Posted: Thu May 10, 2012 11:44 pm Post subject: Help In Training my new kakariki please
We have just bought a new Yellow kakariki we are told it is a baby by the shop we bought him from and i was hoping to get some tips on how to tame him. My girlfreind went to change is water this morning and he flew out of his cage and we can not get him to come back to us we have tried standing by him with our arms out and food in our palms but he wont come on to our hands although he doesnt fly away he wont make the step on to us. Could you pls advise of how we can help to solve this and wat we need to do.
And are there any good books or websites we could use to help us out. any advice would be very as we in at the deep end as she went for a love bird and fell in love with the kakariki.
Taming is about trust and a balance between that and u being the 'Alpha male' of the flock.
1st thing is your birds have to establish the cage as THEIR bedroom, terrority, place to go to roost, threatened etc.
Next is hand training .
On the left is a "quick Search " block type in words like taming diet return to cage stuff like that and start to read.
Kakariki by nature are a very friendly bird, most proberly one of the easiest to tame down, even from wild.....on the other hand they are the most independant of birds, and most energetic/active.....dont expect a cuddly type budgie that becomes emotionally dependant, start to pull feathers and all the other nonesence associated with emotional dependance of other species when go on holiday for a few days.
Instead of having a dependant pet, one more co habits with them, like a good flatmate, if u know what I mean.
Cheers
Steps _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
You will find that many of the things about a kakariki are very much in common with a dog, even much of the diet, thru to the freedom of good excerise and taming and training. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
Needs: they are very energetic birds and need plenty of room and things to play with and as many free flight hours as you can give them. At least 2 or 3 a day.
remove the grid from the cage if there is one. They love and need to forage on the ground. He needs natural perches in several wides to support his feet and train them.
Place one large one from floor to a top corner of his cage. The running up and down will keep his claws short.
A good diet is very important. Fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs daily. As Step said: search for diet on here and you will get loads of info. I feed them twice a day. Veggies in the morning and fruit late afternoon. Seed available all day. Make sure to wash all fresh foods before you offer it.
Remove left over after a few hours to avoid it from turning bad.
Fresh water daily. They are messy.. so maybe you need to offer fresh water more than once a day. They can drink from water-bottles like they use for rabbits etc..
They love to take a daily bath. Make sure he can.
A single bird can become over attached to one of the caretakers. An over attatched bird shows possessive behavior like biting etc..
Try to avoid that by letting as many people as possible interact with him.
taming: let him get used to his cage for a few days.
Try to find out what his fav food is and use that as a treat to tame him.
sunflower seeds, carrots/ fresh mint leaves etc..
If you make sure there is no food available outside of the cage he will get back to his cage as soon as soon as you offer him a treat there.
Birds are pray animals ( eyes on both side of the head) to him we are big predators ( eyes in front of head)
Approach him sideways. With just one eye looking at him or not looking at him at all. try avoid sudden moves.. relax and be thought full when interacting. He will trust you in no time.
He will try his boundaries and bite at least once for sure. Don't pull back, don't scream. Stay calm and growl like a lion. biting.. even gentle bites to check out if your fingers are edible are a NO NO.
no hitting, shouting, locking up tp punish him. does NOT work and only make it worse!
In free flight.. direct him to a playground . a net or a swing hanging from the ceiling or whatever.. that's where he will poop most. Newspaper on the floor et voila :)
They have the intelligence of a 4 year old and learn quick!
Congrats!!! They might not be as cuddly as a love bird but they are a lot less aggressive , less loud and far more entertaining. Kakariki are such clowns!
He needs natural perches in several wides to support his feet and train them
Old branches between 1/2 and 1 1/2" in diam.
For Any caged bird...get rid of the wooden dowel perches and a mentioned the grill base......a few sheets of news paper will do....quite a few gives u more time between laying down and them ripping it up
And a rolled up ball of newspaper sometime help to delay further, as a toy...as does an old shoe box with a hole in it. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
thank you so much for all your advise i have read and put all this into practice with olly but for the time being he is still very stand offish and just tries to escape through his bars pretty much all the time and i feel horrible not letting free fly around but the store i bought him told me not to till he is comfortable with me and the family. but he seems to be getting very bored and frustrated in his cage is this normal behaviour and also he does not seem any closer to letting his guard down at with us wat would you reccomend to be the best way to encourage him to be comfortable with us thank you again and im gald that this site is available to help novices like us build and enjoy olly with him feeling like he is loved and enjoying life
Just give him some time to settle in. For some it takes a few days, for others a few weeks.
If I have a newcomer I just sit beside it's cage and talk sweet nonense to it as often as I can. Or I curl up with a book and some goodies, just to let it become used to me.
Offer a goodie through the bars. If he takes that, he might also take it from your hand when held inside the cage. Don't move around after him. just let your hand rest on a perch and let him come to you.
Kakariki aren't bored easily. They re-re-rediscover the world every 5 minutes
like steps said, a newspaper or bright coloured plastic bottle caps or a piece of corn on the cob,, piece of non coloured cardboard ( eggbox, empty toiletpaper roll) .. all make great toys.
Like you I am new to owning and caring for Kakariki's. I run a hostel in Edinburgh and I live-in and only have a very large bedroom. I started with one Female, and now I have 4 birds. I love them to death. They have their own personality and are very easy to train. All that it takes is patience. I am quite happy to let them fly around my bedroom most of the time I am in my room. My birds are not destructive, they will try to chew on things, but if they find it not tasty they give up...
I would recommend letting Olly out in a large room with not too many mirrors or windows. As long as you leave him be he will get his wings and figure out where a good places to land are. P.s. mine love the curtain rods and climbing the curtains. After a few times out he will be a champion flyer. Just make it easy for him to get to his cage. I would invest in a large cage and give him loads of things in there such as branches to climb around on. Find something that Olly really loves to eat and only give it to him when he does something you want him to do...
Mainly it's patience... They are cheeky characters... But lovely
Havnt a clue.. maybe they have found the wet paper when sucked on releases a liquid cellulose soln...cellulose is basically 'raw' plant material.
Different kakariki have different habits.. some will soak their veggies before eating... others stand on the side of a water tray and flick water over themselves to wash... others jump right in and swim to the other side using their wings as arms ...
And where many of these difference come from... no idea.. as so many cant have been tought or copied... as non of the birds do do some of these things. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
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