9 Mo Old Male White Belly Caique

[Nina789]

Hi everyone. We got our white belly caique when he was 4 months old and now he is nine months old. Before we brought him home, he lived in the same cage with his brother and got into a flight with his brother. The bird shop owner had to give him stiches on the right side of his body between his neck and wing. At the very beginning, everything seemed good and he was gentle. We feed him multiple servings of fruits and veggies, nutriberries, nuts, seeds and grains. We also take him outside (with harness) to enjoy the sun and nature when we walk. My mom has a one-year-old green cheek conure. We put them together sometimes for a day or two when we are busy. The conure tends to bite certain people but not hard and no major behavior issues. In early February this year, we went on vacation and left him with my mom's green cheek conure for around 10 days. We noticed some behavior change after we brought him home. He tends to bite more often and harder and becomes more demanding. For example, I get bites that lead to bleeding almost every day for the past week. He doesn't seem to understand his bites are hurting me. He bites whenever he is excited (ie: sunbathing, morning walks) or whenever he doesn't get things his way. He doesn't seem to be interested in playing with the forging toys we got for him, and he doesn't want to play on his own without us being around. It appears he only likes being on our finger or body/sunbathing/walk in the nature/eating. We want to encourage him to play on this own with the forging toys but it is not successful.

About a couple of months ago, we also noticed he has been plucking his feathers from his chest area. We took him to a bird medical center and the doctor is unable to tell if the missing feather is due to molting (he is molting and has a lot of new feathers coming out according to the doctor). The doctor also encourages us to show him how to play with the toys. We did but it appears that he is not interested. Should we get him a companion? How do we communicate that his biting is not nice. We kept telling him no no, no biting but he doesn't seem to get it. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[April]

What a cutie pie! Let me tag some Caique experienced folks.
@Laurie @Irishj9 @Matto

 

[Nina789]

That's greatly appreciated. Thank you, April!

 

[April]

That's greatly appreciated. Thank you, April!

You're so welcome ! Hopefully they will pop on soon.

 

[Pixiebeak]

I defer to all members with your species experience.

But I will share that food is a good motivation.
Teaching foraging. It does often need to be a game together at first , doing together and keep simple , advance at their place.
And making yummy things a little more difficult to get at, by placing them in a ball toy. I use those rubber balls for dogs with big holes and put popcorn in it. Mine love popcorn and I don't have to worry about it going bad right away. Or use foraging cups.

I use a seagrass matt and poke veggies through the holes , and d hang it so they climb to get veggies.

I use millet sprays sbd weave in and around toys.

Babies change as they grow up, and they correct us fir stuff they used to let slide. Plus sometimes you need to work on building up trust after being gone , sometimes even bring gone a day or two can fuss them.

I go with , bites are my fault for not reading them or pushing them to fast. Or displaced because of ( environment, seeing predator, jealous ECT) I try and note what leads to, what's going on when happened, how to make positive changes .

I try teaching bite pressure. I tell them be careful, be nice as they start to use beak psst accepted pressure. A hard bite is no, ( regular voice ) and I personally eye squint at them . Then I move them off me to whatever is near by. I have perches , stands or nearby furniture. Then I go back to doing my own thing. If they gky it jump right back that's ok. But if they bite info the same again. 3 td bite in a row it's off to their cage for a break.

I try and avoid high energy interaction. Example when I first let them out of the cage they are amped up. So I just chat with them for a bit. And edit to touch them till they have calmed down. I can't interact with mine in their cages as they will defend with bites or yells.

 

[Laurie]

For example, I get bites that lead to bleeding almost every day for the past week. He doesn't seem to understand his bites are hurting me. He bites whenever he is excited (ie: sunbathing, morning walks) or whenever he doesn't get things his way.

Hi there, I'll comment on the biting. Your observations are correct and I believe you are understanding the reasons why he is biting correctly as well.

Remember that each interaction with your bird is just that it is an action between you and the bird. It is far easier to change what you are doing to prevent biting than to change your bird (in the short term). The beautiful thing is if you are able to make changes and avoid bites then in the long term your bird will also change how he acts as well and bite less.

So if the reason is that he is too excited then you will need to give him space and allow him to calm down before you put yourself within biting reach. Try and learn when it happens and avoid having him on you or where he can bite you when you think he might get overexcited. Also, you can try and train him to step up on a perch or a towel so you can still pick him up when he is excited.

Secondly, any bird will bite when you try and make them do something they do not want to do so this is not something you can change. The best thing to do is bribe them into doing what you want them to do. Do you need to take something away? Offer a treat or something they are allowed to have and they will drop the one item in exchange for the other. Need them to step up offer a treat or a toy or something they want so they will want to step up. Need them to go back to their cage, make going back to the cage a time for treats, attention, toys and food. Take a little time to talk to him and get him settled in and doing something pleasant. Often we plop them on a perch close the door and walk away. That almost seems like a punishment to them so the next time he will certainly try and avoid going back in.

Birds often will not play with toys while we are there because they would rather interact with us. Try loading up the cage with interesting toys, colors and textures. Look for telltale bite marks and nibbles. It might take some time. What sorts of toys have you tried?

 

[Nina789]

Thank you all for the great tips! Please see toys in attached pictures. I just learned I'm supposed to rotate the toys every week. We have been doing it only once a while. Maybe every couple month. Any additional suggestions are appreciated!

 

[Laurie]

Looking good. How does he like the little fountain?

 

[Nina789]

He loves it so much. He drinks from and showers there and even brings food there to eat. Hahaha. Quit a bit of cleaning everyday

 

[Laurie]

He loves it so much. He drinks from and showers there and even brings food there to eat. Hahaha. Quit a bit of cleaning everyday

That's awesome. I have been thinking of getting one

 

[Nina789]

You should you bird will love it!

 

[BirdBunny]

Curious about the fountain. Where did you get it?