white bellied caique or Rainbow lory

Hi, I have never owned a bird in my life and just recently decided to get one as a pet. I have talked with different pet store owners and bird owners trying to find the right bird for me. So far I am interested in the white bellied caique, or the rainbow lorikeet. I am having a hard time choosing. From what I hear the caique is a very entertaining bird and can talk, but almost double the price of the lorikeet. The lorikeet is beautiful and I hear its also entertaining and can talk, but they seem to get a bad wrap when it comes to their messy stool and diet. I am a single mom and I am looking for a bird who is entertaining, pretty, tame, easy maintenance and won't get stressed out if I'm not at home during the daytime hours. Can anyone give me any advice on their experiences with these birds or help me select one that is right for me. Thanks a lot

I would go with a caique, I think these guys would make a better first pet....

Get a Caique, they are natural clowns, you'll love him/her.

I agree.

1) Caiques are awesome - I plan getting one as soon as I possibly can.

2) Lories are cool too, but I've worked with A LOT of lories and their droppings are pretty nasty. You can put them on a dry diet - that will definitely help, but they are still very noisy and just not as awesome as caiques.

Thanks for your suggestions. I went ahead and bought a Caique last March. I just love him!!!! I purchased him right after he hatched. I went in and bonded with him several times a week until he was able to come home with me. He is Awesome!!! I named him Midori, and he is very energetic, but not demanding. He has a great cage, a manzanita playgym, and a parrot stand in my bed room. He is not noisy at all, he waits for us to get up on the weekends. I love the fact that he lets us sleep in, but the minute he hears our voice, he immediately starts screaming for us to come get him or at least give him some attention and get him out of his cage. But overall he plays great by himself. I have a 3 year old and he is absolutely great with her. They have a reputation of being beaky, but he has never bit her. She handles him all the time. If he starts getting annoyed he will just fuss at her to leave him alone. Midori isn't great at speaking but tries really hard. He does the "hey sexy" whistle call everytime we walk by. He can also say "whatcha doing,huh?", "hello", and "peek a boo". Its just not real clear yet. He is only 11 months old, so I'm hoping it will improve in time. His personality is so funny. If I am gone most of the day, he will shoot his poop outside the cage to show me he was not happy. He loves to crawl up on our head and just hang out. He allows my 3 yr old to pick him up and lay him on his back as she tells him to go to sleep. He lays there a second and gets right back up. They will do this about six times, it is so funny. I can't believe he doesn't get mad at her. He really enjoys her. If I start to fuss at her, he starts screaming at her too. If she starts crying or throwing a tantrum, he fusses at her too. He has mastered her scream. If you chase my daughter, she screams, he can scream identical to her. At times my family doesn't know if its my daughter or my parrot screaming. But he only screams if she screams first. He enjoys copying her. We truely love our caique. I highly recommend this bird to anyone... thanks

I can't believe how smart I was for choosing to get a Caique!

There is no other bird out there quite like them.