Soon to be Texas zon owner signing in!

[iamwhoiam]

Sure there is a big difference but I was just stating that any bird can bite and I didn't mean biting all the time. Sorry if I didn't communicate that correctly. I am familiar with Barbara Heidenreich. You may also want to check out Dr. Susan Friedman if you haven't already done that Welcome to BehaviorWorks.org I took her caregiver course but it's not being offered any more.

Booda perches....my Amazons destroy those so they don't get those. They do have a variety of hardwood perches and platforms as well as Polly's pedicure perches: Polly's Pet Products or
Polly's Pet Products

BTW, Polly's will customize perch sizes for the hardwood perches.

Try to find out what type of metals are being used in toys you want to purchase. Stainless is the best, IMO, followed by nickel plated.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Best of luck in your search. Hope you find that special bird.

 

[baserock love]

Sure there is a big difference but I was just stating that any bird can bite and I didn't mean biting all the time. Sorry if I didn't communicate that correctly. I am familiar with Barbara Heidenreich. You may also want to check out Dr. Susan Friedman if you haven't already done that Welcome to BehaviorWorks.org I took her caregiver course but it's not being offered any more.

Booda perches....my Amazons destroy those so they don't get those. They do have a variety of hardwood perches and platforms as well as Polly's pedicure perches: Polly's Pet Products or
Polly's Pet Products

BTW, Polly's will customize perch sizes for the hardwood perches.

Try to find out what type of metals are being used in toys you want to purchase. Stainless is the best, IMO, followed by nickel plated.

Hmm, everybody i talk to with zons says they love the booda's for sleeping and most sites recommend you have one for sleep. I'll pick this one up and see how it goes and remove it if he starts destroying it so he doesn't get tangled i n it.

I'll probably be making most of my perches from here on out and make sure i get stainless steel hardware and non toxic wood. I'm sortof DIY kinda guy. I figure to start with i might as well just order everything i need at once since i unexpectedly got a great deal on that huge cage. Thanks for the links!

 

[jmfleish]

I actually had an appointment to meet and possibly pick up a five year old BFA off craigslist on monday but the owner made up some lie and backed out at the last second, i was pretty disappointed as he seemed like a great fit. Still not sure whether he was trying to scam or just got cold feet or what. There's another bfa on there i've been having periodic chats with the owner of but i'm not exactly confident it's been taken care of well and i'm hesitent to adopt a parrot that might be fraught with medical issues. he said he stopped having his beak and nails trimmed "years ago and he doesn't mind." and said his first BFA died after 10 years of "some liver disease" because he didn't know that feeding them nothing but walmart bird seed was bad. I'm sure the disease was fatty liver disease. He claims his current BFA is on a good diet of pellets and chop but sure talked at length about how much he just loves pizza and cheetos and other garbage. The owner doesn't strike me as the sharpest knife in the drawer.

There's teh BFA at the rescue about 4 hours away but he's 24. I was all for this because I was under the impression amazons lived for a long time. I don't know what to believe now. No two information sources seem to agree, one site says they live for 25 to 30 years while another says 50 while another says 70. As much as i want to rescue a zon, i'm not sure if i want to get one at the tail end of it's life. I still haven't entirely finished grieving for my last companion and he passed on over a year ago.

Yeah, it's hard to tell. If you have them on a good diet most of their life, I would say they could live to 50. You hear all the time that they should live to 70 or 80 or that someone has a bird that is that old but I always really wonder about that because birds are passed around so much that how could anyone really know for sure unless it was a family bird. We're finding that the average grey only lives to around 30 unless they've really been taken care of and have led an active life. They tend to suffer a lot from heart related diseases and really need a lot of exercise. I would think that because Amazons tend to be lazy little couch potatoes that length of life is really going to depend on whether or not they are active as well. My two older ones are really lazy and will not fly unless their life depends on it. Iris and Nibbles like to fly and do it often. I'd place bets on who is going to live longer of the four!

 

[iamwhoiam]

Maybe my Amazons are the exception but they both ripped them up. In fact my YNA removed one end of hers from the plastic end cap. I could have replaced them but I decided to pass on that.

It's great that you are a DIYer. A friend and I made a play gym and a stand several years ago but I generally purchase bird goodies although I do have toy parts and sometimes make my own. Stainless steel skewers are great for creating quick and easy toys. For example: Amazon.com : Scooter Z's Bird & Small Animal Stainless Steel Skewer, Large : Pet Toys : Pet Supplies

BTW, congrats on getting a great deal on the cage. What cage did you get if I may ask?

