New Cage and Tree for Cape Parrot

[Ark]

Thanks for your reponse, Michael. I have no problem not using feeder doors, have never used them actually. My concern wasen't really for saving money, but more along the lines of why should I buy more bowls if I don't need to use them. It kind of sucks that the doors are too flimsy to trust without a bowl, guess I'll be buying the SS dishes when the time comes. I have been thinking of buying these cages for awhile, but have been hesitating for a bit because I can't see them in real life first and I don't know anyone who has one. So you are really a big help. Thanks again!

[Michael]

If all you want the food cup is to serve as a door protector, just leave the plastic cups then I guess. I only recommend switching to the stainless if you're actually going to use them. The plastic ones are deeper but stick out less so I'm sure they'd collect a bit less poop too than if you leave the stainless ones in all the time.

[Michael]

Remember how I was complaining about the food cups being smaller in the new cage than Kili's? Well I put the cups side by side to compare and found out what the difference is. Actually the lip of the cups is virtually the same (although the Cape one is still the slightest bit smaller). However, the Kili cups have a straight side so the bottom of cup diameter is the same as the top lip. On the Cape cup, it narrows in as you go down so the bottom has less surface area. The Cape cup turns out a bit taller so by volume the two are probably identical. However, I prefer the wide-bottom style of Kili's cup because it gives the parrot more surface area to spread its food around and work on it. The Cape cup has one neat feature which is a built in locking feature. It has two bumps that stick out so when you drop it into the ring and twist, it cannot be removed upward but has to be twisted back to be removed.

[Michael]

As Kili has been becoming more aware/familiar with the new Cape Parrot stuff and living in her new area, I've been moving the Cape stuff to more accessible areas. While at first I kept the tree and cage in difficult to reach places for Kili, now I've moved them to the locations I expect to have them when the Cape arrives. Now they are very easy for Kili to land on but I have been doing some training to prevent this.

I've been using a combination of aversives and positive reinforcement to achieve my goal of teaching her to stay off the Cape's stuff. The first thing I did was to keep the cage/tree boring. I didn't put any toys or desirable things on them yet so she has less interest in them. However, the tree and cage are in convenient places so she would gladly use them as a landing/perching spot. This is why I need to do some training to keep her off. A few times when she landed on these, I use my pre-developed aversive "OFF" to scare her off of them. I've developed this aversive by coupling it with an aversive consequence at the end. I do not show this in the video because I do not want people to get the wrong impression and try this. I have a very strong relationship so when I scare her off a specific place she doesn't hold it against me as much as for that specific place. A new aversive I've found is my fly swatter. I never intended to develop this as an anti-parrot measure but it just happened. Kili watched my swat some flies and ever since has been terrified of the swatter. I have never hit her with it or even brought it close to her. But at the mere sight of it, she flies away. So a few times when she landed on the Cape tree, all I had to do is pick up the swatter and she was out of there before I could even shout "off". I still say off though because developing the word into a cue is still the ultimate goal. She's pretty good about getting off of wherever she is when I shout off.

The positive reinforcement aspect is more interesting and probably more useful to other people. I try to downplay the punishment aspect but the method I previously mentioned is of course punishment. I try not to use it too much and I try to be careful not to recommend it or demonstrate it to people because it is so easy to misuse and do irrevocable harm. So instead, I suggest trying this positive reinforcement method.

Kili is familiar with the "kili" recall and "go to perch." The problem with "go to perch" is that it doesn't specify a perch and basically means to go to whatever perch I point her toward. For the sake of this training exercise, I put the trees next to each other and go to perch wasn't specific enough not to go to the Cape tree vs hers. So I used this as an opportunity to develop a new cue while practicing for this purpose. I would say "go to your tree" and point her to her tree and let her fly there. At first I made it easy and kept the Cape tree far enough that she would not even consider going to it. After several flights back and forth to her tree, I introduced the Cape tree next to hers. If she landed on the Cape tree she did not get any treats but if she landed on her tree, she would get a treat. For her, this was far easier than flying recalls across the room or in the park so she participated eagerly. If she so much as touched the Cape tree enroute to hers, I would ignore her and not give her treats. She very quickly learned that the point of the game was to avoid touching the Cape tree and to land on her own. Soon I was moving the Cape tree in the flight path to provide an obstacle for her to navigate around to get to her tree. So in the process I made a game out of it where the goal is to avoid going on the Cape tree by every means and to land on hers instead.

I believe this technique will teach a longer term preference and habit for going on her tree rather than the Cape's. I'm sure that after several months I'll be able to figure out if the parrots are friends and they'll be able to fend for themselves. But for now, I must develop at least the cage/tree as Cape only places that it can comfortably go to without getting bullied by Kili.

[TheNzJessie]

yes i just brought some stainless steel bowls for my new rainbow lorikeet im getting and i have noticed the locking on it from the older style ones i have.

im not using the old ones because i had to by 4 news ones and i like everything to be the same lol. i couldn't stand it if i had 2 older style ones and 2 newer ones......its just how i am i like everything to be equal i think it looks neater....and the old ones a little bit larger. same with my budgie i keep his food bowls the same size and the same color just because it looks neater.....

[lzver]

What is the status on your Cape Michael? Any word on when you'll be getting it?

[TheNzJessie]

aaannnnnnddddd, im in like with the new cage! it presents its self as a nice looking cage. unlike some of the ones i have been looking at for my lori..... ones i have seen have a plastiv pull put tray that does not sit properly because the cage is poor workmanship and bits a crooked and they want $499 for them. im still hunting around for the perfect cage i love that one but i think its a bit out of my budget and a bit to large for my bird! the dome style is awesome.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Michael, do you still like this cage? Which one is it? The store with our Cape deals King's Cages... we were looking at a corner model that has 5/8" spacing and 4mm bars. It is very spacious, but only has two feeder doors and I'd really like 3. It also has little disc thingys to secure the feeder doors that don't seem wildly birdproof to me, but it is one of the Economy Line models. What min size did you use as a metric?

One of the store policies is you buy an appropriate cage with the bird. Their prices seem OK, so we don't have a problem with that particularly, but we want to choose one we'll be happy with.

[pchela]

What other brands do they have Entranced? I don't know King Cages but I'm familiar with most others so could probably at least tell you if they are any good or not.

[Ark]

I have used King's Cages with the "circle things" in the past and I never had any escapes, but my birds are not too mechanically interested/inclined. If this is a concern for you, they do make locks to fit on these style of feeders. http://www.windycityparrot.com/page/win ... rrot/locks