about kakeriki s in house

Mariannenl · Snr Member Joined: Oct 14, 2004 Posts: 59

I got many questions from people asking me if you can keep a kakeriki as a pet , and my opinion is that a kakariki is not a bird for in a small cage in the living room, it s a bird that needs to hang, dig , en climb and fly.
One question was : I have bought an older one and he is biting me, what should I do....I dont know what s wrong with that bird, because kakariki s seldom bite and are very easy to be tamed as far as I know.
This message shows that these birds are sold to people as pets in small cages, helas.

I like to know what you think about that ?

many greetings.

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

Need larger dages for sure, and to be able to have flight.
Many yrs ago I found a red (wild) that had a bad wing on the side of the road...at the time I was not awhere of requirements nore permits etc.
He got pariniod in a small cage very quickly...
At the time I also had a Suphur crested as a house Bird.
Simply...Kikes need similar housing to a large cockatoo, house bird, even thu being very much smaller...As a bare min.

I had similar problems with the above bird and had it since...put him in a smaller cage by your chair, read a book with your hand in the cage, grit your teeth, and wait for him to get sick of it.
If you flinch or pull away he will think its a game or has the dominance and will continue, so dont 'play his game ' signlol

'
I can assure u at the end the pain is woth the results.
I think I described taming down in another thread someware.

Tanygnathus · Member Joined: May 09, 2005 Posts: 11

Hello!
I keep kakariki in aviary, I think is absolutely necessary to them a place to dig and some grass on the floor.
When I give them to people who wish a pet, they got tamed no longer that after few hours. I tell to them to let them free for long time in the day, so parrots of my friends are going (generally walking) free in the houses.
I also tell to them is "compulsory" a place with dry leafs (a cardboard box, for example) and some rind and bark to let Kakariki to play and dig.

Of course is much more importanto to give a LONG cage then an HIGH cage, and it is to avoid a CILINDRIC cage. It's also very important togive a "bath room" for Kakarikis, because they take a lot of baths, even several times in the day.

About the biting birds, i quote completely what Steptoe told...also with my Vasa parrot (who has a beak bid like a whole Kakariki) I got some biting, and after some time bird was giving them soft and softer, since he stopped to bite...

Few of the kakariki owners I know take them daily (like if they have a dog) in the garden to play; one tried to put on his kakariki a bird harness, but the bird never accepted it, but is coming back all the times when the owner is calling him with a whistle.

when I give my birds, I usually tell to the person who gets them that it's better to keep always them in couple, even if they are kept as pets. they are anyhow tamed, but when the owner is absent they don't get bored.

Ciao
Francesco

Mariannenl · Snr Member Joined: Oct 14, 2004 Posts: 59

I noticed that the pied ones I have got in the aviary ( only one of the was a housepet and given to me) are coming to you as well when they see that the tame one gets nice and tasty food ( rests of food for the flown out song trush babies)
Remarkeble that only the pied kaks were coming, the wild coloured ones and the cinamon stayed on a distance.

MARIANNE
( dont look at my pale colour, I have will have 3 weeks vacation in two weeks time)

Allen · Foundation Member Joined: Oct 14, 2004 Posts: 269

Kakarikis are naturally bold and unafraid. I think it has something to do with their ancestors in NZ not having any / many natural predators until people arrived in NZ.

Kakarikis are quick learners and they probably learn from the example of other birds. For example if you keep your kikes in an aviary alongside birds like Rosellas, Red Rumps or Grass Parakeets that are usually wild and panic when people approach, I think the Kikes will take longer to become tame. If your kikes are near other calm and fairly tame birds, they will quickly learn to have no fear and come to you for food and entertainment.

Sometimes in a group situation, you will find the dominant bird tames first and comes to you whereas the other birds hold back a bit out of respect / fear of the dominant bird.

I had a couple of very tame (hand reared) female kikes that I put in a large flight as juveniles. They very quickly stopped coming to me when I entered the aviary because of a hand reared adult male cockatiel that chased them away. As soon as I moved the cockatiel out the kikes became their old friendly confident selves.

Always remember that your birds are highly intelligent with feelings and emotions too. If they feel safe and happy, I don't think their are any kikes out there that won't become quite tame within a short while.

Oh yes, some body touched on this once before but kikes have a bit of chicken, quail and pheasant tendencies in them. They love to scratch around on the ground, turf, grass, leaves, sand anything goes. Also probably due to the relatively safe environment that they evolved in. They could spend time on the ground (in the past) without worrying about predatory mammals. Some breeders have even had kikes raise chicks on the aviary floor after removing the nest boxes to try and give the pair a rest.

So if you have a kike in the house, be aware that they need lots of space and playtime. They don't need expensive toys, just messy things out the garden like grass, branches, leaves, rotting wood.

I believe that kikes have a pretty robust digestive system and can handle most things that you give them, just rember if you give them stuff from the garden floor, deworm your kikes regularly.

Truudeke · Foundation Member Joined: Jan 27, 2005 Posts: 14

hallo,
hier ben ik weer truudeke uit belgie,ik wou jullie even bubbels laten zien die geboren is in een gewoone kooi in de living spijtig genoeg is de mama gestorven en heb ik bubbels gedeeltelijk zelf moeten voeden na 14 dagen heeft de papa het overgenomen ,spijtig genoeg hen ik de papa moeten weg geven omdat hij wilde paren met zijn dochter papa is nu bij mensen in een buiten voliere dus hoop ik gelukkig bubbels is heel tam ik moet haar overal meenemen ze zit in een binnen voliere die ik ook buiten zet en alle dagen laat ik haar buiten vliegen wat ze erg leuk vind hopelijk staat de foto hierop groetjes truudeke

Mariannenl · Snr Member Joined: Oct 14, 2004 Posts: 59

hello dear members

hereby a picture of my BUBBLES, his mother died as I wrote before, and I was obliged to handfeed it, fortunately dad took it over after two weeks.

I am very sorry to tell that I had to sell the dad, because he was already trying to mate with his own child !

Bubbles is fine now and as you can see he or she is very tame,

many greetings,
TRUUDE
grom belgium.