Preparing for my new (and first) feathered baby!

Hello everyone!

Kind of starting this off with an intro/question hybrid thread, so please bear with me. After the death of my pet rat, whom I adored and was quite devastated when she passed due to Cancer after only 1.5 years, I began searching for a companion animal that had a similar level of bonding, playfulness and intelligence as a rat, but with a much longer life span. At first I was suggested a Ferret, but there was no way my wife could deal with the odors and I had a Chinchilla for a short while that was my daughter's, but about the LAST thing it wants to do is be held or hang out at the kitchen table with you and wrestle with your hand or toys, all of which are things my rat LOVED to do. So in one of my visits to a large local pet store, I was presented with the idea of a small parrot. I was very much interested in what I was hearing and after they let me handle a Caique that eagerly allowed me to hold her and scratch her neck, I was sold.

I started doing research on small parrots as some people suggested I go with a Quaker, some said Conures, Brown head etc. I slowly started eliminating breeds that had typical behaviours I wasn't a fan of concluded that a Caique was definitely the temperament, energy level and overall easy going with multiple people that I wanted. I contacted a reputable local breeder and have already put my deposit down on a BHC that will be ready to go in 4 to 6 weeks, I am VERY excited.

I am now furiously researching diet, health and all the goodies in between to prepare myself for my new baby. I have click trained several dogs and my rat, so I am planning on using the same technique at some point with my Caique. My daughter, wife and I also managed to settle on names... Jewel for a girl and Tango for a boy.

Now for some questions I have that I'm not easily finding answers for or at least some opinions.

For the cage, I am using a Ferret Nation double height cage I used for my Chin for a few months. I took out the middle grill making this one huge super cage. A couple of concerns I have about the cage:

1. The cage has a plastic pan at the bottom and then a custom made metal pan that has 3" sides to help reduce debris from falling out of the cage from the Chinchilla running around. I'm going to keep the pan at the bottom but there is no grill whatsoever. Is this a problem? Am I OK with just the pan and I should line it with newspaper or some other kind of litter material or is it better to have a grill? If so, can I just use the middle separator grill with 3/4 inch spacing? And if I should use a grill, how high should the grill be from the bottom pan?

2. The cage is really big, it measures 36" wide by 24" deep and 62" high... the total usable height for the bird is around 50" as the rest if take by a 12" bottom storage shelf. Is this too high for a baby/young Caique? At first I didn't even think of it but in reading some other threads about them being clumsy at first, I am worried about him/her falling from the top perch inside the cage and hurting themselves in the fall. Is this a height I should be worried about? I figured they just flare their wings out to slow down and the impact is minimal, but I am looking for clarification.

Here is the cage with all the toys, perches and water/food bowls set up... I tried to position the water and food in a manner that would avoid droppings from falling in... I need another perch for near the water bowl I think:



Sorry for the long post, I'm addicted to forum prattling

Thanks in advance for your comments!
Dan

Congrats and welcome! Caiques are SO much fun to have!

The size of your cage is excellent for a caique! Personally I would try to find a grid that prevents your bird from foraging through his droppings and what have you. It doesn't take long for any fresh food to begin collecting bacteria, which could potentially make him sick if he has access to it.

Your cage is a standard size one, so I would think that you could find a grid out there that will fit. and then see if you could come up with a way to secure it above the plastic tray.

Gizmomania said:

Congrats and welcome! Caiques are SO much fun to have!

The size of your cage is excellent for a caique! Personally I would try to find a grid that prevents your bird from foraging through his droppings and what have you. It doesn't take long for any fresh food to begin collecting bacteria, which could potentially make him sick if he has access to it.

Your cage is a standard size one, so I would think that you could find a grid out there that will fit. and then see if you could come up with a way to secure it above the plastic tray.

Click to expand...

Hi Gizmomania, thanks for your feedback So there was a grid that separated the two levels from each other at one point that I could customize to sit in the bottom tray, but the bar spacing of the grid is the same as the rest of the cage, which is 3/4 inch. Is that too far apart for the bottom grid? And how far should the grid be from the bottom of the tray? If it's to stop him from picking at the bottom, would an inch be enough? I can easily make some risers out of some dowels with a cut across the top that the grid would sit on and I can just put one in each corner, but wondering how tall I should make it. And if the grid bar spacing is too much, I'm thinking something like stainless steel BBQ grills might work.

