A Word from David , 31st August 2007

I think at this stage we all have to acknowledge the very hard work that my friend, Jasper's step-dad, has put into raising Jasper to where he is now. I am extremely lucky to have been able to help, albeit in a small way. We went to see them both last night and it was truely amazing. Jasper was standing up and having a good look around and calling out. Whilst the original plan was to put him into a cage, he hasn't yet got there as it was felt that he was still a little too unsteady and needed more support and warmth. Jasper is maintained at a temperature of 23 degrees. When we brought him out for cuddles, he loved being held in warm hands or inside a pocket on a sweatshirt! On both occasions he was obviously well content as he decided to have a good old snooze.

I had another go at feeding him, but as you will see from the photographs there was more food flying around the room than ending up in the right place. I think that that will be a feature of things to come as he gets older and enjoys a diet with much more fruit in. One of the things that we have to be sure of when feeding him, is that the food is the right temperature. Too hot, will scald his crop and too cold will cause him to lose interest. The ideal temperature seems to be 43 degrees. If it drops below that, he loses his appetite and turns away. At the right temperature, the struggle is to make sure the food goes in the right place - he flaps his wings, jerks his head and squeeks with delight. We put the food on a teaspoon that has the sides bent inwards so that it acts as a funnel. This way, hopefully more gets into his tiny beak. We don't want to fill his crop too much at each feed so that he always wants a little bit more each time.

At the end of each feed, he makes little cooing noises of contentment and within a minute or so, he is sound asleep

31st August 2007, 7 and a half weeks old!

Hi all, managed to get David away from the computer.... for now!

Jasper here, reporting for duty - I'm attaching my latest picture - aren't I more handsome as the weeks go by? I'm getting more and more feathers and getting more colourful. I think these little green bits at the side of my beak are quite fetching, what do you think?

On my back, down near my tail, I've got one or two feathers sticking up at a jaunty angle and growing all by themselves. I have one green one growing all by itself. Really odd.

Feeding time is great fun - David, the poor might is really useless at feeding me. It is highly amusing seeing him struggle to give me my food. I think he got more on me than in me. He then proceded to laugh at me and call me fat belly, the cheek! I'll be jumping on his belly soon and we'll see how much he laughs at me then - ha ha!

Jasper's Story Pt4

Jasper the Black Headed Caique Story is told by and ©copyright of David Pell, as are the images. This story and or the images must not be copied or taken from Caique Crazy Capers without prior permission from David Pell