Lovebird and Parakeet ppl. help me find a cage!

[LizMarie]

Well my mom has a fascination with birds that's why we ended up with 2 hopeless male lovebirds and a male parakeet. Obviously being males they have to be houses separately and cages are super expensive and the one's we have are either broken, find in a dumpster or given to use so they are all basically falling apart making it hard to clean.

Chewy the Parakeet has no bottom to his cage so we used an aluminum pan which can't be easier removed and makes it a hell of a lot harder to clean.

Marc Anthony our Neurotic Lovebird has the pull out draw to his cage but is missing the grate part.

Don Vito (Marc Anthony's father) is the only one with a decent cage. His cage has all the pieces BUT the drawer is cracked and the grate part seems to be rusted so we don't use it.

So as you can see I'm in dire need of cages, lol.

Do these look like a good idea for all my birds...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Breeder-cages-S...ultDomain_0?hash=item3ca8e7f538#ht_1900wt_732

 

[latshki]

they look fine
make sure you put a variety of perches and toy toys toys for them
natural, rope and cement perches are good and research proper diet as seeds are high in fat and make terrible staples
are they hand tamed?

 

[JordanAng420]

My ex-girlfriend is in the same situation as you are. Except she refuses to separate her birds. It pisses me off because they keep breeding and she keeps getting more and more birds.

I think those cages are great, but just as Layton said, make sure they have appropriate places to perch...you also have to make sure the birds are stimulated and have places to forage. That's the key.

 

[robin]

do you let your guys out of the cage?

 

[robin]

they look fine
make sure you put a variety of perches and toy toys toys for them
natural, rope and cement perches are good and research proper diet as seeds are high in fat and make terrible staples
are they hand tamed?

i mainly use roudy bush and some times zupreem, along with fruits and veggies. i make them oatmeal, sometimes give them chicken. i give them a wide variety diet. i keep indian ringnecks, green cheek conures, a cocktiel and an eastern rossella

our birds are out of their cages everyday

 

[latshki]

yea I find zupreem flavor fruit diet to be easy to switch birds on to as it is bright and tasty

 

[robin]

yea I find zupreem flavor fruit diet to be easy to switch birds on to as it is bright and tasty

my guys never liked the fruit blend they love the zupreem natural though. they eat just about anything, you would think they would like that LOL

 

[LizMarie]

Their on seeds with these supplement drops and we tried giving fruits and veggies but they're not eating them as they're suppose to, we keep trying but I dunno who else to over them.

The cages currently have around 5 perches each and each cage has around 3 cages with Marc Anthony having 5 because he has issues but since they're all messed up it makes cleaning tough and I know how bad a dirty can be.

They're not tame and no I don't let them out. Before we got my cat, they'd get out on their own and have fun flying out but she seems to have a "taste" for them, lol. I'm really trying to have my mom give them up to a rescue BUT she NEEDS to keep them so matter as well get some cages we can actually clean making caring for them easier.

- Don Vito was given to us with his cagemate/girlfriend Vita and they had a few eggs, they hatched life went on and then Don Vito pecked through Vita head killing her. At that time we didn't know crap about birds and he was giving another female murdered her too so after that we said he's better off alone because we don't need those extra birds anyway. So that's how he came to be. He's really calm and relaxed but a little skittish if you get to close to him but never bits or is aggressive. I try to speak to him nice and softly and call him a good birds seems to calm him down a little. I know the woman before us had him for awhile and she was nuts so I can only imagine the trauma he got from there, lol.

- Marc Anthony was one of Don Vito's children from his second pairing. My mother's friend wanted to of them so she gave her too they awhile later he complained that he didn't want two of them because they were boys and he didn't want to have to cages so we got them back which wasn't true because they were really m/f. J.Lo ended up dying and Marc Anthony was left alone. When they came here they had issues because Marc Anthony does nothing but pluck his feathers and swing on one of his toy rings. At first I thought it was stress from being with his sister because she'd nip and pluck him but he seemed to have picked it up on his own. He's also really aggressive to the point you can't get near the tank without him trying to nip at you he'll only let you near the cage when he sees your changing out his food or whatever. He's also a lot more destructive than the other two.

