Naturalistic cage ideas for GCC

[stingeragent]

Picking up our guy on saturday. First bird I've owned in about 25 years. Been reading up as much as I can and one area I've seem to have fallen short on info is with natural looking cages. I have a temp cage, but am planning to either build one from scratch, or convert a piece of furniture like a cabinet or something. I would like to go for a natural look. Real branches, possibly fake or live plants. Is there anything wrong with this approach as I haven't been able to find many setup's like this. Also, on things like toys, is it necessary to decorate cages up to look like a toddler's playhouse, or would more natural type things work ok? I saw a half coconut hanging house with ropes that looked cool. I've been a reptile/ saltwater keeper for many years and very much prefer cages/tank's to replicate the inhabitants natural enviroment. Any thoughts would be appreciated so I can get building on the permanent cage this weekend. Thanks.

 

[wrench13]

The problem with building a cage is that most building materials are not bird safe. Chicken wire or other hardware cloth is zinc galvanized and zinc is toxic. Suppose one could build it from plexiglass, but the has to be ventilation. Fake plants are either plastic or cloth, both which will get chewed, and a lot. Also not good for parrots. Anything you make from wood is fair game for chewing and destruction. On toys, natural wood ones are fine, if your bird likes them. It's all about the birds, friend. Get used to that, if you can't then maybe parrots are not for you. No offense meant, but parrots are so smart and intellegent, one has to Treat them like little kids. Ever Try to force or convince a 1 year old to play with something or not chew on stuff?

 

[Piasa]

I think with a cabinet set up, you have to make sure the bird can't get to the wooden parts. There are cage brands out there that make these kinds of set ups, such as these: http://www.aviariums.com/ and http://birdcagedesign.com/

Natural decor is great, you can even do live plants with some precautions. Make sure you are using branches from trees that are not toxic or exposed to pesticides. You can bake these in oven at 200 degrees for maybe 30 minutes to kill any critters inside.

Plants need to be edible to birds, with safe pots and organic soil with no fertilizer in it (VERY important). I've considered using a Chia pet in the past, several vets I asked considered them to be safe. My GCC will eat soil if I let him, but I don't because some species of Aspergillus mold live in house plant soil as well as bacteria.

I get around this by putting plants outside the cage and draping greenery inside. Or having a vase of water with cut plants in it.

See what people do with outdoor aviaries and plants, there are tons of great ideas out there.

 

[stingeragent]

Thanks for the advice from both of you. No hard feelings taken. I do understand it's all about the animal, and you have to cater to their needs. Just hadn't been able to find many natural looking setups or even info on them which is why I was asking. I do know about sterilizing wood, making sure plants are safe for the species,etc just based on having to do that in the past. So it seems natural branches will be fine but fake plants are out. Will they also chew on live plants or just the fake ones? My turtles eat the real plants but leave the fake ones alone, I guess it's reversed with parrots, lol. @ wrench. I wasn't planning on using chicken wire. Do you know of any other wire brands that aren't zinc galvanized? I must have seen at least 500 pic's of homemade cages or more over the last 2 weeks so there has to be an option out there for a safe wire.

 

[Piasa]

Both live and fake plants will get chewed. If your GCC ends up being anything like mine, he will eat ANYTHING! Live plants are a real treat for him as a toy and food though. Both my birds love when I pick a fruit or flower that they can eat.

The impression I've gotten is it's really hard to source stainless steel wire, but it is possible. I don't know brands. You will need the kind with smaller holes, maybe 1/2 inch for a green cheek. Hot dipped galvanized is a little safer than regular, but still not safe safe. Powder coating may also be an option.

 

[SailBoat]

The neat part of the Parrot Forums is that we have a Supporting Vendor (see near the bottom of the Forum List). By using their modular assembly you can develop a strong Parrot Safe surround and spend your time on the creative /fun side of this and not dealing with the engineering and construction of something that will have nowhere near the flexibility.

I have seen far too many like projects fail, not because of a lack of want, but understanding of construction and/or structural requires of Building Code (outside construction commonly require a permit or at least an approval). By using a 'manufactured for outside use' (and Parrot Safe) modular assembly, approval will be greatly simplified! And, most importantly of all: Built with safety of you and your Parrot(s) in mind!

