Redecorating the cage

mehul93

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Hello!

I've been meaning to post this a while ago but never got round to it. I've had my IRN for around 8 months now (as some of you guys will know) and I want to reshuffle his cage around to be a better experience for him when it is cage time in the evening.

I got him untamed, but with the tons of help from @Roz @Michael Reynolds @DizzyBlue @dianaT and other he's becoming more and more trusting.

I have a variety of different perches and toys (that I made) and was wondering what ideas you guys have to redo his cage.

Obviously this redo won't happen all at once, but will stagger the changes over the weeks so it's not a massive shock to him. One of the main things for me is moving his 3 food/water bowls up near him. When I got him he was terrified of anyone near him so people suggested having the bowls lower down in the cage, which allowed me to crawl and put in his food. He's now complete fine with me putting in food etc and think it's the best time to move them up. He's out when I put in his breakfast but is in his cage for dinner.

What ideas do you guys have? Would be good to see what other people think could work!
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Just a quick thought for now. I would keep your food/water bowls lower so that he has to move to get to them. The trouble with tall cages is that the bird usually stays in the top half, but if the food/water bowls were kept lower, he would make more use of the cage and get some exercise.
 
I suggest more toys that you can shred or forage with, if you want something special you could get him a bungee, but you have a really nice size and perches
 
@Roz Ok cool! I'll keep them lower down, but I'll move them slightly to stop him pooing into his bowls. Do you think I should keep 3 bowls? One for fresh food, 2nd for his evening pellets and third for his water? I was thinking of using just 2 and then add his pellets in with some fresh food for dinner. Where would you rearrange the bowls and perches if it was up to you?

@Feathered Janique I constantly replace his toys, I bought a load of things to make stuff for him and he loves shredding paper and destroying lollipop sticks

I've actually added a new java branch into his cage, replace the coloured rope perch but he hasn't really taken a liking to it. It's been a week but he doesn't seems to like to wander on it. He still has the rope on the left that he walks along. I can target him onto the new branch but I have not yet seen him go on his own to explore. Should I remove it or let him adjust to it?
 

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It's ok to leave the rope perch as long as he's not chewing on it, sometimes birds take into sudden intrest in things after it's been around them for a while
 
Oh okay, sorry, I had to read it a few times before I understood it well, I thought you said he wasn't really interested in the rope perch and you wanted to replace it, my mind must be kind of fuzzy lately because I have read to posts wrong now and posted silly stuff, even though I reread everything before I post
 
@Roz Ok cool! I'll keep them lower down, but I'll move them slightly to stop him pooing into his bowls. Do you think I should keep 3 bowls? One for fresh food, 2nd for his evening pellets and third for his water? I was thinking of using just 2 and then add his pellets in with some fresh food for dinner. Where would you rearrange the bowls and perches if it was up to you?

Where they don't get pooped on is a good start! :biggrin: You could move that middle one to the left of the one on the left? So you have fresh and seed together if you are still going to be using two bowls and water the other end to avoid parrot "soup". If you do decide to get rid of one of the bowls, do make sure he's still eating enough ie. he may not eat wet pellets, on the other hand he may love them like that.
 
So I've moved his water bowl on the right hand side and then his food bowl next to it but attached to the front.

I've noticed now since I've made the change he's being abit more aggressive in the evening when I take his food bowl out. I'm guessing this is because he is in his sleep mode and I'm now having to stick my hand into his cage to get the bowl. Even though the bowls are lower he'll lunge at me through the cage.

Should I try moving it back to the door and see how it goes?

Also do you think I should cover his cage at bedtime? I'm not sure if this will give him abit more less light/noise time, as he is in the living room and there's always someone up late.

His routine is as follows:

  1. 9am he's out of the cage, I do abit of training and give him breakfast
  2. Throughout the day I'll recall him onto my hand and let him sit on my knee while I work, talking to him. I'll also do some back in cage training (which is working! I can physically put him back in his cage with the method you said!)
  3. Then at about 5 I put him back into his cage, give him time to chill and put in his dinner at 6pm
  4. 9pm I go down to take out his food.
@Roz @DizzyBlue @dianaT
 
All my cages are covered with a folded sheet so it covers 3/4 of the cage it's something I've always done, it gives them security, comfort and privacy, then in the morning I enter the room open the curtains (they are in our dining room) say good morning boys and gently fold back the fronts of the covers, after maybe 15-20mins taken them off.
All of mine have 3 dishes 24/7, water, Tidymix seeds and fruit & veg, obviously they are checked and changed daily and more when required. Hope my routine helps.
 
So good to hear the training is going well. 😊

I would say do all you can to avoid lunging because the more he does it the more he is learning to in that situation. You could put the bowl back where it was, or maybe slide it closer to the door so you don’t have to reach in so far. Or/and you could get him to target to a perch on the other side of the cage for a last night time snack whilst you get the bowl out.

If he’s being kept up late because someone is in the room, I would cover the cage (I cover all mine with dark brown cotton sheets). Or think about wheeling his cage into a quiet room so that he gets uninterrupted sleep. Or maybe teach him to go into a night cage/travel cage which is easier to carry into a quiet room (that’s what I’ve always done with Kobe).
 
So good to hear the training is going well. 😊

I would say do all you can to avoid lunging because the more he does it the more he is learning to in that situation. You could put the bowl back where it was, or maybe slide it closer to the door so you don’t have to reach in so far. Or/and you could get him to target to a perch on the other side of the cage for a last night time snack whilst you get the bowl out.

If he’s being kept up late because someone is in the room, I would cover the cage (I cover all mine with dark brown cotton sheets). Or think about wheeling his cage into a quiet room so that he gets uninterrupted sleep. Or maybe teach him to go into a night cage/travel cage which is easier to carry into a quiet room (that’s what I’ve always done with Kobe).

Ok In that case I will get a cover, what do you think about the one I linked above?
 
I cannot open that Amazon link but in my opinion just use a folded cotton sheet. and leave enough space for ventilation that's why I cover mine 3/4 of the cages.
 
I googled and found it. I’d say it is good as it blocks all light. As Diana said it is important to leave a breathing space/ventilation - I leave at least a 30cm gap at the back towards the wall. Personally I prefer natural fibres - this one is synthetic. But it looks good.
 
Ok cool, I'll see how this one goes and if not I'll buy fabric and craft one. I know with the one on Amazon was pretty thick and couldn't see any ventilation through the fabric. Cotton might be a better shout to also use in summer... If it ever decides to stick around haha
 
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