My Kakariki is different

Hi all,

My fiance bought me a Kakariki last weekend. (<- AWESOME emoticon, btw.) I've attached some pictures of her, one of my mum holding her and the other of her perched on my hand. Her name is Holly, and she's hand raised. She came with her wings clipped, but I am letting them grow out.

I've been reading up about kakariki parrots on the internet and have read a lot of information that conflicts with Holly. For one, many say that they're not cuddly parrots. But all Holly seems to want to do is to sit on my shoulder or arm and nibble on my clothes or my lips (she LOVES nibbling my lower lip- I don't wear any lip gloss or lipstick). I bought her a parrot gym/stand but she much prefers me as a stand. And she makes virtually no noise at all. She does seem to sing, but you can just hear her breath coming out and no sound. Only occasionally can you hear a barely audible chirp.

However, one thing she does do like a typical kakariki is be a massive sticky beak. She's very inquisitive.

I've actually read and heard a fair bit of conflicting information about Kakarikis. I really love my little Holly, I think she's the best! I was just wondering if anyone else has found that their bird doesn't fit the descriptions they've read?

Congrats on getting a new bird and welcome to the forum.
I have a pair of tiels and a pair of CAG's. Even thog they are the same species each of them is a bi different. So it's possible that your bird has a bit different behavior.

I use to have a Lutino Kakariki, we named him Cedric.
He was extremely inquisitive, funny, and can talk, I taught him to say 'whatcha doin?"
He became quite aggressive with my cockatiels so I had to return him
Sounds like you have a good one there, just keep him hand tamed and you'll have a great time with him.
just one word of caution though:....they get into EVERYTHING!, wires, will eat anything off your carpet/floor, fluff, dirt etc....
mine liked chewing cords, uggggg, I even bought those baby safety plugs so he couldn't get his beak into the outlets.
so supervision is a must at all times!

I have 2 Barrabands that sound like your bird. They love nothing better than to sit on my shoulders and have me rub their beaks with my cheek or kiss them on their ears. They both have an amazing vocabulary and will pick up new phrases/ words in a day or two. It's too bad they are not as popular as tiels, they make awesome pets.

I had a pair of kakarikis for over a year, hand-raised, but the female was very shy and hard to find when it was time to put them to bed. They'd find all sorts of weird places to hide, especially around sunset. I swapped our pair for a lorikeet, the male became very aggressive and would fly at my face. Very noisy, mainly their distinctive chirping. We fed ours insectivore mix, fruit and seed. As an aside, we lived on Norfolk Island for some years, the Norfolk Island Green Parrot is essentially a kakariki, or subspecies thereof, and the type was present on many islands around Au/NZ including sub-Antractic Macquarie Island. They were wiped out there and also on Lord Howe Island. The NFI parrots were coming back after being reduced to a dozen or two individuals.

She sounds like a typical kak to me, from what little I know. When people say cuddly, they mean more hands on like cuddling a dog or a cat. That doesn't mean that they can't be friendly and interactive though.

Although it's cute and sweet that she nibbles your lips, it's not a good idea if she does. Our saliva can contain a lot of harmful bacteria in it that could make our pets sick.


Other than that, she is gorgeous!!!! I'm sure she'll brighten your day every day!

I had one years ago named Katie the Kakariki, she was a total sweet heart!!! She was in the store for a very very long time before my best friend and I brought her home with us at the time. She was very inquisitive and took interest in us and became quite friendly. She had her little chirp which I think was very very cute!!!! She hated to be covered as she chewed holes all over the towel that I used to cover her with. From what you described, it sounds like my Katie too. I do miss her as she passed long ago....