Inside or Outside?

[Molcan2]

I've had my Romeo for about a month now. In her previous home she was kept inside all the time and would only go out when they checked the mail. My house is not very large and it is kind of dark. I don't have a lot of windows to let a lot of natural light in. So I was wanting to keep her outdoors for most of her day. I wasn't sure if there are any problems with this. I was planing on keeping her sleep cage inside. I also have plans for an indoor stand as well. I know several people who keep their parrots outdoors completely with no problems. I was wondering if there is an adjustment period? I live in Florida and it gets kinda hot so I worry about her over heating. I have her outdoor set up on our screened in porch (with vinyl windows so I can open and close them whenever). Also do I need to worry about dramatic temperature changes from bringing her back inside when shes been out? Its obviously cooler in the house than outside. She is currently veted healthy and I really want to keep it that way. I'm just worried that I might make her sick by bringing her in and out. Here is a pic of her current outdoor set up, sorry if it blurry.

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

Still looks kind of dark.

There LOTS of things to keep in mind when putting a bird outside.... I'll handle one at a time here...

Temperature... As rule parrots do fine anywhere from about 32 degrees to about 100. That being said, they DO NOT do well with big changes in temp very quickly... If your house is more than ten degrees difference from outside you could cause her to get ill. I personally never leave my birds outside when it's below 58 degrees or above 91 degrees (I watch the weather religously). Now, my bird breeder friend (here in Nebraska) owns a bird farm in Florida. She has several people who work with/ for her to maintain the birds in Florida and ship her babies up here to her. I know her breeders are outside year round (they do have indoor shelters). So I know you can keep a bird in Florida outside year round. This is a personal choice, but be careful to avoid drastic shifts in temp. (I just put my birds back outside last night when it was as coold outdoors as it was in the aviary). We had several miserably hot days and I wasn't comfortable leaving them out with a heat indice of 115. There are a lot of great benefits to having a bird outdoors (fresh air, uvb, and their general sanity).

Pests.... Mosquitos, black flies, mice, bees, spiders, snakes, and even nosey people. Can all be serious risks to your bird.

Security.... can people or dogs get through and get to her?

Now, keep in mind that a bird needs UVB to develop vitamin D3 in order to metabolize calcium. GLASS FILTERS OUT UVB, so putting her in front of a window is not going to satisfy that need. In our indoor aviaries we run 8' uvb lights to help solve this problem (you can buy a reptile uvb bulb at any local petstore). This should be hung above her cage and be no more than 3' away. Also, birds see full spectum lighting so for them outside looks very different than inside... So you may want to watch her closely when she's on the porch for getting overly excited.

Outside is a good treat, and during the milder weather I would certainly put her out there, I would also put up a uvb bulb indoors for her health as well.

If you want to discuss this further, message me your phone number and I'll call you (the inside outside debate takes a lot of explaining and I would be here typing all day if I tried to give you the whole of my opinion..lol)

Good luck!