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prevent parrot from destroying

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prevent parrot from destroying

Postby Eurycerus » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:22 am

So nika is slowly but surely teaching herself to fly. We live in a one bedroom so my room has my computer and flat screen TV. Of course she is fascinated by both and wishes to chew on my cables and would like to chew on the actual devices if her beak was big enough. Once she is fully flighted i can tell destruction may reign.

The only thing i can think of is to provide interesting toys however my guess is she will still be interested in what she is not allowed to have. Suggestions? My cockatiel was flighted but was not as curious and didn't want to chew on cables. Just my posters and enjoyed being up on my book shelf.
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Re: prevent parrot from destroying

Postby liz » Mon Aug 06, 2012 12:18 pm

LOL

Check the thread What has your parrot destroyed". It is an old thread probably from March 2011.
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Re: prevent parrot from destroying

Postby Polarn » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:34 pm

My amazon likes to chew cables as well... All of my wiring is covered tho so unless he can chew through ssteel he's not getting anywhere close. But certain things are extremely unpractical to fabricate covers for such as headphones mobile chargers etc. these I have to remember to put away after use. But it has happened a couple of times I've forgot them on the desk or something. Funny thing tho is he doesn't seem to chew the actual wires just strip them. I mean a iPhone headset isn't that thick, still I found my last one stripped with the wires still intact... Frustrating yes, but then since all wires are covered or put away one left behind on a table or desk is a foreign object in need of investigation. I got myself a fully fledged research dpt. over here...

My only advice to you is to either fabricate wire overs out of stainless steel or something, alternatively buy the store bought plastic ones and keep an eye on them and replace when needed rather than having a thrill seeking bird get its thrills from chewing your wiring.
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Re: prevent parrot from destroying

Postby Eurycerus » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:38 pm

Polarn wrote:My only advice to you is to either fabricate wire overs out of stainless steel or something, alternatively buy the store bought plastic ones and keep an eye on them and replace when needed rather than having a thrill seeking bird get its thrills from chewing your wiring.


Do you have pics of your stainless steel wire covers? I was thinking about the plastic ones but I wasn't sure how useful those would be.
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Re: prevent parrot from destroying

Postby Polarn » Mon Aug 06, 2012 4:57 pm

Not handy now but their pretty basic. I just angled them 45-90-45 kind of like this following poor ASCII illustration _/\_ then screwed the flat surfaces to the walls with the cables inside. Like "A"s with feet. But my sheet metal bender (whatever their called) can't take wider peices than 2 feet so I got shitloads of seams :(. Quick fix not the pretties, looks kind of industrial. Although the plans for my new furniture looks industrial as well and I have no budget for them ATM but they would make most of the covers obsolete. And yeah the plastic covers would have to be checked daily if your bird have any interest in them. If your confiteble putting new connectors to your cables you could always use steel tubing without having to have a massive diameter. Lots of work tho, but removes fabrication times for other solutions. Making covers out of wood should work too, but they would take more space and also like plastic ones they may need frequent maintainance. I do however bet that a lot of the bird proofing here is too much if I never had a bird out unsupervised. But I leave one out sometimes while in the workshop doing something or in the studio painting. And I want no accidents to be possible while I'm out.
An example is landIng ontop of a tv or screen since they can get their toes stuck in the ventilation slits. While some risks can be eliminated, some minimized others will always be there, even for a caged bird. All we can do is our best, so my option. I live in a huge birdcage and adapt my items to not cause any risk to my winged friends...
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Re: prevent parrot from destroying

Postby Eurycerus » Mon Aug 06, 2012 5:13 pm

Oh okay thanks! I feel like I need to get the wires under control both because it will be really annoying/expensive to replace and I imagine pretty dangerous for birds due to electrocution and heavy metal poisoning. I'll try out the plastic ones and then switch to metal if it doesn't work out
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Re: prevent parrot from destroying

Postby Michael » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:24 pm

I think the problem you are having is the result of clipping. Clipped (or poorly flighted) parrots end up on the ground more cause they can't fly up very well. Wires are at ground level so when they're down there, they are intrigued by them. A more common problem with truly flighted parrots is that they get in trouble too high (like in the curtains) instead. A lot better than down in the wires I think though. So as flight improves and you provide good perching opportunities at mid-level, I think this problem will mostly go away.
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Re: prevent parrot from destroying

Postby Eurycerus » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:43 pm

She flaps over to the desk or my bureau which has the tv on it from her perch i made. I currently try to scoot the play stand too far for her but that won't last. Her range is improving. Regardless i will look into providing suitable mid level fun things to fly to. I will need to put plastic around my cables i think though. :/ hopefully home depot has what i need.
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Re: prevent parrot from destroying

Postby Polarn » Tue Aug 07, 2012 6:25 am

My amazon is good at flying and has never been clipped but I agree with Michael and I might also add that not all wires along the floor is covered but all that is from the waist up most certainly is cables up to the wall mounted tv etc. and as I said if I leave something out on a table or desk it will get chewed, not all the time but sometimes and it doesn't seem to matter what it is.
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Re: prevent parrot from destroying

Postby Polarn » Tue Aug 07, 2012 6:32 am

Home depot should have cable covers of various kinds I believe. A stronger alternative is the PVC pluming, but again some solutions is t the prettiest looking ones... Hence I wish to have in my budget soon to build new furniture that all cables would run inside etc. but that's a future project. Next project is most likely to build a new cage for the cockatiel, he doesn't really need a floor-roof cage and I could use the storage that would provide under it... Anyways that'll be another thread of the build if I desire it's worth it.
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