I need an escape proof cage

[thekarens]

Yesterday my son calls me at work to say Zoe has escaped her cage and he has to go to school. I ask him to get a towel, and put her in the bathroom until I can get home (I work 30 miles from my house.) My son is afraid of her, but he still picked her up and she chomped him for his efforts and gave him a nice puncture in his finger.

I get home and she's perched on the towel rack looking at me like "What?" I put her on the playstand and promptly start picking up the pieces of her cages. She started by dismantling the breeder door latch mechanism from the inside and once she was outside she dismantled the food door latches.

She then proceeded to let the linnies out of their cage and take down every toy, perch and food dish in their cage and then went on to the sennies. However, the sennies are good and I could leave them on their cage all day out alone.

I suppose I should be glad she didn't let the finches out while she was at it!

I managed to put a chain around the breeder door and now I need to invest in a padlock for the chain. I can't think of what I can do for the food dishes...at least the 2 that we use every day. If I chain them closed it's going to be a pain, but I guess if I have to I have to.

 

[Dopey]

Oh dear - would this be Zoe? The one who likes to cuddle? Maybe she isn't getting enough cuddle time MOM!!!

 

[thekarens]

I'm sure that's exactly what she was thinking and that's what she got. I had to come home early and she got to be out extra time yesterday.

 

[Amanda_Bennett]

Well, now that she knows how to get you home for snuggle time she will continue to use this power over you as much as possible!

What a sneaky girl she is!

 

[Ann333]

Wow!! What species Is Zoe. I'm so glad I have a small (weak) green cheek conure. I'd hate to have this problem! No large birds for me apparently.

Edit: just saw your signature... macaws... nope not for me.

 

[thekarens]

Wow!! What species Is Zoe. I'm so glad I have a small (weak) green cheek conure. I'd hate to have this problem! No large birds for me apparently.

Edit: just saw your signature... macaws... nope not for me.

Zoe is a blue throated macaw.

Lol, macs are the best. I've never met a bird that likes to play and cuddle more.

 

[Birdman666]

Oh dear - would this be Zoe? The one who likes to cuddle? Maybe she isn't getting enough cuddle time MOM!!!

You've got "one of those."

Blue throats are THE MOST mechanical birds in the world... like there isn't even a close second! (Red fronts are a distant second. Sweepea has done the same thing. Dismantled her door and her treat cup doors.)

Determined little buggers too... trying to get them to stop taking stuff apart can be as challenging as stopping a cockatoo from plucking...

 

[Birdman666]

Lol, macs are the best. I've never met a bird that likes to play and cuddle more.

HAH! GOTCHA! I knew you'd come around...

 

[Birdman666]

i'm sure that's exactly what she was thinking and that's what she got. I had to come home early and she got to be out extra time yesterday.

and the behavior just got reinforced....

Oh goodie!!!

 

[thekarens]

i'm sure that's exactly what she was thinking and that's what she got. I had to come home early and she got to be out extra time yesterday.

and the behavior just got reinforced....



Oh goodie!!!

I know..... She definitely had my number!

 

[Birdman666]

What a sneaky girl she is!

Nope. Not the dynamic here. Nothing sneaky about it. They'll pull this stuff in front of your face. This is playtime. Cages and things that disconnect are puzzle toys. Now the game becomes WHAT ELSE CAN I DISMANTLE?! And they are soooo full of themselves when they are doing it, even when they know they are being evil.

I went through about 8 months of this stuff with Sweepea, who is a red front, and the next level down from Zoe in terms of Uber-mechanical and determined...

Yeah, that monster playstand of mine? The big one that I had for the past 12 years? Guess who learned to pry the PVC pipes out of the holes... (and why they don't fit as tightly anymore.) and brought the whole friggin playstand down on her head...

and had the nerve to look surprised...

and went right back to doing it again, the second I put it back up!

YEP!

 

[Ann333]

Oh I just went back and read my post, sorry if it came across rude. I didn't mean that at all, I was just in shock that they can do that! It sounds like a problem I would not like to have. Sorry again.

 

[noblemacaw]

I have the same problem with Valentino. He is always taking apart stuff and escapes a lot. I was wonder what kind of cage you have for Zoe? I have the massive heavy Kings 406ss but if the feeder doors are not locked down properly he will escape and take apart his cage from the outside.

Valentino is a mechanical RFM and I think the RFM and BTM are a lot of like in so many ways. Valentino has a BTM he has playdates with and although his friend is younger than him Valentino can take apart those metal Fraiser box puzzles that belongs to his BTM friend. He can dismantle that thing in less than 10 mins.

Sometimes I wonder if Valentino is a BTM in a red and green body?

 

[labell]

i'm sure that's exactly what she was thinking and that's what she got. I had to come home early and she got to be out extra time yesterday.

and the behavior just got reinforced....



Oh goodie!!!

I know..... She definitely had my number!

Don't say that as smart as she is she will soon learn how to operate the phone and be calling you at work to get your hiney home and cuddle!!

 

[Birdman666]

RFMs and BTMs have very similar personalities... they are wonderful macaws. Two of my four favorites.

The other two being

 

[thekarens]

Oh I just went back and read my post, sorry if it came across rude. I didn't mean that at all, I was just in shock that they can do that! It sounds like a problem I would not like to have. Sorry again.

No worries, there's birds that I would never have, like zons. They just aren't for me.

 

[goalerjones]

Yesterday my son calls me at work to say Zoe has escaped her cage and he has to go to school. I ask him to get a towel, and put her in the bathroom until I can get home (I work 30 miles from my house.) My son is afraid of her, but he still picked her up and she chomped him for his efforts and gave him a nice puncture in his finger.

I get home and she's perched on the towel rack looking at me like "What?" I put her on the playstand and promptly start picking up the pieces of her cages. She started by dismantling the breeder door latch mechanism from the inside and once she was outside she dismantled the food door latches.

She then proceeded to let the linnies out of their cage and take down every toy, perch and food dish in their cage and then went on to the sennies. However, the sennies are good and I could leave them on their cage all day out alone.

I suppose I should be glad she didn't let the finches out while she was at it!

I managed to put a chain around the breeder door and now I need to invest in a padlock for the chain. I can't think of what I can do for the food dishes...at least the 2 that we use every day. If I chain them closed it's going to be a pain, but I guess if I have to I have to.

Don't let her watch "Free Willey" or "Born Free" or "Project X" any more.

 

[Christinenc2000]

Oh I just went back and read my post, sorry if it came across rude. I didn't mean that at all, I was just in shock that they can do that! It sounds like a problem I would not like to have. Sorry again.

No worries, there's birds that I would never have, like zons. They just aren't for me.

Zons scare me and I have never been around one LOL just from reading on here I will stick with my Macaw.

No need to be sorry . I agree reading these forums sometimes scares me.

 

[Birdman666]

Zons scare me and I have never been around one LOL just from reading on here I will stick with my Macaw.

No need to be sorry . I agree reading these forums sometimes scares me.

Really?! I believe Sarah was seven when this was taken...



I'm afraid of the tantrum she'll throw if I try to leave the house without her first checking my eyebrows to see if they are all straight!



It's all about working with them...

 

[thekarens]

I think I was 13 when I got bit by a nape. To this day I love watching them and hearing them, but not keeping them. I suck at reading them.