New Caique Owner with questions

Good morning.

I have had my 3 month caique for a week now. He his happy, playful, eating, etc. I am trying to wean him off formula and onto foods. So all seems normal, but this...

I have noticed he is rarely pooping in his cage and holds it in overnight to morning. Needless to say, it's a lot and my only option is for the first couple minutes out of the cage talk to him over the sink or put him in the bathtub until he "goes".

My question is 2 things. First, is this going to promote him waiting until the morning always? And second, is this going to cause possible intestinal problems in the future.

Maybe it is just the fact he is on formula and still is a baby, but this is different from other smaller birds I have owned.

And quite frankly, since he goes a lot outside of the cage, it doesn't make it enjoyable to do too much things (even though we still play) because I have to confine him into one poop ok area to play. I have read potty training articles, but I still worry he can hold it in for 8 hours.

Any suggestions or knowledge in this area would be appreciated. I want my baby to live a long, healthy life. And he is off to what seems a good start.

Hi there, and welcome to the forums. I took the liberty and moved your thread to the Caique section, in hopes that some Caique owners chime in for you.

Many congrats on your new baby! I have a GW Macaw who holds his poop all night long, and believe me, the first morning 'relief' is no pretty sight. :32: He is often determined to hold it until I take him out, only to promptly 'go' as I'm frantically rushing him into the kitchen, in hopes of catching 'it' on an easy clean surface. :54: Come to think of it, Ripley doesn't go much in the cage at all. He's never had any 'intestinal' problems.

Caiques are famous for their morning Bombs ( and I have 11!)

Dont worry if the morning event is going well. And I would keep an eye on it, so that you can tell what normal poop looks like.

Your first warming of an illness may be abnormal poop

JP

Welcome to the forum! Ours are the same. The first time we took a fecal sample to the vet, they were pretty shocked, "all that from one little bird?"

Wendy, I'm convinced that if I get up later than usual, Beaker launches his morning bomb at me for punishment while I'm running him to the sink.

I'm pretty convinced 11 morning bombs would actually create a mushroom cloud of poo...

Lol at Jowelbg. The great advantage of the morning event is you just pop in with a hose at 8.30am and wash it all out in 2 mins. Aviary clean all day! easy!

A hearty welcome to the forums!

Yes, sadly enough, the morning bombs are pretty much standard.

I wish I could say that--after all this time--I'm completely hardwired to get E&H of their cages and over the sink before the cataclysmic P-Bombs drop.

Unfortunately, it's kinda like those mornings I have every once in awhile when I go out to get the paper, and as I start blearily walking back to the house, all hell breaks loose because I forgot to turn the alarm system off.

In the case of E&H, I'll get them out of their cages, tell them good morning, how much I love them...and then suddenly feel their feet tighten around my fingers to get a better grip.

By then, of course, it's too late. All I can do is think "Aw, s..."

Which may not be a terribly refined thought, but it certainly is accurate...

Keep a garbage can with a plastic bag in it right next to the cage and put them immediately on it first thing and say "poop" or something then praise them when the explosion happens!

Two of mine like to visit in the morning and will wait until I put them on the bathroom mirror perch and they poop in the sink. (quick splash from a cup of water and it's gone!)

We also have the cage surrounded by plastic carpet runner because they also tend to hang on the side of the cage and poop OUT of the cage through the bars sometimes! (There's 4 of them in a huge corner cage so it's tough to tell who's responsible!)

Most of our cages also have a "front porch" drop down door up top that they love sitting on. There's a boot tray under each cage to catch any rudeness.. Hope this helps!

Of our 4, only one poops constantly (every 20mins or so) the rest seem to hold it until they have something under them.

jowelbg said:

welcome to the forum! Ours are the same. The first time we took a fecal sample to the vet, they were pretty shocked, "all that from one little bird?"

wendy, i'm convinced that if i get up later than usual, beaker launches his morning bomb at me for punishment while i'm running him to the sink.

I'm pretty convinced 11 morning bombs would actually create a mushroom cloud of poo...

Click to expand...

maybe so, but it still can't compare to what comes out the back end of a greenwing at first light...

Watch your feet!!!

Hello and welcome! Our Caique is a year old and she has a large "penthouse" of a bed made out of fleece up at the top of her cage. She has only pooped in there at night once in a whole year. Right from the beginning she would hold her poop all night and produce to biggest deuce in the morning that I have ever seen coming from a smallish bird. I can't imagine what the morning bomb from a Macaw looks like!! This is a great place to come for advice as there are so many people here who have had Caiques for years. I would encourage you to use the search engine on this site to look for answers to any questions that come up as it has helped me so much with the every day kinds of questions I have had over the last year. Chances are the archives here have a whole host of posts regarding just about anything. Congrats on adopting a Caique! Although we were completely clueless at first we have learned a whole lot this past year and mostly from this place.
Cheers,Shauna