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I have watched wonderful videos that show caiques wrestling and rolling on their backs and Yankee does not like to lay on his back. He is only 4 months old so I would like to begin training him. How do you get them to wrestle with you and lay on their backs?

Hi Cathy,

I think it's a natural thing for caiques - they shouldn't really need training for that. I wouuld encourage him by getting him a tent and a ball. That's how Jamie got into it. She especially loves it when she has a piece of blanket (fleece in it) - see pictures below And she loves it when I put my hand in the tent so that we can wrestle.




And here are more "tent" pictures if you would like to have a look:

http://www.nvan.com/kate/JamieTent/home.htm

You can also encourage it when you play with Yankee. For example, Jamie loves to play on the floor with me. One of the games we play is "I'm going to get your toes). I move my hand on the floor and say "I'm going to get you" and I touch Jamie's leg/toes and then quickly move the hand back. Jamie tries to hop onto my hand on the way back. I let her and we often finger wrestle. In the wrestling, I touch her all over and she often flips on her back (because shw wants to use both legs for wrestling). Sometimes I flip her over on the floor (or on my lap) when wrestling. She seems to enjoy it . Have a foot toy handy and give it to Yankee when you flip him over. Caiques generally love to play with foot toys on their backs.

Your baby is pretty young and he is still getting used to his new environment. I beleive that Jamie started playing on her back a few weeks after I got her. Don't push Yankee too hard - let him get comfortable and once he is, you can start with positive reinforcement training. He will probably show you tons of his own tricks even without being trained

Tani Robar has excellent traiining videos. The website is:
http://www.parrottricktraining.com/

I have used the video and Joey has learned tons of tricks, based on Tani's technique. I taught Jamie some as well.


Kate

Laying on their backs or their side is natural for a caique. You won't have to 'train' him to do that. They all do it, just don't expect him to stay in that position very long.
He'll learn as he grows, be patient. He's only 4 months old.

Yankee is really wonderful. I am enjoying his wonderful personality more each day. I am trying to teach him to stay out of my hair at the moment. He seems very smart and I have to remember to be consistent because he is so funny.

Is it OK to let him explore my hands with his beak? He is very gentle but I don't know if that will lead to biting.

Kate, I loved the pictures of your caique in his tent. He really looks like he is having a great time. Thank you for sharing.

The pictures of Jaime are absolutely adorable! She looks like she was having a blast! Thank you so much for sharing the pictures with us.

Cathy, have you taken pictures of Yankee yet? We'd love to see him!

Everything I have come across has descibed caiques as being beaky birds. It is normal for birds to test things with their beaks to feel around and whatnot. If he starts getting nippy, that's the time to curb it. If your bird is meerly feeling, there should not be a problem. Just make sure Yankee knows what kind of touching is acceptable and what is not. It shouldn't be a problem if he knows to be gentle.

I have noticed that Yankee will test things with his beak. He does seem to use it to explore and so far, when he is exploring me he has been very gentle.

Last night, for the first time, he let me scritch? his neck. He really seems to enjoy it, especially since he has a lot of pin feathers around his face. I gently scratched and loosened a lot of the karotene sheaths. He would stretch his neck and open his mouth and almost gack. It seemed like a real break through for us. I haven't been able to spend much time with him until the last 2 days because my mother-in-law has been in intensive care and my parents were visiting from Ohio. But, we have really seemed to bond the last 2 nights.

I will take some pictures this weekend and post them.

They always explore with their beak and tounge. Scooby and I finger wrestle all the time. She will reach out and grab my finger with her beak. Its not a pinch or anything but when she has toys in 1 foot and my finger in the other its all she has left.
When she gets woundup and excited then I know its time for me to relax a bit and give her a moment to undwind and catch her breath. I usualy put her back in her cage and she will eat a bite or two and get a drink of water. I leave her cage door open and when she has finished we go right back at it.

You will know the difference between a bit and her playing. Give her time and be paitent. When she bites to hard be gentle and tell her no. She will get the idea in a very short time.