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Terrarium as a Habitat

TheBirds

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I've seen a terrarium discussed for birds before as part of a bioactive set-up, however, wanted to get opinions on how well one might work as a "play" cage without the bioactive element. A big part of bird-keeping, for me, is setting-up their cages, and the idea of creating a native African habitat - without cage bars - that they could enjoy part-time just as a change of scenery sounds so appealing.

A bird safe background along with natural branches, and some bird-safe plants. Am I mad?
 

conureluv

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How would you hang the branches?
 

Destiny

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If I was a bird, I bet that I would like to play in such a place.

However, I would recommend going the "indoor aviary" route rather than the "terrarium for birds" route in terms of planning and execution. It will likely save you a lot of time and confusion when asking for help or searching for ideas as well as guiding you toward a more time-tested design for birds. Custom-built indoor aviaries come in a wide range of designs and styles, including naturalistic ones.

Planted aviaries are most definitely a thing ... and very cool. It can be challenging to find plants that are able to survive a parrot's full attention ... but that is a different problem all together.
 

Destiny

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Here is an example of what I am talking about when I suggest an indoor aviary that is like a terrarium for birds:

prairierose.jpg

Source: Living Design, Inc.: Aviaries

There are some downsides to this style. Ventilation is a major concern for bird enclosures and birds can fly into transparent surfaces. Personally, I would recommend aviary mesh over plexi-glass. You lose out on aesthetics and mess-prevention, but gain in the health and safety columns.

For the naturalistic design elements, simpler is better. Try not to over-complicate your life by making things too cluttered and busy. It is harder to maintain and doesn't look that great. Be very aware of perch placement when planning the interior space and keep your floors as clear as possible to make it easier to clean up. Anything that goes inside the aviary needs to be bird-safe and easy to clean or replace, if soiled. Depending on your birds, fake plants might be an option to provide low maintenence greenery. Or you can look for non-toxic fast-growing plants that can be easily replaced if damaged or destroyed.

A jungle themed background, natural perches, and a few tall grasses or small palm trees could make for a pretty cool bird space.

Oh ... and keep in mind that your bird will appreciate open flight paths, stuff to chew, and multiple spots to land up high, so be sure that you provide all of those things in your naturalistic aviary design
 
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finchly

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@Destiny i have that one!

Well, one similar. There’s screen at the top, and you can see the wire on the back wall holding the excelsior. So ventilation IMO is decent.

However, after pulling out the excelsior a few months ago and realizing how dusty it was, I don’t recommend having it. I replaced the back wall wire with a smaller mesh and put plastic plants on it.
Am working on growing enough live plants to be able to use them and switch each one out before they get destroyed. A624215E-D2B3-4B10-A62F-418856579891.jpeg
 

Destiny

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That's awesome, finchly. I noticed the excelsior on the back panel, but didn't realize it was open to allow for extra ventilation. That is really clever. I guess I should have read the product description more carefully. :)

I really like the look of these indoor aviaries. The wood and plexiglass is very classy and elegant. When I was designing my aviary, I considered constructing an indoor setup similar to this, using an old wardrobe as the base, but I ended up going with a larger outdoor aviary instead. Proper ventilation and ease of access were two of my concerns when considering this type of enclosure. And a lot of bird equipment connects to wire bars, so if you have an all glass enclosure it seriously limits your options. Having a clear glass front panel with wire back or sides is a good compromise, since it adds lots of airflow, and provides you with places to attach perches or food bowls, among other things.
 

Destiny

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@Destiny i have that one!
However, after pulling out the excelsior a few months ago and realizing how dusty it was, I don’t recommend having it. I replaced the back wall wire with a smaller mesh and put plastic plants on it.
I wonder if pond filter media would work as a dust-free replacement for the excelsior? It is designed to allow water to flow freely through it and made from inert plastic, so it should be easy to clean and safe for most small birds. A larger parrot might decide to take it apart out of boredom, but I am sure softbills would leave it alone.

matala-filter-pad-feature-image.jpg


The black or green color would make a nice background for plants and it is available in rolls or pre-cut squares from pond supply stores.
 

Hankmacaw

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I just want to remind everyone thinking about one of these aviaries, that when you plant live plants in them you are taking a risk with Aspergillosis. A live plant require some sort of medium to grow in and water to keep it alive - the perfect home for Aspergillosis. Warm and damp and food. Birds will eat/chew on these mediums and possibly get massive doses of Asper spores. Even if they don't chew on the medium, the Asper fungus being very happy and growing like mad will exude enough spores into the atmosphere to make it quite dangerous.

Just be aware and realize that you are risking your birds to a horrible and very deadly disease.
 

TheBirds

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@Destiny i have that one!

Well, one similar. There’s screen at the top, and you can see the wire on the back wall holding the excelsior. So ventilation IMO is decent.

However, after pulling out the excelsior a few months ago and realizing how dusty it was, I don’t recommend having it. I replaced the back wall wire with a smaller mesh and put plastic plants on it.
Am working on growing enough live plants to be able to use them and switch each one out before they get destroyed. View attachment 375289
Yes! I saw yours last night @finchly when I was researching old forum topics to see if this idea had been discussed before! Did a bit of :jawdrop1: and :xflove: when I saw it. Very nice.
 

finchly

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@TheBirds thank you! I love it.


Proper ventilation and ease of access were two of my concerns when considering this type of enclosure.
Yep you’ve got it, and you’re right about the limitations of mine.

I’m pretty sure that when we bought it, we sawed out upper back panels and replaced it with 2layers of wire, sandwiching the excelsior in between. We were concerned about air flow.

And it’s difficult to hang enough different types of perches. The walls are useless for that.

I did switch from a big ugly shop light fixture to a small light from M&M cages, and I like it way better.
wonder if pond filter media would wo
We have some! I’ll check it out.
 

TheBirds

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I appreciate all the suggestions regarding ventilation and Aspergillosis (sp?) .. great points to bring-up. So keeping any kind of growing medium in there is going to be a no-no (the last thing I want is something else to have low-level anxiety over :laugh: ).

My original thought was really to have it be a kind of part-time enrichment environment more than full-time accommodation. The idea would be to have branches or piece of large grapewood/java sit in a base on the floor of the unit so hanging things (toys, branches) would be less of an issue. @finchly - how hard was it to modify that big piece of furniture to suit your needs, do you remember? I'm more ambitious than skilled at such undertakings and would hate to get in over my head :D
 

finchly

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Hey. Ours is a real aviary so we didn’t have to do so much. It was easy! We sawed out the back and replaced it with wire. We did eventually change light fixtures, which required hanging it on the ceiling. And we screwed hooks in the top to hang perches.
 

TheBirds

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Thought I'd update with what I ended up putting together for "the birds"! I picked-up a 16 x 16 x 30" terrarium, and added a substrate tray that I filled with coconut coir substrate (stays dry and inexpensive to replace every so often). The wood and resin stone planters are filled with clay balls (hydro clay) and contain a spider plant and zebra plant, respectively.

IMG_9248.jpg

It's not quite the African-like habitat I'd envisioned but I feel comfortable about the risks that have been mitigated in it's design... plus they LOVE to spend time in there shredding all the branches, and I do think it does fulfill it's intended purpose which is enrichment :D The plastic plant shown on top was too tempting to chew so it was pulled out :meh:
 

Destiny

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Looks very cool. I'm glad the birds like it. :D
 
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