New Baby White-Bellied Caique, woke up CRAZY one day

[Megals22]

Hi everyone! I wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions for me regarding my Bowser. My boyfriend Drew and I spent about a year deciding on a Caique of all bird species before we got him. I bought every book they have on Caiques and parrot training/behavior and I read everything before hand. We just brought Bowser home from the store about a week ago. He was fine for the whole first week, easily stepping onto our hands. Then, out of no where, yesterday morning when I uncovered him at the same time we have been doing every day, he was upset. I went to work and Drew tried for a long time to get him out of the cage, but he just bit and bit and bit. He did get him out eventually, and he kept flying / hopping away and hiding under anything he could and then getting him back in was a project as well. Drew then went to work, and when we both came home, Bowser was still very angry, and bit us both very hard, drawing blood multiple times. So, I figured maybe he just had a bad day. I hoped Bowser would wake up in a normal mood today, but Drew got up and uncovered him and tried to take him out and put him on the top playpen of his cage where we feed him his fresh food, but Bowser was still a biting little monster this morning. The store we got him from recommended grabbing him with a towel, and holding him like that. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[Scooter]

How old is this baby? None of mine ever acted that way until they either hit the "terrible two's" or became sexually mature. I am house sitting a little green cheek conure that sometimes will try to attack upon getting her out of her sleeping cage in the morning. I just shut the door and go back in about 15 minutes or so and give her the opportunity to come to me. She usually does. Maybe something has scared your little guy. Maybe let him come out of the cage by himself - maybe it is that "I want to do it myself" attitude. I know that some people believe that we should always be in control of our birds - but after 10 years of having birds I have bent the rules to what I hope makes more sense to the bird. My amazon always steps up from inside the cage to come out and also at night when I cover him and tuck him in for the nite - he must step up and come out for a nitey kiss. It is such a routine - he starts to come to me when he see's me coming. And seems almost sad if I am busy and forget - because that is our routine.

I hope that your little guy settles in quickly so you all can enjoy each other. One thing I just thought of too - try not to move too quickly around him. They are full of energy birds, but also startled rather easily. And if they are not anticipating you reaching for them - you may catch them off guard and they will bite out of instinct.

Hope things go more smoothly in the next few days. They are such wonderful little guys.

[Lori~D]

It could have been something as simple as the color of his shirt that morning. Anybody got new glasses? New hair? any new furniture in the house? Some thing simple can change their whole perspective of a situation. Can he see out a window near his cage?? Something has frightened him and parrots respond with biting even those they are bonded to. You need to step back and survey the situation and find out what tiny thing could have scared him and in the meantime continue your normal routine. I have a zon I raised from the nest. One day I went in to get her she THREW herself across the cage and to the floor growling the whole time. It took awhile to get her to step up nice again and a long time for me to figure out what it was. She is frightened of dark arms,lol. Ant dark long sleeve sweatshirt or shirt terrifies her....she is getting better with them but she must fall to the floor before she will step up if I have any dark shirt on my arms.

[ThreeX]

Originally Posted by Scooter

Maybe let him come out of the cage by himself - maybe it is that "I want to do it myself" attitude. I know that some people believe that we should always be in control of our birds - but after 10 years of having birds I have bent the rules to what I hope makes more sense to the bird.

I am totally with you on that one. I figure - why should i force him to come out if that is not what he wants in the first place??
Disciplin and rules is one thing, forcing yourself on a bird (or person for that matter) is pretty pointless in building a solid relation IMO.
My BFA wouldn't come out unless i picked him up in the cage, my CAG's *WILL NOT* step up inside the cage. Both ways are fine by me actually. i do not put anything personal against me in that behaviour.

[Megals22]

Bowser was hatched May 30th, 2009. So he's going to be 5 months at the end of this month. This afternoon, he still bit me once before I got him out of the cage. I was just trying to work on the step up for a few minutes, and he kept jumping and fluttering to the floor and running and trying to hide. Once, he went straight to his cage once he got to the floor. I'm so frustrated. Should I maybe leave him alone in his cage for a day or so? I leave the door open and he hasn't tried to come out at all.

[Greycloud]

First of all your bird is a young baby. He is in a new home and 1 week is not long in the least. You never, ever want to force a bird to do anything against there will unless it is an emergency. Any trust built up is immediately destroyed and very difficult to get back. After uncovering in the A.M. leave him be. Put his fresh food in the bottom of his cage in a small dish. Let him build his comfort level again. Do this for about a week. Every so often through out the day go to his cage slowly and talk gently to him offer a treat through the bars. He probably won't accept at first. After a week or so and you uncover him let him settle again then after about an hour open his cage and walk away. If he investigates good if not OK too. Eventually he will come out on his own. Tell him good boy and don't push it. Visit him and offer treat. Eventually he will take a treat from you. You may have to experiment with different treats. Only after he builds trust accepting treats can you begin to offer head scritches. Then move on to step up. The problem is he lost his trust and you have to take two steps back to gain one step forward on gaining that trust again. The bird must make the desicions himself to allow things to move forward. Good luck.

[sweetpeaches]

I have a 2 1/2 year old caique, Bailey that I got when he was 5 months old. He never displayed behavior like that. I think all the advice given thus far is "spot on". These birds can be a handful, but he is still very much a baby and needs more time to adjust to his new home. Bailey really didn't start playing with his toys alot until he was home for 2 weeks.

[Freedomoflight]

I really can't say much more then echo what everyone else here has already said.

Here are some additional resources for you to check out:

Caique Crazy - the ultimate caique web portal
Caique Forum - Powered by vBulletin

[Freedomoflight]

I really can't say much more then echo what everyone else here has already said.

Here are some additional resources for you to check out:

Caique Crazy - the ultimate caique web portal
Caique Forum - Powered by vBulletin

[Megals22]

Update: Bowser turned 5 months yesterday. He/she has been doing MUCH better than when I first posted about his/her biting. The day after I last responded, Bowser went to the Vet for his new bird check-up. I'm happy he is healthy! Today, which also happens to be my birthday, Bowser has been the sweetest and most cuddly he's ever been! The last few weeks, he hasn't been biting at all. We have been feeding him his favorites treats (dried apricots and dried banana chips) by making him take them out of our hands. He's been playing with all his toys like crazy! He now loves being held, flipped on his back, and having his head and neck areas scritched. I'm not sure why he was nasty a few weeks ago, but he seems to have warmed up since then =o)