So it has been several months now. I have had a little bit of experience now with both my new Finches and also Lada the visiting Eckie, and so I thought I should do an update on the eventual Caique journey...
I have had many of my old questions answered through hands on experience and now have a much better understanding of what to expect when keeping birds in general. Of course I never had any doubts that hands on experience was far more beneficial. Anyways, so whats the status on eventual Hoppy Oppy?
Well...
I still don't know is the short answer...
Here is the thing. I am quite content with the finches. I love them very much. They are pretty clean now that I have figured out how to arrange their cage to prevent poop from getting on everything (This has been a VERY useful skill that I don't believe is discussed enough!!!). They are quiet and I love hanging out with them outside the cage. Its a delight to have them hang out on my laptop screen or on the playstand next to me while I work. I have relaxed over time too with them out of the cage. I am a lot less worrisome over poop getting all over the kitchen as I have slowly learned how to control it by conditioning them to certain areas on the kitchen. It has become pretty manageable. Their cage is also the perfect size, elegant, and doesn't take up too much space which has been ideal for me as this was a big concern at first too. To put it differently, I have reached an equilibrium point living with the finches. I still have a lot of work to do with them as I wish they were more cuddly, but I'm sure that will come with time.
As for larger parrots, this is where things get tricky. I am not yet ready to live permanently with a big parrot AND finches. Allow me to explain. I think long term its just too much for me to keep both. I honestly dont understand how some of you are able to keep so many birds. I would be super happy, but I would also go nuts over all the cleaning! Anyways back to Finches and Parrot. At this point, I think it has to be one or the other, not both. I hate the idea of multiple cages in the house. Currently I have two in the kitchen and it is getting cramped. Even having a third travel cage stuffed away in the closet bugs me. Lots of used up space and just more stuff... In case you haven't noticed yet from my other posts, I am a little OCD regarding organization and cleaning. Cleaning has also been a challenge. I have not completely done away with my cleaning supplies yet. I have just been using them very carefully and away from birds. Changing to all SS pots was not as difficult as I originally thought it would be. I was in need of a major upgrade, so that came at a good time and not having nonstick cookware has not been a problem at all. The pots and pans have not been a challenge at all regarding stuck food which was quite surprising.
Now we have to talk about the mess though... The constant mess created by all the birds... This is still troubling some days. The finches have managed to stop being so messy outside the cage. I attribute that mostly to my choice of food placement, containers, etc. however, they still require pretty regular full cage scrub downs to keep cage up to my crazy OCD standards. This is not too troublesome by itself, but adding in additional cages and the time starts to add up. This brings me back to Lada. She can be QUITE messy and I have taken some extreme measures to help control the mess. The first week she was here, the floor was constantly covered with crumbs. This was partially my fault. I gave her lots of crumbly treats that bounced out of the cage and I delayed putting the 45 degree catch panels on the cage. By the end of the week, I was going a little bit crazy. Lada went home for a few days while I was out of town on business and when I returned, before picking her back up, I retrofitted her loaner cage with some SS and poly carbonate armor...
It's spaced about an inch from cage bars which allows her to still climb and allows for toys and perches to still be attached, but any crumbs that try to escape strike the panel, fall straight down, strike the catch plate and fall back into cage bottom. This has reduced my sweeping duties from 100% to 2% overnight. The only crumbs I have to worry about now are when I give the finches or Lada treats outside the cage.
Poop has also been manageable. I have been using towels I purchased as "bird towels" to put down anywhere I dont want poop. I just end up doing a little more laundry every week, but that has not been bad. I also finally started using newspaper for Lada's cage. I asked the whole neighborhood online to toss their unwanted city papers on my driveway and several individuals have been contributing which makes for a healthy and regular supply of newspaper for cages.
The last potential issue has been behavior. I always knew going into this that Lada would not be a good example of life with a parrot. She is just too chill and clearly life with a Caique will be quite different. Perhaps that is still the cause of my apprehension. I need to remind myself that this is just a lifestyle test, not a behavioral test. Part of me is still worried that I will go crazy with a Caique. I should expect one to be infinitely louder than Lada considering she never makes a peep. Part of me is a little disappointed that Lada is not as active as I would like for her to be and again even though I knew that going into it, perhaps that is discouraging me slightly as well.
I'm sure I am missing a lot of things, but anyways, in summary. I am still not sure if a Caique is right for me. This is now the true test. Lada is her to stay for quite awhile as I have no plans on going anywhere until at least xmas. We'll see how I feel about all of this in a month or two. I will say one additional thing. The polycarbonate panels have been a HUGE help. I dont think I could make it without them. This also reminds me. I have also learned from this whole experience that if I decide to get a Caique, my original idea of putting the cage over carpet is now shattered to pieces. The cage MUST been in kitchen or over hard floors. Sorry, but mats upder cages on carpets just wont cut it for me. Too much mess with all the crumbs, and wet food like fruits and veggies. This has greatly influenced my reasons/desire for keeping so few birds. I completely understand now why so many of you have "bird rooms" with hard floors.
I'll leave you now with Lada chewing up a small flat rate box and Charlie being mischievous... Emma is being camera shy.