-Chewy is the calmest of the bunch, cleanest and is a little tame (he'll get on your finger if your absolutely still) but very skittish. My mom was at work (she works at a motel, one of those open model ones) and was walking to the office when she heard something peeping and saw Chewy with a little busted toe. He got up on her finger and she placed him in a box and went to the nearest pet shop to get some info and some food.

 

[robin]

if you can switch them over to a good pelleted food like zupreem it might help some issues. try giving them some oatmeal (long cook), brown rice or hard boiled eggs. they love those things heh. slowly try some different typed of fruits and veggies our guys love cooked broccoli, cooked green beans and cooked or raw carrots, some of them like sweet potatoes too. they love apple and pear but no citrus fruits and no fruit seeds. a better diet can sometimes help with the one that is plucking his feathers also make sure that guy has plenty of toys. from time to time i give our birds some seed, like as a snack or spray millet.

 

[LizMarie]

Thanks for the info Robin.

I'll check out the pelleted food and some hard boiled eggs, I'd be really happy if they'd eat it! They get treats ever so often, some times they get those Honey Stick (I think that's what it's called) or those millet sticks (atleast that's what I think it's called).

 

[robin]

try and do the switch slowly. mix the pellets in their food and over time decrease the seeds and increase the pellets.

 

[LizMarie]

Something today sparked an interest in these birds and I started cleaning out all the cages since my mother has been lacking in that department due to a busy schedule. As I was running around filling water dishes and food bowls my mom mentioned that she had Zupreem Fruit Blend Diet is that good enough? She said a few months ago she saw that the pet shop was feeding them Zupreem and decided to try it but got annoyed when they wouldn't eat it, mind you this was only ONE day (she's very impatient). So I mixed a small amount in with the seeds and put some smashed banana in a dish, they haven't touched it but Don Vito has been walking around the dish for hours, lol.

 

[robin]

put any fresh fruits or veggies in a separate bowl. but yeah the fruit blend can be a start to switching to seed. it may take a few weeks to a month to get them switched over.

 

[LizMarie]

Ok thanks... The banana is in a little separate bowl well actually petri dishes since I couldn't find any actual bird dishes, lol.

Anyway Robin you seem to be really involved with your birds.. have any advice, tips, websites, that are reliable so I can learn more about these birds? I've tried doing simple searches online but a lot of the sites seem super general and quote wiki, also do you know of any online stores that might sell cheaper bird supplies/food/etc.?

 

[LizMarie]

Do these treat/toy ideas sound safe?

http://www.lisashea.com/petinfo/toymake/

The woman speaks about making paper towel roll rings covered in peanut butter and rolled in seeds, popcorn and Cheerio strings, they sound easy to make and a lot cheaper than buying treats/toys in the store and easy to replace but are they safe? And are they toys I can use in all 3 cages?

 

[robin]

i do not make any stings of them i put pop popcorn and give it to them hehe they love it seeds and nuts should used sparingly because they are high in fat. i am not sure on peanut butter and as far as cherrios i do not put them on a string but they love them too! i worry about the type of "string" used. i do not know about the safety.i wouldn't use paper towel rolls, the glue on them could be toxic. there are many toys you can make yourself. let me see what i can find. you have parolettes and a budgie, right?

 

[LizMarie]

i do not make any stings of them i put pop popcorn and give it to them hehe they love it seeds and nuts should used sparingly because they are high in fat. i am not sure on peanut butter and as far as cherrios i do not put them on a string but they love them too! i worry about the type of "string" used. i do not know about the safety.i wouldn't use paper towel rolls, the glue on them could be toxic. there are many toys you can make yourself. let me see what i can find. you have parolettes and a budgie, right?

The article said to use either cotton string or twine but I'm nervous about them eating it as well.

I know a Parakeet is a budgie and I'm guessing the lovebirds are the parolettes. I'm clueless when it comes to the avian world, lol. I tried searching toys and treats that I can make at home but I'm a little worried about the materials used.

Last night into this morning Marc Anothny my Neurotic lovebird has been eating the mix of seeds and Zupreem and his Banana dish shows some signs of being eaten

 

[robin]

oh lovebird! i thought you typed parolettes. they are different. let me see what i can find