's gotten older that he's starting to "test" his boundaries more. Same thing as the others...at times gives out a shriek when I try to take something from him or move him off his playstand. I get the message loud and clear and will not stick out my finger for him to step up (which he does most of the time) but will get a dowel to have him step up on.

 

[HollyT]

Beaky is an understatement When we first brought our caique, Ravi, home ( he was 7 at the time) I started by using a foot toy when I handled him as he beaked my fingers I'd use the toy to intercept a little and this allowed us to get used to each other. When he did have my fingers I made sure to let him know when he was getting to rough. A few times I even had to set him down and tell him to cool off a minute. Rough play equaled no more fingers. Gentle play allowed him finger access. It took a couple of weeks but eventually I didn't need the foot toy anymore. I still use them as a part of our play but he knows to play gently. In fact in the year and 3 months that we've had him I've never received a blood drawing bite. I rarely even received a bite out of miscommunication or aggression. I attribute this to giving him options and setting the environment up for positive results. He'll fly to me to move from room to room and he'll even go back into his cage for me for one of his favorite treats, sunflower seeds. Our home isn't very big but I've set his play gym areas up to keep him engaged. Its a constant work in progress changing out toys and setting up foraging opportunities. He's rarely left alone when he's out, mostly I move between the kitchen and living room and the bird room. Most of the time he follows me by flying to perching areas we've set up just for him or I'll put a hand up for him to land on. He still pitches a fit sometimes when he gets into something he shouldn't or that is dangerous and I have to remove him. But if its a safety issue its a safety issue.

He's really easy to read, I think that helps me the most. I think we've also lucked out in that he's just really good natured. he's just as playful and rambunctious and loves to play, but he's not really mean. I've seen him attack toys every now and then, but even then it seems like fun. The only thing that gets him really riled up is the vaccum cleaner. So I make sure he's caged when we run it. It only took one time of him jumping on my head to learn that lesson LOL.

 

[linus69]

Some great observations and advice on this thread, our WB is 2 1/2yrs old and displays almost every common to Caique traits described here. I find the more time she spends playing hard on her playgym the happier she is. She is quite a "Pack Animal" and is happiest when she can at least see us, when she can`t she goes through her repertoire of household noises till we come back into sight.
Her latest trick is coming down off her playgym and following us on foot, luckily she is very vocal and will arrive clucking like a chicken or doing the "Wolf Whistle", my dogs avoid her like she is radioactive and give her a wide berth. They have all have had a taste of her beak in the past including my Plott Hound who runs from her, this is a breed that they use to hunt Black Bear quite fearless, but he is no match for our feathered pit bull.
I also was told long ago she should get 12hrs of sleep in total darkness and I find this to quite true, she gets very cranky when she doesn`t get at least 9-10hrs a night.

 

[TSwift]

Yep, just want to say I have two WBC and while one never nips (Sheik), the other one is very testy (Ava). They seem to go after the nails and in-between fingers. I have never had them break skin, though, but they are only 1 year old.

During playtime, Ava likes to play really rough, but Sheik would rather fumble around with a foot toy while laying on her back. So while Caiques are generally nippy, each one has a different personality. I am bracing for the fabled "teenage" section of their lives.

I will also say that sleep is important. Ava and Sheik get 12 hours of lights-off-time. They probably play/talk to each other in their tent for 30 minutes of it, but they sleep for the majority of it. If they don't get their full 10-12 hours... oh man. Not good.