Good looking AND smart!

[Remy]

I haven't really trained Puck much in the way of tricks, but he keeps showing me how smart he is!

Yesterday I decided to tell him to go into his cage when he was on top. I usually guide him in, or pick him up and put him in. I just told him "go inside" and "go inside your house" and he went inside on his own accord!!

On occasion, he will refuse to go into his cage (or step up, or something else terrible that I need him to do so I can leave for work), and get angry and bitey. All I have to do is SHOW him a towel or a shirt or something, and he'll behave!


Since my last post about concealing him with a scarf, I've done it a bunch of times. I have taken him in the grocery store, and in restaurants, usually without getting caught. If somebody sees his head pop out of my scarf, they seem to be pleased.


I installed his own light a few weeks ago, and he loves it! He didn't preen a lot when I got him, but now he's preening lots! He also started molting a few days after I put it in. He's also much more playful with his toys, and often won't even want to play with me in the evening, unless I stand on a ladder and play with him on top of his cage.

He still tries to mate with my boyfriend and me. We still discourage it.

 

[suebee]

aww pucks such a good birdie really, i am currently tempting nut into her cage with peanut better straws, she has gone in on her own accord, but cried every step lol an when i got to shut the door she just looks so glum (luckily she has never made a mad dash out of it

 

[kitt]

Sounds like Puck is a happy and lucky birdie....aren't caiques fun. You can't help but love em.

 

[rochesteralexk]

this makes the wait for mine even worse haha.

 

[Remy]

suebee - Awww, how cute!! At least she does it! When Puck doesn't want to go in his cage, he can be a little monster! He doesn't generally sulk; he gets mad!

Kitt - So much fun! When he's not a demon! LOL

rochesteralex - He's so much fun! He can be a real jerk too though...

 

[kitt]

You learn to love the demon side too....it is part of what makes them up and makes them fun.....just the other day leroy was so worked up and ruffled that I told him to cut it out cuz it made his thighs look fat...I swear that bird can ruffle the feathers on his thighs like no other. I also said, that it is something how he can get so worked up over just being loved and someone wanting to hold him or give him attention.LOL What am I thinking...just wanting to love the devil himself, how dare I.

 

[Remy]

Puck's demon side is very cute... from a distance. He is the BEST thigh fluffer! I have never seen a bird puff out it's thighs before him! That's one of the telltale signs I have to NOT touch him. LOL!

 

[BHCowner]

can be fun although as my other posts states in another thread, if your bird decides he doesnt like you and all you get is anger consistently and cant touch him at all, that starts to wear a little bit. This is whats happened to mine and im close to taking him back to where he came from, as they are great people and i wouldnt want to rehome him any other way.

 

[Remy]

He's not like that most of the time. Just passing moods.

I'm sorry that you're having trouble. How long have you had yours?

 

[BHCowner]

1 yr 3 months ish i think... he must be 1yr 8months old...

used to love me... have his moods etc which i could deal with no problem... but now as soon as he sees me hes into angry aggressive mode and thats it. Constant. No reason as i say nothing has changed. So im at a loss.

Ive tried a lot of things to turn him round...nothing works. It's not fair that he lives in my room and all he is is angry... it cant be good for him... when i move out in a year in a half into my own house he will have to contend with a new environment and living with me and my gf (who he also hates) so 2 people he would hate.

 

[IcyWolf]

the move may actually help. My grandmother had a cockatoo that absolutely hated me. I remember having to put on oven mitts just so I could clean her cage, it didn't have a removable tray, it was a ferret cage that they modified into a bird cage so the entire top had to be lifted off the base to clean it. After my grandmother passed, I was supposed to take her but I still lived at home with my mom and she had a no birds rule, so my boyfriends grandfather took her in. After we took her to his house, she absolutely loved me. It was like flipping a light switch, she went from hating my guts to letting me hold her on her back! The only reasoning I can come up with is that she was in a new place, with new people and I was the only person she knew. Even though she hated me before that, I think she weighed her options and realized that attaching herself to me was a safer bet than the new strange people she now lived with. A few months after he got her I ended up getting my own place and she moved in with me and everything was hunky dory. So the change of scenery might actually help, it may not, but I would stick it out a bit before you make any drastic decisions.

 

[nofearengineer]

Remy, what kind of light did you get him? I am on the bubble about getting a proper UV light.

 

[Remy]

He may be hormonal. I don't know when caique start puberty though, but I know they're quite affected by it. Have you asked your vet or a behaviorist? I didn't get Puck until he was almost 4, but he is periodically mean to me.

 

[Remy]

NoFearEngineer - I got Ott lightbulbs and put them in a cheap fixture above Puck's cage. My mom did all the research, but they are supposed to have a healthy amount of UV in them. She said it's the same as the VitaLites.

 

[nofearengineer]

Thanks, Remy. I think I am finally going to pull the trigger and get some full spectrum lighting over Bitty's cage. I would hate to think her drab feathers were because she isn't getting enough visual stimulation to preen.

I'm going to find a fixture like this.

It looks deep enough so the CF lamp won't be hanging out the bottom.

 

[Remy]

That's really pretty! I just mounted a clamp light above Puck's cage, lol.