Feel free to comment on anything. Life stuff, being a Caique parront, living with birds, tips and tricks, promises that it does get easier, etc.
I have had many of my old questions answered through hands on experience and now have a much better understanding of what to expect when keeping birds in general. Of course I never had any doubts that hands on experience was far more beneficial. Anyways, so whats the status on eventual Hoppy Oppy?
Well...
I still don't know is the short answer...
Here is the thing. I am quite content with the finches. I love them very much. They are pretty clean now that I have figured out how to arrange their cage to prevent poop from getting on everything (This has been a VERY useful skill that I don't believe is discussed enough!!!). They are quiet and I love hanging out with them outside the cage. Its a delight to have them hang out on my laptop screen or on the playstand next to me while I work. I have relaxed over time too with them out of the cage. I am a lot less worrisome over poop getting all over the kitchen as I have slowly learned how to control it by conditioning them to certain areas on the kitchen. It has become pretty manageable. Their cage is also the perfect size, elegant, and doesn't take up too much space which has been ideal for me as this was a big concern at first too. To put it differently, I have reached an equilibrium point living with the finches. I still have a lot of work to do with them as I wish they were more cuddly, but I'm sure that will come with time.
As for larger parrots, this is where things get tricky. I am not yet ready to live permanently with a big parrot AND finches. Allow me to explain. I think long term its just too much for me to keep both. I honestly dont understand how some of you are able to keep so many birds. I would be super happy, but I would also go nuts over all the cleaning! Anyways back to Finches and Parrot. At this point, I think it has to be one or the other, not both. I hate the idea of multiple cages in the house. Currently I have two in the kitchen and it is getting cramped. Even having a third travel cage stuffed away in the closet bugs me. Lots of used up space and just more stuff... In case you haven't noticed yet from my other posts, I am a little OCD regarding organization and cleaning. Cleaning has also been a challenge. I have not completely done away with my cleaning supplies yet. I have just been using them very carefully and away from birds. Changing to all SS pots was not as difficult as I originally thought it would be. I was in need of a major upgrade, so that came at a good time and not having nonstick cookware has not been a problem at all. The pots and pans have not been a challenge at all regarding stuck food which was quite surprising.
Now we have to talk about the mess though... The constant mess created by all the birds... This is still troubling some days. The finches have managed to stop being so messy outside the cage. I attribute that mostly to my choice of food placement, containers, etc. however, they still require pretty regular full cage scrub downs to keep cage up to my crazy OCD standards. This is not too troublesome by itself, but adding in additional cages and the time starts to add up. This brings me back to Lada. She can be QUITE messy and I have taken some extreme measures to help control the mess. The first week she was here, the floor was constantly covered with crumbs. This was partially my fault. I gave her lots of crumbly treats that bounced out of the cage and I delayed putting the 45 degree catch panels on the cage. By the end of the week, I was going a little bit crazy. Lada went home for a few days while I was out of town on business and when I returned, before picking her back up, I retrofitted her loaner cage with some SS and poly carbonate armor...
It's spaced about an inch from cage bars which allows her to still climb and allows for toys and perches to still be attached, but any crumbs that try to escape strike the panel, fall straight down, strike the catch plate and fall back into cage bottom. This has reduced my sweeping duties from 100% to 2% overnight. The only crumbs I have to worry about now are when I give the finches or Lada treats outside the cage.
Poop has also been manageable. I have been using towels I purchased as "bird towels" to put down anywhere I dont want poop. I just end up doing a little more laundry every week, but that has not been bad. I also finally started using newspaper for Lada's cage. I asked the whole neighborhood online to toss their unwanted city papers on my driveway and several individuals have been contributing which makes for a healthy and regular supply of newspaper for cages.
The last potential issue has been behavior. I always knew going into this that Lada would not be a good example of life with a parrot. She is just too chill and clearly life with a Caique will be quite different. Perhaps that is still the cause of my apprehension. I need to remind myself that this is just a lifestyle test, not a behavioral test. Part of me is still worried that I will go crazy with a Caique. I should expect one to be infinitely louder than Lada considering she never makes a peep. Part of me is a little disappointed that Lada is not as active as I would like for her to be and again even though I knew that going into it, perhaps that is discouraging me slightly as well.
I'm sure I am missing a lot of things, but anyways, in summary. I am still not sure if a Caique is right for me. This is now the true test. Lada is her to stay for quite awhile as I have no plans on going anywhere until at least xmas. We'll see how I feel about all of this in a month or two. I will say one additional thing. The polycarbonate panels have been a HUGE help. I dont think I could make it without them. This also reminds me. I have also learned from this whole experience that if I decide to get a Caique, my original idea of putting the cage over carpet is now shattered to pieces. The cage MUST been in kitchen or over hard floors. Sorry, but mats upder cages on carpets just wont cut it for me. Too much mess with all the crumbs, and wet food like fruits and veggies. This has greatly influenced my reasons/desire for keeping so few birds. I completely understand now why so many of you have "bird rooms" with hard floors.
I'll leave you now with Lada chewing up a small flat rate box and Charlie being mischievous... Emma is being camera shy.
Feel free to comment on anything. Life stuff, being a Caique parront, living with birds, tips and tricks, promises that it does get easier, etc.