Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Doctor Hess: So certainly, if you're going to have a bird, you need to have a safe place
to keep the bird. Obviously, you need a safe cage and not all cages are created equal,
and not all cages are meant for every bird. So there are certainly considerations to make
before purchasing a bird cage.
One of the things that obviously you must think about is the size of the bird and the
size of the cage. Generally, the bigger the cage the better for the bird. Birds need to
stretch out. They need to be able to turn around, stretch their wings out and be safe
and not *** into the sides of the cage.
We need to think about the bar spacing. Not all the spacing on all the cages is the same.
You want to think about whether a bird can get his or her head or leg or wing caught
in those bar spaces, and whether it's appropriately spaced for the size bird that you have.
You want to think about the shape of the cage. I mean, people love to have round cages because
it's aesthetically pleasing for us. But not necessarily great for the bird, because birds
love to hang out in corners and grab and climb. What are some other considerations, Sarah,
that we want to think about?
Sarah: Some other considerations is that some people may think that they want to use their
old bird cage that they've been having sitting in the garage for 30 years. Unfortunately,
a lot of these cages actually have toxic metals on them, lead and zinc, and when the bird
chews on them they can actually become very sick and even die from lead or zinc toxicity.
I think that's maybe a big mistake that people make. Always go for a new cage. Try to shy
away from maybe the powder coating because the birds are always going to chew it off.
I would say go for maybe stainless steel. It's easy to clean. It's going to get dirty.
Birds produce a lot of stool and it's going to get on the bars, and you're going to want
to be able to get it off.
Doctor Hess: Yeah. Stainless steel cages are great. One other thing besides cleaning, which
is certainly a big factor... You want to make sure you look at the cage and think, "How
could I clean this cage?" But another thing you might want to think about, I know it was
certainly an issue for me, is what type of bird you have.
I have a cockatoo and one day I came home and I had replaced his cage, which was a very
nice stainless steel cage, but a little hard to clean, with another type of cage that actually
had some exposed nuts and bolts. I didn't really realize that this bird had an incredible
tongue that could unscrew absolutely anything.
He spent the entire day undoing the nuts and bolts in his cage so that when I came home
all four walls had spread like an onion, opened up. He was sitting in the perch in the middle
completely free. So, he did this all day long with his tongue, and it took him one day.
So now we have to chain-link him in with a bunch of c-clips like a Christmas tree around
his cage because he can get out of anything.
So, this is really something to think about. It's what the cage is made out of, its size,
its shape, and certainly, can it really contain your bird. All things to think about before
getting a cage.