 

[stingeragent]

Haha, I guess I will just have to see. The breeder told me he is a big fan of wood toys so far. From what I've read just now the stainless wire and the galvanized after-weld wire seem to be safe. I'm not completely against a pre assembled cage, i'm just a big DIY'er, and like the stuff I build. Built all the aquarium stands for the last 5 aquariums I've had from 20 gallons up to 125. I'm not completely foolish though and as my aviary experience is very limited I'll use whatever advice I get. Thanks.

Edit: Wanted to ask one other thing that I haven't seen much on that isn't habitat related. Birdy poop. I plan to give him as much out of cage time as possible. I've read you can teach them to use the bathroom on command. I've also seen numerous pros/cons to this approach. I also read they can possibly poop every 15 mins or so. Is that just something common you have to get used to cleaning? Or if I setup an out of cage playscape with protection for the floors, will they typically stay in that general area or just fly all over the place?

 

[SailBoat]

Haha, I guess I will just have to see. The breeder told me he is a big fan of wood toys so far. From what I've read just now the stainless wire and the galvanized after-weld wire seem to be safe. I'm not completely against a pre assembled cage, i'm just a big DIY'er, and like the stuff I build. Built all the aquarium stands for the last 5 aquariums I've had from 20 gallons up to 125. I'm not completely foolish though and as my aviary experience is very limited I'll use whatever advice I get. Thanks.

Galvanized anything is NOT PARROT SAFE! We already have one member (and possibly others) who are suffering through the process of De-Toxic-ing their Parrot(s), a long, slow process.

Take a long serious look at what that Supporting Vendors is supplying and note the construction and features. I understand being a DIY'er. Been one all my adult life. I am also a believer in a certain Canadian who's motto is: DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!

 

[stingeragent]

Checked them out but looking for an indoor setup.

 

[Kiwibird]

I put up a large rainforest shower curtain behind my birds cage. I also wanted something natural looking and got the idea from aquarium and terrarium/vivarium backgrounds, just on a bigger scale.

However you could probably do something similar with a nice backdrop then set the cage with more natural colors, natural branches, natural-look toys and it could look really nice. If you set up the bird area right, a regular powder coat cage in a species appropriate size will blend in well enough. You could even get a natural green, tan or brown cage. If your bird is a baby, they will have a higher likelihood of just accepting whatever environment and mental stimulation you provide them with. If they are an older rescue (or perhaps just a baby who has a preference), they may have set preferences in toys and you'll have to accommodate, even if it looks tacky. My bird is pretty uninterested in natural toys. The brighter the better (or at least most likely for him to want to play with) so while not my preference, he has lots of colorful stuff because it's what he gets excited about playing with. .

 

[stingeragent]

Thanks for the info. He's just turned 3 months old.

 

[SailBoat]

Hey, check-out the current Thread: Ziggy goes for a Hike. Talk about a natural backdrop!

 

[wrench13]

Good, I'm glad my comment was taken the right way. For bars or screening or anything, stainless steel and powdercoating are your only options. zinc anything ( whether hot dip galvanize or electroplated ) are 100% not good. Even if the bird never chews on the bars, bird poop will eventually land on the bottom, and is unfortunately pretty corrosive, once the plating starts to come off, busy beaks will invariably seek that spot out and worry it til more and more of the coating comes off. Powder coating comes off too, but is a LOT tougher then zinc plating and is impervious to poop.
Stainless steel is the absolute #1 best, but holy moley its 2 to 3 x as expensive, for anything. A $300 cage in steel powdercoat may run $1200 in stainless. I nearly fell off my chair looking at stainless steel cages. But you will have that cage for the life of the parrot. Steel ones need to be replaced every 5 to 10 years, so if the bird lives a normal 40-50 years, you're actually saving money by buying stainless. But hoo boy, talking about a long term investment.

A wood cage made with plexiglass sides, cleverly joined so the minimum amount of wood is exposed to chewing beaks could last awhile, and I have seen something like that commercially produced ( cant rem who), looks kinda fake to me, but it may be a source of ideas for you.

 

[stingeragent]

Hadn't thought of plexiglass, although I've done that before for other furniture habitat conversions. Would humidity be an issue? I know these birds are from SA, so I would assume not. Hrm. Something to think about.