Thanks again

I'd definitely get a grid. Caiques love to play in the bottom of their cages. They roll around a lot. Rolling + poop = no fun.

Jowelbg said:

I'd definitely get a grid. Caiques love to play in the bottom of their cages. They roll around a lot. Rolling + poop = no fun.

Click to expand...

Is a 3/4" bar spacing on the grid too wide? And how far does it need to be from the bottom pan? And inch or so?

Thanks
Dan

It should be okay. You have to be concerned about their little heads getting caught. When looking at my caique's head, I don't believe that he'd be able to get it stuck between a grid that's 3/4 inches wide. I'm going to say, go for it, but please have a back up plan in mind in case you get him home and see that he's trying something that might cause him problems.

Congrats!!
If you're getting a baby they can be pretty uncoordinated. I'd divide the cage so it's not such a long fall to the cage bottom or put something soft on the bottom. They are incredible acrobats, but if they fall too far they can really injure themselves (keel, tail, wings).

I have 3/4" bar spacing and it works fine. Make sure you don't get any bigger, though. We test drove a cage with 1", and baby Caiques can get their heads through. Also, look into pee-pee pads for a cage liner. They're so convenient!

I spoke to the breeder last night just to get his feedback and he actually told me that a few years ago he removed ALL grills from the bottoms of his cages due to injuries directly related to the grills and instead simply uses wood shavings at the bottom as it helps control odors and it's something soft to land on if they fall. Apparently he lost a breeding pair when one fell from a perch, flared his wings and ended up getting his wing jammed in the grill. The little guy apparently tore his wing apart trying to get free and died and the mate refused to bond to any other bird afterwards. So his recommendation was no grill and use the soft wood shavings.

Uhh... I dunno about the wood shavings. I use a grill in the bottom of my caique's cage but almost half of it is covered with a towel he can play on. He doesn't really poop on it either because he usually only poops from certain perches. I would put more perches in the cage, especially for a baby for easier navigation of the cage. Also, my breeder suggested only using the bottom half of the cage for a few months with babies. They tend to climb to the highest perch when they first get into a new home. So, if the highest perch is half way up the cage, he won't fall so far. It looks good otherwise.

Since you are gettting a baby, may I suggest adjust the bottom grill higher up to reduce the cage height? When he is older and has more coordination, you can always increase the cage height. By instinct, bird will climb to the highest point of the cage regardless where you put the perch(es). If the perch(es) is placed too low, it will ignore the perches, climb up the bars, and cling near the top to sleep. Caiques are acrobats, they don't fly a lot, even though they well can. They'd rather climb and walk.

That's good advice too. My baby caique did fine when the perches were half way up the cage. He didn't climb to the top, only to the highest perch.

the funny thing is caiques act like rodents/ferrets/lizards like they creep around the house a lot and climb walls, and almost never fly unless they really have to and their flying ability is bad compared to a cockatiel or budgie.

hey what species are you getting? are they expensive there?

Hi Cateyes

I decided on a White Bellied Caique as I've now had multiple people tell me they appear to be a bit more affectionate and a little less "bipolar" than the BHCs. They are pretty pricey around here, $900 for a BHC and $1500 for a WBC, so they definitely don't give them away :/

wow where are you from?

Gizmomania said:

Congrats and welcome! Caiques are SO much fun to have!

The size of your cage is excellent for a caique! Personally I would try to find a grid that prevents your bird from foraging through his droppings and what have you. It doesn't take long for any fresh food to begin collecting bacteria, which could potentially make him sick if he has access to it.

Your cage is a standard size one, so I would think that you could find a grid out there that will fit. and then see if you could come up with a way to secure it above the plastic tray.

Click to expand...

I agree.

I would also find a tree branch wood perch that goes all the way across the cage as a main perch. Place it about 3/4 of the way up.

i am from Sydney Australia and caiques are expensive here aswell a black headed caique wil go for about $1500-$2000 also the dollar in australia is close to america 0.90 USD = 1 AUD