a bigger cage for Inky ???

[Norm Ustitz]

hello all
Our 5 or 6 year old Inky (i can't remember) lives well in a smaller cage that's 2 feet wide and about 18 inches tall. It has toys, sticks, and a wooden ladder. Let's call it a standard one-bird cage.

We've talked a few times about upgrading his cage to a bigger townhouse like the picture below. We let him out once or twice a day to fly all over the place, usually when my wife gets home; he spends the rest of the day in the cage.

My brain thinks that getting such a tall cage for ONE lovebird is silly, wasteful, and excessive. Yet, my other brain thinks that he will love it, have more room to climb, etc. It's only 19 inches wide, I doubt that he will fly in there with the toys and ladders being in the way.

What do you think of getting this mansion for the Inkster??

 

[Zara]

I had a cage similar to that in your pic, and I hated it with a passion. Absolutely awful to clean. Terrible for birds to get around.
Look for a wide one, even if it's only short. There are many options from cheap to more expensive so can fit any budget.

 

[Zara]

Something like this is quite affordable as far as bird husbandry goes,
it will be 45x90x45cm

Another great option,


And any of the larger floor cages would be amazing for your bird.

 

[Norm Ustitz]

I had a cage similar to that in your pic, and I hated it with a passion. Absolutely awful to clean. Terrible for birds to get around.
Look for a wide one, even if it's only short. There are many options from cheap to more expensive so can fit any budget.

thanks again Zara

We didn't think about cleaning it...yikes.. You mentioned that you had birds, plural. Would the tall cage be bad for 1 bird to get around?

We figured going taller would lead to climbing and fun, but perhaps, going with a wider one is a better option for him and for us.
His husbandry involves "feeding" a stuffed penguin that came from a happy meal years ago. He regurgitates to it, and it's both adorable and disgusting.

 

[Dantesbeak]

hello all
Our 5 or 6 year old Inky (i can't remember) lives well in a smaller cage that's 2 feet wide and about 18 inches tall. It has toys, sticks, and a wooden ladder. Let's call it a standard one-bird cage.

We've talked a few times about upgrading his cage to a bigger townhouse like the picture below. We let him out once or twice a day to fly all over the place, usually when my wife gets home; he spends the rest of the day in the cage.

My brain thinks that getting such a tall cage for ONE lovebird is silly, wasteful, and excessive. Yet, my other brain thinks that he will love it, have more room to climb, etc. It's only 19 inches wide, I doubt that he will fly in there with the toys and ladders being in the way.

What do you think of getting this mansion for the Inkster??

Hello there!
I had a small cage for my lovebird, Nugget, and felt she needed a bigger cage. The one I had left very little room for her after her toys and perches. I got a great deal on a medium size parrot cage, easily for an African Grey. Nugget loves having a bigger cage. She can move around without bumping into everything and has plenty of space to flap her wings like crazy. She has plenty of open space also. I have her out of the cage often, but feel bad when she is stuck in her cage. She is a single bird and just wants to be on me.

I highly recommend a bigger cage. I feel like the more room the better as long as they can't slip between the bars!

Enjoy your day,

Violet and Nugget!

 

[Mizzely]

Birds need more horizontal space than vertical. The bottom half will likely go unused (at least it has for most of the species I've kept over the years).

 

[Norm Ustitz]

Birds need more horizontal space than vertical. The bottom half will likely go unused (at least it has for most of the species I've kept over the years).

thank you Mizz
you meant that the top of the cage will likely go unused with the tall cage that I asked about, right?

 

[Mizzely]

thank you Mizz
you meant that the top of the cage will likely go unused with the tall cage that I asked about, right?

No the bottom part of the cage. Birds want to be up top. So they will spend the most amount of time in the upper area. The bottom area of the cage will largely go to waste.

 

[Norm Ustitz]

No the bottom part of the cage. Birds want to be up top. So they will spend the most amount of time in the upper area. The bottom area of the cage will largely go to waste.

understood
thanks again

 

[Norm Ustitz]

No the bottom part of the cage. Birds want to be up top. So they will spend the most amount of time in the upper area. The bottom area of the cage will largely go to waste.

got it. I will follow Zara's recommendation of getting a wider cage instead of taller.

 

[Zara]

Wide is good. Wide AND tall is great.
See what you have available to you

A good point made above;

left very little room for her after her toys and perches

Toys and perches take up a lot of space!

 

[Zara]

You mentioned that you had birds, plural. Would the tall cage be bad for 1 bird to get around?

I had just one bird in that cage before he moved into a flight cage with his mate.

The bottom area of the cage will largely go to waste.

I can concur, that was the case. He did run up and down a super long boing... But he could do that in any other cage. Aside from that, and going to the cage floor to feed his mate plastic duck, he didn't go down there.
In a wider cage, even the tall and wide flight cages, I found the lower half was used.

 

[Finchbreed]

As nature made birds to fly they need length to do that in.
40+ years of keeping and breeding birds - they always have a minimum of the same length as they have height.
The cage you currently have is too small for a full time residence for a bird - just OK for one that flys free some of the time.
As almost everyone has already said - when it comes to cages/avairies bigger is better and length is king.