SammyAndyAlex
Active member
- Sep 9, 2018
- 159
- Media
- 7
- 57
- Parrots
- Sammy - Jardine's Parrot - Hatchday: 4.2.2014
Andy - Congo African Grey - Hatchday: 6.12.2018
Alex - Congo African Grey - Hatchday: 19.1.2021
Joey - Yellow faced spangle sky blue 1/2 Austrailian 1
I'm currently at my dad's dog/house-sitting. Naturally I have left the birds at home. I go and check on them once per day (or every other day). I arrived here last night and went to check on them around 3pm today. Will only be staying here for about 5 days.
WELL when I came home today I was greeted by ALL THREE of them OUTSIDE of the cage with the cage door WIDE OPEN. I was in utter disbelief when I saw it.
I KNOW that I closed/locked the cage door (even double checked before leaving). The doors have a little hasp that the parrots *theoretically could* open but it would be very hard for them to do so... Or so I thought... They've had this cage for over 4 years so I (very incorrectly) assumed that they were incapable of opening it on their own... Oh how wrong I was.
Luckily the room they are in is pretty parrot proofed and the number of hours I was gone wasn't that many. Based on the droppings (amount and also how wet/dry) on the floor I can deduce that they had not been outside the cage for very long. Both Alex and Andy usually just climb to the cage roof and stay there, although Andy will occasionally fly down to a chair by the table and it appears that that's exactly what they did. Sammy could have caused a lot of damage had he wanted to since he always runs around on the floor exploring everything.
I had left the little jar with almonds (which was already almost empty when I left, probably no more than 10 or so left) open on the table. When I came home there was a lot of almond crumbs and some poop on the table... Sammy is the most likely culprit. A few stuffed animals had been thrown off the bookshelf and there were quite a few droppings on the floor.
LUCKILY no one was hurt (nor was anything destroyed or damaged). But oh man did it scare me to death!!! Even though many things have been bird proofed in the room there are still a few areas that I would NEVER leave any of them unattended near. I am so so incredibly lucky that none of them messed with any cables (many hare hidden/out of reach, but not all...) or anything else potentially dangerous or even deadly.
I was able to install a completely parrot-proof lock onto both doors, so now the cage will have 2 different locking/closing mechanisms instead of just one that's pretty basic and simple. (The new lock is two metal U shaped rings that are drilled into both the door frame and the cage itself. They are then attached to each other with a large carabiner clip that has a twist lock.) I have also learned my lesson and will not only lock both of the locks but also double and triple check that both doors are fully closed and locked before leaving ever again...
Very very scary. I feel so lucky that no one was hurt and so thankful that I went to check on them at 3pm and not 7pm or tomorrow morning....
WELL when I came home today I was greeted by ALL THREE of them OUTSIDE of the cage with the cage door WIDE OPEN. I was in utter disbelief when I saw it.
I KNOW that I closed/locked the cage door (even double checked before leaving). The doors have a little hasp that the parrots *theoretically could* open but it would be very hard for them to do so... Or so I thought... They've had this cage for over 4 years so I (very incorrectly) assumed that they were incapable of opening it on their own... Oh how wrong I was.
Luckily the room they are in is pretty parrot proofed and the number of hours I was gone wasn't that many. Based on the droppings (amount and also how wet/dry) on the floor I can deduce that they had not been outside the cage for very long. Both Alex and Andy usually just climb to the cage roof and stay there, although Andy will occasionally fly down to a chair by the table and it appears that that's exactly what they did. Sammy could have caused a lot of damage had he wanted to since he always runs around on the floor exploring everything.
I had left the little jar with almonds (which was already almost empty when I left, probably no more than 10 or so left) open on the table. When I came home there was a lot of almond crumbs and some poop on the table... Sammy is the most likely culprit. A few stuffed animals had been thrown off the bookshelf and there were quite a few droppings on the floor.
LUCKILY no one was hurt (nor was anything destroyed or damaged). But oh man did it scare me to death!!! Even though many things have been bird proofed in the room there are still a few areas that I would NEVER leave any of them unattended near. I am so so incredibly lucky that none of them messed with any cables (many hare hidden/out of reach, but not all...) or anything else potentially dangerous or even deadly.
I was able to install a completely parrot-proof lock onto both doors, so now the cage will have 2 different locking/closing mechanisms instead of just one that's pretty basic and simple. (The new lock is two metal U shaped rings that are drilled into both the door frame and the cage itself. They are then attached to each other with a large carabiner clip that has a twist lock.) I have also learned my lesson and will not only lock both of the locks but also double and triple check that both doors are fully closed and locked before leaving ever again...
Very very scary. I feel so lucky that no one was hurt and so thankful that I went to check on them at 3pm and not 7pm or tomorrow morning....
