• 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

What's best for Rosie (cage and out of cage) ?

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/16/13
Messages
28,803
Location
Pennsylvania
Real Name
Michelle
So, I'm making myself a bit crazy trying to figure out what's best for Rosie, my 30 year old foster tiel. I thought I had a good handle on older tiels- but never dealt with this old before. Rosie apparently had a very large cage before and had some falling issues. I have Rosie in a travel cage with all rope perches. He hasn't fallen at all. It was never my intent to keep him in there. I just wanted to get a feel for his mobility. He actually can move pretty well. He just chooses not to do it much. He pretty moves from one perch to one other and that's it. He seems content though. He also is not big on coming out of his cage. When he's out, he seems fine and will happily sit on my shoulder. He just doesn't want to come out. Although I know how I'd handle things with a younger bird, I'm just not sure whether I should just let him hang out in his cage. Which leads to the cage issue.....

During the day, all of my birds are in the living room. At night, Scooter and Rosie go up to the bird room to sleep. With Rosie being in the travel cage (although it is kind of heavy), I just carry the cage up and down. I did buy him a new, larger cage but now realize it's going to be too heavy for me to carry- I thought it would be lighter. I'm actually thinking now that it also might be too big for him. So, I'm thinking of moving Scooter into it and letting Rosie have Scooter's current cage (which stays downstairs). Scooter sleeps in a sleep cage and goes in and out of both cages just fine. So I don't have the issue with switching/carrying a cage for him, like I do with Rosie. Is any of this making sense?

So, what do I do about Rosie's cage? Do I just leave him in the travel cage still and work more with him coming out? Do I put him in the bigger cage but leave him upstairs by the window during the day instead of having him come downstairs? (And do I leave Scooter up there with him? Although I'm pretty sure Scooter is going to want to be downstairs. Which would also leave Elvis downstairs alone.) Do I buy another cage that's bigger but lighter? Do I make him come out to change cages and just have him get used to it? Am I making this more complicated than I need to? I'm just not sure what to do.
 

TikkiTembo

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
5/13/19
Messages
1,447
Real Name
Chelsea
If it was me, I'd start with bringing him up and down first. If he seems a bit stressed or extra sleepy from all the activity, maybe lessen the out of cage time. I'm sure he'll enjoy watching the activity from his new cage. My grandpa sat in a big comfy chair this Christmas, and didn't get up once! He just loved watching the kids and chatting with people. I could imagine Rosie would be the same, just happy to be included without having to be super active.
 

Greylady1966

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
3/6/19
Messages
2,687
Location
midwest
Real Name
Carol
We adopted an 18 year old parrotlett and tried a large cage for him. He came in a small house with a coconut to sleep in and a toy and 3 perches. When he was in the larger one he wouldn't move, I think it overwhelmed him. When we moved him back to his small house he played, ate good and talked nonstop to his neighbor another parrotlett. I questioned a smaller house but he is a lot happier. I think it's up to what makes them happy.
 

LilSprout

Jogging around the block
Joined
3/12/17
Messages
648
Location
Ontario, Canada
Real Name
Phil
Fred is an old cockatiel but she isn't as old as Rosie, 30 years old wow!
Fred doesn't like to come out of her cage much either, she was confined to a small cage for many years and large spaces might be overwhelming for her. She usually has the option to leave (unless I am cooking or leaving the house) but she chooses to stay. She likes hearing people's voices on videos and shows and being around me in general
 

webchirp

Joyriding the Neighborhood
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
8/2/10
Messages
17,760
Location
Ohio
Real Name
Chandra
I actually don't mess with Bitty much at all. He gets so scared and I have no idea why he's become so. He was always a little skittish but loved snuggles. Now he just freaks out. I have him in the finch flight cage with a platform and two perches all on one level. I have found that if they have arthritis, they don't want to move around too much and I think they are more alert when they conserve energy... I think Bitty might be 25ish. Poor old man can't do his tail pinnines and he has arthritis in his tail so it's painful as well. He doesn't want to hang with Maui anymore either. But he seems content to pick at his toys and watch the world outside.
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/16/13
Messages
28,803
Location
Pennsylvania
Real Name
Michelle
I actually don't mess with Bitty much at all. He gets so scared and I have no idea why he's become so. He was always a little skittish but loved snuggles. Now he just freaks out. I have him in the finch flight cage with a platform and two perches all on one level. I have found that if they have arthritis, they don't want to move around too much and I think they are more alert when they conserve energy... I think Bitty might be 25ish. Poor old man can't do his tail pinnines and he has arthritis in his tail so it's painful as well. He doesn't want to hang with Maui anymore either. But he seems content to pick at his toys and watch the world outside.
Awww, sweet old man. I wish they could just tell us want they wanted. I think for now I am going to leave things status quo. (Although Howie is going to strangle me because he spent a whole afternoon putting the new cage together. Plus I spent the money on the new cage...) But Rosie screamed his head off today when he was left by himself upstairs for like 15 minutes. So, until I can get him to come out of his cage without stressing him out, so I can take him upstairs at night without carrying a cage, I will keep him in the travel cage. And if that never happens, then I'll just look into buying another cage that's not as large and lighter than the one I just bought. At some point, I'll still probably let Scooter use the new one anyway.

I actually go back and forth about whether I think Rosie has arthritis. I mean at his age, it's more that likely but he really seems okay. I am going to try to start adding cinnamon and ginger to his diet. He does eat his senior nutriberries which have glucosamine in them. And maybe there is something to this Petamine he's been on...
 

enigma731

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
8/23/13
Messages
3,066
Do what you'd do with a younger bird and let his behavior tell you what works and what doesn't. Age isn't a disease and I think we should always be careful not to assume more than our birds are telling us.
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/16/13
Messages
28,803
Location
Pennsylvania
Real Name
Michelle
Do what you'd do with a younger bird and let his behavior tell you what works and what doesn't. Age isn't a disease and I think we should always be careful not to assume more than our birds are telling us.
Good points. He still doesn't want to come out and I am not sure why. He was coming out like every other day initially. But I will do all the things I would normally do for a bird that doesn't want to come out.
 

enigma731

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
8/23/13
Messages
3,066
Could he be hormonal? That's been big here lately and it does sometimes make my boys want to guard the cage.
 

Monica

Cruising the avenue
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
5/18/10
Messages
11,253
Location
Hell, NV
Real Name
Monica
You could always create a false bottom in a larger cage so he has more room but if he does fall, he wont fall as far?
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/16/13
Messages
28,803
Location
Pennsylvania
Real Name
Michelle
Could he be hormonal? That's been big here lately and it does sometimes make my boys want to guard the cage.
Maybe. He just started losing some feathers too. So maybe cranky and tired from molting. He is a happy bird generally. I just don't like him being in the smaller cage all the time.
 

enigma731

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
8/23/13
Messages
3,066
Oh yeah, it's totally molting season.
 
Top