Hello! Got some ?'s

[clevr4]

Hello, i am new here and i am very very interested in owning a caique! I just have some questions...
1- how loud are they? my sister has a sun conure and i have experienced his outbursts quite a few times so if you can, base it off how loud a sun is...
2- what r the differences in the two types and the sexes?
3- r they relatively easy to train and care for?
4- do they make a good beginner bird? (i have cared for my sisters sun A LOT so i know the responsibility of owning a bird)
5- how big of a cage would he/she need? i know the bigger is better but what is minimum, although if i do get one i will get it a cage that is way bigger than minimum
THANKS!

[rockybird]

1 - Not as loud as a sun, but still can have outbursts when calling for you. If I am not home, he is quiet as a mouse. When I am home, he ALWAYS wants to be with me and will call, whistle, scream for about 15 mins. and then quiets down. I took care of a sun once, and the noise was MUCH worse.

2- I think males can be more aggressive when they reach sexual maturity. I am not sure if there are differences between the types other than price, but someone with more exp. might know.

3 - They are NOT easy to care for in the sense they are extremely energetic, demanding birds. I take mine out for 3+ hours a day, and it is still not enough. I have even thought of giving him up because he requires so much interaction. My conure will sit quietly and snuggle, my caique is into everything. I cannot do anything with him out as he is all over the place. He will not sit still for a minute. And if I put him in the cage, he will cry, scream, call for me. They are VERY messy.

Very smart and I am sure very trainable. My boy is potty trained. I think they can learn tricks, but i dont see my guy ever sitting still long enough to learn!

4- I dont think they make a good beginner bird, but experience with a sun will certainly help. As babies, these are the funnest sweetest pets. Very easy to work with. When my bird sexually matured, he developed very bad bloody bites. Bad enough to go to the ER. From what I understand, this is not unusual for caiques. He usually bit if I ignored him in lieu of the cell phone, the computer, or for my other bird. I dont think all caiques do this, but I think many do.

5-the biggest cage you can afford! I think 3 ft. x 2 ft. minimum.

Having a caique is different I think from the other parrots. THey are little hams. My bird whistles and dances, making up his own tunes. They are very demanding. They surf. THey wrestle. As I type this he has crawled on top of my head and tried to rip my ear ring out. In the last three minutes, he has chewed the straw up in my iced drink, nipped me when I said no, pulled the lid off, and sprayed my self and the computer with the drink, gotten into a bag of chips, tried to pull a scab off my hand, tried to masturbate on my hand...in the last THREE minutes. My conure has sat quietly snuggled against my neck on my shoulder meanwhile. If you are ready for a bundle of incredible energy, an occasionally loud bird, that may bite badly, that is more like a puppy in many senses than a bird, than maybe a caique is for you.

[Freedomoflight]

1. Not as high pitched as a sun, but they certainly get loud. Based on the sound of my two, I'd never recommend them as an apartment bird. To listen to one of my caiques screaming go here Caique Crazy - the ultimate caique web portal
2. There is no difference between the species other then color. Some say the BHC is more laid back while others say the WBC is. IMO it all boils down to the individual personality of the bird. Besides, its a caique, how laid back can it be?
3. I agree with what Rocky said.
4.I know that some people have started out with caiques as their first bird- in general I do not recommend it. They take a strong willed person and someone willing to put up with their noise, their constant demands, and their unique body language. If you are considering one, I would recommend going and handling a bunch, both babies and adults, before deciding to bring one home.
5. Cage minimum I believe is at least 30 by 24. Mine each have their own cage, and their cages are 35 by 30 by 40, and they are longer the tall, which is ideal. Caiques like to hop and play and putting a lot of branches in there so they can hop to and fro is best.

[mybirdbutters]

Hello, I have a Caique named Butters he is 4 years old.

He is a difficult bird and nearly as bad as a sun conure, noise wise. If I knew how difficult/loud Caiques were, I would have just bought a sun instead LOL.

I love Butters with all my heart, but he is very trying sometimes... lot of the time haha.