• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Rope style Perches

CaliCash

Meeting neighbors
Joined
4/4/19
Messages
67
Real Name
Mike
Hello All!
So we are getting ready to bring home a macaw and had an Eclectus previously. My Eclectus has rope style perches and needed have any issues, but I constantly hear of rope/fiver impactions and feet getting caught in rope. Are the rope perched a horrible idea for a macaw? I have some cement and wood perches, but wanted your opinions. When you watch videos on highly respected or at least YouTube respected macaw owners they have rope perches. I like to be super careful so I wanted to ask everyone here.
Thank you!
 

faislaq

I have macaws and don't post enough pictures
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
10/25/16
Messages
16,507
Location
Texas
Real Name
Karen
I have rope perches in my macaw's cage and on his playstand and they're fine. He's never messed with them. I have to swap them out to clean them but that's about it. He doesn't chew on them so they're all still nice and tight. You could try them and just remove them in your bird starts to shred them. :)


Oh, I did have trouble with a rope boing, but that was because he would unscrew the quick link holding it up! :batonthehead: So operator error, I suppose?
 

Shezbug

ASK ME FOR PICTURES OF MY MACAW!
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
4/28/18
Messages
25,837
Location
Vic, Australia
Real Name
Shez
I don’t use rope perches for my macaw. He destroys them within minutes and he went through a serious obsession with fluffing up and mouthing or playing with the fibres of the ropes.
He is not as destructive now with cotton toys so maybe I’ll try the rope perches again someday but not while he still so enjoys breaking everything he can as fast as he can.
 

faislaq

I have macaws and don't post enough pictures
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
10/25/16
Messages
16,507
Location
Texas
Real Name
Karen
I don’t use rope perches for my macaw. He destroys them within minutes and he went through a serious obsession with fluffing up and mouthing or playing with the fibres of the ropes.
He is not as destructive now with cotton toys so maybe I’ll try the rope perches again someday but not while he still so enjoys breaking everything he can as fast as he can.
o_O Oh man, I don't realize how easy I've got it with Buzzard! :yes4:
 

BirdAtHart

Meeting neighbors
Joined
5/31/20
Messages
61
Real Name
Ashley
I use rope perches and so far Loki doesn’t show any interest in chewing them at all. He’s still so young though so that might change. If he started to chew them and shred them, I wouldn’t use them anymore. But so far so good
 

elitys

Sprinting down the street
Joined
4/29/20
Messages
371
Location
OR, USA
Real Name
Elise
I think I've heard of people using vet wrap on rope perches to discourage chewing and gain some peace of mind about impaction. I don't know how well this would work for a macaw though without having any personal experience.
 

Shezbug

ASK ME FOR PICTURES OF MY MACAW!
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
4/28/18
Messages
25,837
Location
Vic, Australia
Real Name
Shez
I think I've heard of people using vet wrap on rope perches to discourage chewing and gain some peace of mind about impaction. I don't know how well this would work for a macaw though without having any personal experience.
Depending on the macaw I would guess but what I found with Burt was that he just thought it was a little bit of a new fun extra challenge I lovingly gave him.... it took him three seconds longer to get through the vet wrap to totally ruin the rope perch, so all up, he manged to use the perch for all of maybe four minutes before the ends gave way and the perch hit the cage floor :rofl:

We have been through a few rope perches now, I actually saved the last two he ruined hoping I may be able to do something with them rather than just throw them away and I may have just come up with an idea that I think may work but I will need to invest in another $60 worth of rope perch to find out as I am not sure I can fix the ends on the ones I saved :/
 

dollfish

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
12/10/19
Messages
1,000
Location
Istanbul
Real Name
Zeynep Dollfish
I guess you can watch for any damage and remove them if your bird seems to want to destroy it, but you would need to check more often with a macaw. I use coconut fiber ropes, you could also make your own perches with different materials instead of cotton.
 

BrianB

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
2/22/17
Messages
1,780
I use rope perches in several cages without any issues. The greenwings were unsure of it at first because they only had wooden perches before, but now they have a few of both and use them all equally.
 

macawpower58

Flying along the Avenue
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avian Angel
Shutterbugs' Best
Joined
8/25/11
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Pennsylvania
I also use a rope perch with my Greenwing. I have a long one that I've swirled into a swinging branch type, and it took a week or so for him to fully use it.

No chewing of any kind, but I hang toys above it and they keep him busy.
 

aooratrix

Macawaholic
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
4/6/13
Messages
6,049
Real Name
Matthew
Simon destroys boings, so I'm about to give up on those, so he doesn't have any issues with strings around toes or getting hung up. I have the large manila ropes in the aviary; the birds mouth them occasionally, but the ropes are tough. I have one hanging in a "u" shape like a swing in Daff's cage. She leaves it alone, for the most part. I like them because they force balancing and muscle use and provide an athletic outlet.
 

CaliCash

Meeting neighbors
Joined
4/4/19
Messages
67
Real Name
Mike
Thank you all for your experience. I have a lot to still get my baby that’s should be on it’s way by months end and want to do right. We had a few different perches in the past, rope perch, cement, calcium, wood(which was a dowel) and we have now found out those not the best.
 

faislaq

I have macaws and don't post enough pictures
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
10/25/16
Messages
16,507
Location
Texas
Real Name
Karen
The danger of dowel perches is when they're the only kind available & the bird's legs don't get exercised and their feet get calloused because they're always perched the same. As long as they have a variety of different sizes, textures, angles, etc then a dowel perch isn't bad.

You can get creative with them, too. Here's an old thread with some good ideas. :tup:
 
Top