Setting Up The African Grey Parrots Environment - Cage, Perches, Care And More

African Grey Parrots thrive on activity. In the wild they are very social amongst their own species and forage the forest in groups to search for food. They need to run around, climb, chew and play for most of their day. Their large size makes their need rather difficult to cater in captivity but one must nevertheless try their best to provide the best environment possible.

Choosing the Cage: Before you buy your bird you need to buy its cage. Choosing the cage should take the same consideration it takes selecting a bird. This will be your Greys home- its safe place. It seems incomprehensible that someone would buy a tame Grey and not provide it with a cage. There are very important reasons why every parrot should have a cage. It needs to literally know its place in the house, and know its cage is a refuge from danger to which it can return if it feels insecure. And, of course, its cage is a secure place in which to roost every night and a place to rest quietly every afternoon where it will not be disturbed. Without a cage, the likelihood of the parrot escaping is also greatly increased. The purchaser of a young Grey Parrot may be too excited to notice the important aspects of how their bird has been kept and fed.

Because Grey Parrots have a sensitive nature, they can be more stressed by a transfer to a new location than, for example, an Amazon. The Purchaser should therefore note the size of its present cage and the location and type of food containers used. If the young Grey has been feeding from a low perch with food containers at the same level, and he is placed in a larger cage, he will probably climb to the higher perch but may be very reluctant to climb down to feed. Therefore, it is advisable to buy some hook-on feeders in case it needs to be fed at the perch level to start with. In a large cage perches can be placed at a low level and their height (except one) gradually increased as the Grey feels more at home in the cage.

Remove the grate at the bottom of the cage. African Grey Parrots like to walk on the cage floor and perhaps scratch in a corner. Older hens will probably want to tear up newspaper. There activities are good outlets for their energy.

Features of a Good Cage: When choosing a cage these features are most important:

• Buy the largest size cage you can afford. It should be longer than it is high as this design offers more opportunity for exercise and play. Cylindrical cages should be avoided; they are unsuitable for birds of any species.

• It should have at least some sides with horizontal bars, for ease of climbing.

• It should have a fairly large cage door. This makes it easier to move the parrot in and out of the cage and to clean the inside of the cage.

• It should have food and water containers that can be replenished from the outside. This is standard in all but the cheapest cages.

• It should have castors so that the cage can be moved to other rooms of the house. Greys are curious animals and nothing can be more boring than having the same view everyday.

• Take a careful look at the door catch on your Grey's cage. These parrots are strong enough and clever enough to undo some cage doors. If this is likely, put a dog clip or a padlock on the cage.

• Newspaper is a good material to cover the cage floor. It is entirely safe (newsprint no longer contains lead) and easily obtainable. As a rule of thumb use the paper without any colored printing- just black and white is safe. It is also a quick change; several layers of paper can be used to line the bottom of the cage and several sheets can be removed twice daily. Do not use cat litter (possibly toxic) or sand (a Grey can scratch it all over the room in a matter of minutes).

Birds Cages - How To Choose The Right One

So you're faced with the hard decision of choosing a bird cage for your bird? Well, there are multiple things to think about, but this article will discuss the 3 most important issues involved in that decision. If you abide by the guidelines discussed below, you'll find a great cage at a great price that you're truly happy with. There's a lot to think about - not just the dimensions of the cage and the spacing between the bars. However, that is a great place to start, so let us cover that first in this article.

Choosing the right size cage & also making sure the bar spacing is safe

This is the very first issue you need to consider when shopping for bird cages. You can't even look at the other details or features of a cage until you've determined it's the right size of cage and has the right bar spacing. As a general rule of thumb; the bigger the the cage is the better, as long as the bar spacing's not too wide. At our web store, we separate birds into 3 categories; small birds, medium birds, & large birds. These categories slightly overlap because some birds fit into the high end & the low end of 2 different categories. For example, Lovebirds fit into the small birds category, but they also fit into the medium birds category.

For your education, let us quickly give you the minimum dimensions & maximum bar spacing measurements for most species of birds:

Small birds (i.e. Finches, Canaries, and Parakeets) should be in a cage that is no smaller than 18"(W) x 18"(D) x 22"(H) and they should not have bar spacing that's wider than 1/2".

Slightly larger small birds (i.e. Cockatiels, Lovebirds, and smaller types of Conures) shouldn't be in a cage smaller than 20"(W) x 18"(D) x 24"(H) and they're bar spacing shouldn't be wider than 3/4".

Medium birds (i.e. most Conures, Timnehs, and smaller Amazons) should have a cage that's at least these dimensions; 22"(W) x 20"(D) x 28"(H) and should have bar spacing no wider than 1".