 

[baserock love]

Yeah, it's hard to tell. If you have them on a good diet most of their life, I would say they could live to 50. You hear all the time that they should live to 70 or 80 or that someone has a bird that is that old but I always really wonder about that because birds are passed around so much that how could anyone really know for sure unless it was a family bird. We're finding that the average grey only lives to around 30 unless they've really been taken care of and have led an active life. They tend to suffer a lot from heart related diseases and really need a lot of exercise. I would think that because Amazons tend to be lazy little couch potatoes that length of life is really going to depend on whether or not they are active as well. My two older ones are really lazy and will not fly unless their life depends on it. Iris and Nibbles like to fly and do it often. I'd place bets on who is going to live longer of the four!

Well I LOVE animal training, and i'd really like to do things like indoor flight recall training if we can get up to that point, i'll exercise them as much as they let me. I've heard about the perch potato proclivities of zons and I don't plan to encourage that at all.

I have noticed looking at all the sheltered zons nationwide they're mostly in their 30's and younger and some in their 40's and 50's but very few.

part of me wonders if it's like ferrets. The "average life span" of a ferret is like 3 to 4 years because the average ferret owner is an idiot who doesn't do any research, feed their ferrets garbage food not even designed for ferrets and let it rot in a cage and don't exercise it and play with it, and don't pay for treatment when it gets sick. Meanwhile the vets I knew who had ferrets their ferrets lived into their teens. Mine lived longer tbecause I fed them well and took care of them and gave them happy lives of constant stimulation.

Seeing some of the poor parrots on craigslist so many of them are in rusty empty cages that are way too small, there's no toys and you can see a bowl full of wild bird seed in the corner of the photo and it's an obvious bird-flip transaction with a broken english description of like "I sale my parrot bird 800 cash only" by somebody who probably doesn't even know what species it is. I'm sure none of those birds are going to make it very long and probably drag down that average lifespan :\

 

[baserock love]

Maybe my Amazons are the exception but they both ripped them up. In fact my YNA removed one end of hers from the plastic end cap. I could have replaced them but I decided to pass on that.

It's great that you are a DIYer. A friend and I made a play gym and a stand several years ago but I generally purchase bird goodies although I do have toy parts and sometimes make my own. Stainless steel skewers are great for creating quick and easy toys. For example: Amazon.com : Scooter Z's Bird & Small Animal Stainless Steel Skewer, Large : Pet Toys : Pet Supplies

BTW, congrats on getting a great deal on the cage. What cage did you get if I may ask?

Great idea! And i got this guy HQ Pet Cages - Big Cages/8004030
Brand new basically. He had two cockatoos in it for about a month then decided it was too much cage for them and they preferred their older slightly smaller one because they're old and lazy cockatoos. It looks brand new other than some chewing of the top play top wood perch. retails for about 700 on most sites and i got it for 325 off craigslist.

 

[baserock love]

Aaaaand 25 posts so I can PM

 

[txdyna65]

Colin, I also like to do the DIY for my Zon. I have an ash tree I get good perches from. I use stainless hardware for it. She currently has 3 short perches made from it and a larger one that spans entirely across the middle of the cage. We also have a rope perch similar to the booda. I vet wrapped near the ends and she leaves the ends alone now. As for the textured perch, we have an xlarge like the one you posted, but the middle is smooth. Amazon.com : Sweet Feet and Beak Safety Pumice Perch for Birds : Bird Sand Perch : Pet Supplies
This has worked well, keeps her nails blunt and doesnt harm their feet standing on a sanded surface.
Also a boing, stainless steel bells finger traps with treats inside and foot toys are a big hit with Lucy.
Her favorite toy is this one Pet Supplies : Pet Parrot Toy Colorful Birds Ball with Bell For Budgie Cockatiel Rabbit Cat Dog : Amazon.com
Its a little larger than the one shown, but she plays with it non stop.
I also built her an outdoor aviary and it has all natural perches in it, several large DIY rope perches and a large pvc thing I made.
Other than that I make toys out of wood for her and she goes through those like a buzz saw.

Here is her play stand, about half the week she is fed on the play stand in the evening and the other half in her cage. She really enjoys being on it.
Its on wheels and has 2 stainless steel bowls. The pic is from when we just got it, it has more toys and the bowls on it now of course.


Sorry for the long winded response, just trying to be helpful, good luck on your search.

 

[baserock love]

Damn, that's a royal palace for an amazon! Wish i could have an outdoor aviary.

 

[aooratrix]

Where'd you get the wire?

 

[txdyna65]

@aooratrix

I got it here Welded Stainless Steel Wire Mesh from TWP Inc.
A few others on the forum have purchased from them as well. Its not cheap, but it is good wire.

