Two weeks ago I purchased a new cage for my CAG, Scooty. It arrived last week finally and I was SO excited. Here is a link to the cage:
http://www.kingscages.com/ProductDetail ... ductID=406
As I was building it I was so excited at how big it was in person. I'm so glad I measured everything so many times lol. Each piece I slid out I examined and talked to Scooty and showed him. I thought it might help the process of acclimating him into the new cage this way. We do the same thing with toys and food. I talk to whatever the object is and talk to him and introduce them...I'm sure if anyone saw this thru a window they'd think I was nuts lol. BUT everything went really well...aside of the HORRIBLE instructions that came with the cage (which don't match the online instructions and I have 2 extra holes on the top of the cage that aren't depicted in the directions nor do I have screws for....that's for another story lol). So days go by as we are getting used to the new cage. It is going MUCH faster then I thought it would. I was sure he would be terrified of it. But when I opened the door of his old one facing the new one he flew right for it. Kind of dive bombed it actually lol...he's about as good of a flier as I am a driver If I could issue him a ticket for unexpected turning and cutting people off...
Anyway, on to my dissapointment. So he is now totally in his new cage. The old one is out of the picture. He is eating very well and drinking and everything is going pretty great. BUT he can't seem to move around very well. His old cage is 3/4 inch bar spacing and this new one is 1 inch with 5mm bar thickness. From everything that I've read and people that I've spoken to say that 1 inch would be ok for a CAG but no more then that. I was also following the rule to buy as big of a cage as possible for your bird (especially since I'm gone during the day at work). So I went to Kings Cages and purchased the largest cage I could find that did not exceed the 1 inch spacing (and wasn't thousands of dollars in stainless steel). That's basically how I picked the 406 cage. It was the biggest I saw with that proper spacing. But Scooty seems to have a hard time getting around in it. I see him trying so hard to move from one spot to the other, and eventually he gets there, but it breaks my heart to see him holding on to one bar while his other little foot is grabbing through the air trying to find the closest perch. I stick my hand in there to give him something to stand on and help him to the next spot. I guess I thought this cage would be the perfect fit for him since he's a bit of a bigger CAG. Maybe its because he is missing one of his toes? It has never caused him any set back ever, so I find it hard to believe it would now, but then again this cage is different.
So that is one area that makes my heart sink....is this cage too big for him? Did I make a mistake in getting this one? Will he figure things out and this is just new behavior that will get better as he gets more familiar with the cage? I have all sorts of perches pretty close together so that way its like helping him along. I've also added toys he can climb on and help him get a better grip so he can get to the next spot.
The other thing is the bowl placement. The way the swing doors are it makes it hard to get a perch close to the bowls. While this might not be an issue for a macaw, it seems to be for Scooty. I saw him tonight have one foot on the side of the bowl and the other foot stretched way behind him on the dragon wood branch I got him. I also have a smaller perch right in front of the bowl but he would have to walk down the dragon wood perch and then step on the bowl to get to the perch. Or, he would have to skirt across the front of the cage.
I just see him struggle with his new set up and it breaks my heart. He's my little buddy and I was intending on making his life better by adding this improvement and now I'm worried that I've made it worse. This new cage is probably 2-3 times bigger then his old one in over all sq.ft.
I'd love to hear anyones thoughts on this. Am I just over-reacting and need to give him more time? Should I try something different in regards to the set up? I can add some pictrues if that would be helpful but if I've chosen the cage in error and the 1inch spacing is too large I don't know what to do