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Bird cage do’s and dont’s

McBird

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Hi!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, I’ve been super busy and got all tied up in life. Anyhow, I’ve upgraded Leaf to a giant boy cage and I’m looking for help on what is okay and what is not in terms of putting stuff in his cage. I’ll attach a picture and see what you guys think as well.

How many toys is too many? I want to turn his cage into a carnival, but I’m not sure how much is too much. Can I get some tips or words of advice?
 

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painesgrey

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Cage decorating is something that depends on your bird. Some birds like to climb cage bars rather than hop/fly from perch to perch, so the arrangement of the cage is going to be different for them.

Pippin and Piper tend to hop from perch to perch, so I put most of their toys along the sides of the cage rather than dangling from the top. This gives them more room to hop/fly around the cage without toys dangling in their way. They also tend to prefer their toys to be more stable, in that they don't slide or swing around.

Cake on the other hand moves around the cage by climbing, and loves when toys swing about, so his favourite toys are dangling from the top of the cage where he can swing from them to his heart's content.

Hanging toys on the side of the cage gives more flexibility as far as clutter goes, IMO. It takes far fewer toys to clutter up a cage when they're hanging from the top.

That being said, I'm constantly changing and rearranging toys based on how the birds are moving around them and using them. It's a constant process of trial and error. :)
 

McBird

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I’m glad it’s not just me who’s trying to figure this out via trial and error!

He seems to like to climb from perch to perch, so I might add in some more linking perches to aid that. He climbs on the cage bars to get down to his favourite perches and places.

I also want to put in some more foraging toys and I feel like what I have just isn’t enough. He doesn’t like to be on the bottom of his cage so I’m trying to encourage that sort of activity with feeling like he’s safe if he goes down there and to give him some exciting toys as a reward. Although I don’t put his highest value toys down there, that wouldn’t be nice.

I’m hoping to save up some more money to get him some more things to play with from My Safe Bird Store and my avian vet office. I might make a trip there to look at their wares.

He doesn’t seem to like to shred things aside from old magazines and bird kabobs. Is there any way I can promote shredding his other toys?
 

nu2birds

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I also rearrange toys in my birds cage..........my guys are two male Lovebirds and they love large hanging wood and rope toys that they can climb on and crawl into. they like hanging upside down from the long pieces of rope and wood. It takes them a few months, but they will eventually completely disassemble and splinter a multi level wood and rope toy made for a Macaw, LOL. It's about 24 inches long..........in one year, they've gone through three of them!
 

Fergus Mom

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I would think you might have a lot of room for some toys on that left side... Can you get to it easily from the door, or is it a stretch? That's a great cage!
 

cassiesdad

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With seven birds, we're forever rotating toys in and out of cages. It's always a delicate balance in providing enough toys and making sure there's enough airspace for flying in the cages.

Our birds aren't into foraging toys that much...maybe they're a bit lazy that way! They love shredding and chewing toys, though..the budgies love their swings, and will get them going back and forth at crazy speed...just because they can do it.

Then there's Milton. (isn't always?) For the first few years, he accepted ONLY ONE toy of any type in his cage at a time...put two in there, he'd ignore them both. Over time, he's accepted the fact of two things in his cage at once...an old phone book for shredding (which is replaced often) and a large wooden toy for chewing. I like to have our fine vendors here create a large toy primarily of wood for his pleasure.


Currently, Milty's got a wooden toy from "Oliver's Garden" in his cage...along with a relatively new phone book...
 

LSA

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The budgies just love toys that move, make noise and shine. Neither gets near the bottom of the cage.
Sherman, WCP, is still learning about toys and right now is a climber and secret forager.
Glenn is a forager and chewer that's stressed by anything that moves.
The GCC loves hanging upside down and chewing soft toys while the Sun prefers swinging toys and chewing cardboard. Both to hop from perch to perch.
What I'm trying to show is that every bird is different!
 

McBird

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It’s really hard to get to the left side of the cage. What I’m going to do is try to get some long hanging toys to shift to the left side. It’s got a bit of a hard reach but I bet I can get to it! I have his hanging circle that he loves so much on that side and I have some shredding stuff there to entice him over. He likes the right side better, always has. Even if he’s left footed LOL.

I’ve had him for two years now and every day I learn something new about him! He’s nine and he comes up with all sorts of ways to surprise me!

That lamp he has he ADORES. My roommate accidentally hit it one day when I was at work and she said he got really mad at her (madder than normal because he really only likes me LOL) for that. I made the best investment getting that floor lamp for him! It’s helped his feathers a lot and gives him the vitamin D he needs.

I still think it’s funny how they all have their preferences! It’s awesome to hear all of your fid’s preferences! And to see how different every bird is!
 

SandraK

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The budgies just love toys that move, make noise and shine. Neither gets near the bottom of the cage.
Sherman, WCP, is still learning about toys and right now is a climber and secret forager.
Glenn is a forager and chewer that's stressed by anything that moves.
The GCC loves hanging upside down and chewing soft toys while the Sun prefers swinging toys and chewing cardboard. Both to hop from perch to perch.
What I'm trying to show is that every bird is different!
Yup the gccs are hangers and chewers but my sun loves cardboard. Forget toys, just give Tikki an empty Keurig or tissue box (minus the plastic) and he's in 7th heaven.
 

McBird

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Leaf loves to tear up his kabobs. Give him all of those instead of toys and he’s the happiest.

He also likes to tear up old magazines and I had a tissue box for him and since it was on the bottom of the cage he wasn’t super thrilled. I want to try to get some boxes to hang up in the cage and see what he does!

He’s also super into throwing his food everywhere and that’s not as neat LOL
 

SandraK

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Tikki has two boxes on the top of his cage one slightly inserted into the other. He's remodeled them to his liking and that has become his sleep area though he has a perfectly good Timothy grass tunnel zip tied to the ceiling of his cage for him to sleep in. I also put a box at the bottom of the stand alone playstand and he goes to town with those, shredding them to bits and ignoring the chewable toys hanging at the top.

A friend who was visiting had admired the filler at the bottom of the playstand and asked where I'd got it. I had to explain that it was a "custom bird-made" filler.
 
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SandraK

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Leaf loves to tear up his kabobs. Give him all of those instead of toys and he’s the happiest.

He also likes to tear up old magazines and I had a tissue box for him and since it was on the bottom of the cage he wasn’t super thrilled. I want to try to get some boxes to hang up in the cage and see what he does!

He’s also super into throwing his food everywhere and that’s not as neat LOL
The food throwing isn't so much fun but if it's any consolation, Tik does that too. He weeds through the food bowls, picking out what he likes and tossing around anything he doesn't care for.
 

cassiesdad

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The food throwing isn't so much fun but if it's any consolation, Tik does that too. He weeds through the food bowls, picking out what he likes and tossing around anything he doesn't care for.
Food throwing is an art form for Milton...soft food or pellets!

Soft foods splatter better...pellets can be used as weapons...;)
 
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