 

[rocky'smom]

Welcome I have some additional place that you may want to check out:
― Texas Bird Rescue ― ADOPTIONS ― RescueMe.Org

Texas Bird Rescue Groups

Louisiana Bird Rescue Groups

I have volunteered at my cousin's , who is vet, clinic. one of the other Dr.s there has beautiful DYN that is rescue. Monster (the bird) is still working on his aggression towards people in general. but he is a lot better then when he was rescued. when he was first rescued he had huge potty mouth and was wicked biter. the potty mouth he has outgrown because when spews forth every naughty word he knows every body walks away from him and he doesn't like being alone. he still lunges and will take bite, but it's most often when he is very angry about being left in his travel cage too long. I saved my own face, couple weekends ago, because he was in a mood and had been in his travel cage for more then 2 hours because Emergency in the clinic.

 

[baserock love]

Welcome I have some additional place that you may want to check out:
― Texas Bird Rescue ― ADOPTIONS ― RescueMe.Org

Texas Bird Rescue Groups

Louisiana Bird Rescue Groups

I have volunteered at my cousin's , who is vet, clinic. one of the other Dr.s there has beautiful DYN that is rescue. Monster (the bird) is still working on his aggression towards people in general. but he is a lot better then when he was rescued. when he was first rescued he had huge potty mouth and was wicked biter. the potty mouth he has outgrown because when spews forth every naughty word he knows every body walks away from him and he doesn't like being alone. he still lunges and will take bite, but it's most often when he is very angry about being left in his travel cage too long. I saved my own face, couple weekends ago, because he was in a mood and had been in his travel cage for more then 2 hours because Emergency in the clinic.

I've seen those. Haven't had much luck honestly. Like the texas bird rescue groups list, virtually none of those are still around. most of them are just cat and dog shelters if the websites or organizations even exist at all. I haven't gone over all the l inks because there's so many and none of them really go anywhere at first glance but i'll try and make it through it and see if i can find anything. Thanks for helping though.

 

[iamwhoiam]

Have you done searches on Celebrating Over 20 Years of Pet Adoption - Petfinder and PetHarbor?

 

[baserock love]

Have you done searches on Celebrating Over 20 Years of Pet Adoption - Petfinder and PetHarbor?

I have. Best i can tell there are only 3 shelters in all of texas which seems hard to believe. One looks great but i'm not sure if the one zon they have is exactly what i'm looking for but i will be applying for him fairly soon probably if nothing a bit younger comes up and i'll make the 5 hour round trip drive out to meet him. THe other is this insane place that apparently doesn't think training to change behaviors is a thing and literally will not adopt a single zon out to a man simply because they don't currently trust men. The other is an abusive bird flipping couple pretending to be a rescue who terrorize their birds, make them hate people then charge as much as a hand fed chick for the "rehome fee" and I want nothing to do with them.

A handful of other birds comes up on the various find a pet type search engines but no zons. I JUST bought a cage, and to get a bird I need the rehome fee if it's very high and the pet deposit which isn't cheap and i'll have those very soon.

 

[iamwhoiam]

That's too bad that it is so difficult to find something in your area. Are you also considering hand fed babies directly from breeders or do you just want to stick with adopting?

 

[baserock love]

It's not so much that i can' find anything necessarily, i sorta JUST started this process. i had an appointment on monday to meet nad likely bring home a bfa but it fell through. LIke all the craigslist rehomes i've found he came with a cage and toys and perches and all his stuff and the rehome fee wasn't outrageous for all that. Since that fell through i just went and bought a really nice cage which set me back. I just gotta get paid for a job or two then i'll be able to afford some of these higher rehome fee birds and the pet deposit and if it's not from a shelter, the initial vet visit to have it evaluated for health issues.

One of the reasons I posted on the rehome forum here is that this is a place for animal lovers and it's possible that if somebody had to rehome their baby they would be far more interested in ya know, getting it a good home instead of who's the first person that can pay them seven hundred and fifty bucks. I've had friends who had to rehome pets....i never once saw money cross their minds as part of that process.

I would love to get a baby but honestly there's so many parrots that need homes I always prefer to rescue. Also i have NO problem missing out on parrot puberty if i can help it haha.

 

[Just-passn-thru]

​

Sometimes Breeders have older birds that need rehoming. Have you considered having one shipped to you by air. My male MM2 was flown-in form Washington State no problems. I got him when he was 6 mo. old he's 17 yrs. old now. Good luck ! finding your companion .

 

[baserock love]

Don't breeder birds generally not make good human companions?

Also those are some beatiful birds. I wish i could get a cockatoo they are an absolute riot. I was hanging out with the couple the guy that sold me my cage owned.