Large birds (i.e. Congo African Greys, most Amazons, smaller Cockatoos) should have a parrot cage that is at least 32" x 24"(D) x 30"(H) & the bar spacing should be no wider than 1".

The biggest of the big birds (i.e. large Macaws, large Cockatoos, Toucans, and Hyacinth) should be in a cage no littler than 38"(W) x 30"(D) x 48"(H) & they can get away with spacing that's up to 1-1/2" wide. Most large parrot cages feature 1" bar spacing & that is just fine.

If your species of bird isn't named above, just find a species above that's similar in size to your bird & follow the dimension & bar spacing guidelines shown.

Choosing a good quality cage & not spending more than you have to

This is another hard aspect to face. If you have owned a generic bird cage before, you know you do not want to go through that again. The majority of first time cage buyers get a very cheap, generic cage, but they usually don't make that mistake twice. Some of the top brand names around are Kings, Avian Adventures, Invision Cages, Animal Environments, California Cages, Cages By Design, Liberty Cages, Visionary Acrylic Cages, & HQ Cages. At our web store we offer what we consider to be the very best 3 brand names available, but we have heard good and bad about all of them. The reason we offer the cages we offer is for the following 3 solid reasons;

1. The manufacturer's stand behind their cages & warranties,

2. The materials used are truly tested safe for birds (most manufacturers do not do this), and

3. We've offered or seen every brand name listed & have decided what ones we think are the most solid. Most cages offered by the brand names listed above are within approximately the same price range, so you just have to look around & see what fits you budget & your bird's specific needs. A great place to do research is within online bird forums & bird discussion boards. You can talk with other bird owners who've tried the brand name you're considering & they will gladly offer feedback on the cage that you are looking at. We do offer a bird lover's forum & the website address is listed in my biography at the bottom of this article. I urge you to visit our forum and others on the web as well, they provide great insight into what cages would work best for you & your bird.

How to choose the best retailer to buy from

This is the third and final part of this article, but it's only listed last because of how important the 2 factors listed before it are. This too is a very important part f your decision making process. If you can find a reputable store front in your region that offers top brand name cages at decent prices then that may be a good place to start. However, you will probably find that most pet supply store fronts that are offline are either extremely high priced, or they do not have any true parrot cages at all - they strictly offer small economy boxed cages that aren't large enough for the smallest of birds. This is because local store fronts have a very tough time competing with the internet retailers. Local store fronts have multiple overhead costs that need be buried into their product prices, and online stores do not have much overhead at all. So once you look locally, you'll most likely be on the web cage shopping. Now that you are online, how do you decide who you can trust? That's a great question, and not an easy one to answer. There are a few really good indicators that you can use to make a good judgment on who the trustworthy web stores are; One of the ways is something we previously discussed; head to the bird forums - if other people had a pleasant experience with an online store, you're likely to as well. I also recommend checking the sites you visit for positive customer testimonials. Web sites that do not post positive customer feedback they've received, probably haven't received any positive feedback. If you had one single customer contact you to tell you how great of an experience they had, wouldn't you place that testimonial on your web store? The last way to help determine whether a business is solid or not is to make sure they take all major credit cards, and not strictly PayPal. A site that takes all major credit cards strictly through PayPal is a red flag in my opinion. You may be wondering why on earth that's a red flag, well consider this; if a web store takes all major credit cards and the credit card companies receive too many complaints from their customers, they can actually lose their credit card processing account. That's right, the credit card processing company will actually pull their account & not let them take credit cards anymore. This then forces that online retailer to strictly offer PayPal or Google Checkout as their payment method. All internet retailers should take all major credit cards, and if they do not, it may be because they have lost their credit card processing account because of excessive customer complaints. I'm not saying that a web store shouldn't accept PayPal as a payment method, they should, but they should also be taking credit cards directly through the store's shopping cart as well.

Well, we have now covered what I consider the big 3 issues to consider when choosing a cage for your new bird. Again, there are many other factors, but these are the most important in my opinion, and if you follow these guidelines you will be very pleased with the decision you make. Plus, your bird will be proud of the decision you make on his behalf!

Until next time, this is Dave Hermansen signing off. If you'd like to read more great articles or visit the web store I am a part of see my bio below. I'm providing the web addresses for our forum, and the bird cage store I am a partial owner of. Best of luck to you on your personal venture to find the perfect cage for your feathered friend!

NOTE: This article is free to copy and use on other web sites as long as it's copied in it's entirety and any links are left in place and active.