Pepper getting a hideout

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I did find the last couple of posts more useful than the vast glut of hearsay on the web. There is a ton of "this happened" with no tie point to fact at all. I'm still not convinced that the underlying issue isn't oversight and maintenance rather than sheer inherent danger. But I'm the kind of person that replaces Scooter's worn rope perches frequently, I don't expect cloth and rope to last forever.

Captwest, it's not so much that I'm thin-skinned, it's that I spend hours and hours researching these things over and over again to try to ensure that I'm really thinking about them correctly, and every time it comes up again, I do the research again... wastes a lot of time and energy, because I rarely find something new to change my perspective. And then I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about all the things that can go wrong. I feel caught between what I honestly understand to be true and what amounts to peer pressure. What got me back to sleep at 3 this morning was the light bulb: "Hey, most of these people free-fly their birds indoors, some of them with minimal supervision." In my mind that's actually a bigger risk, not to debate if it is worth it or not, it IS a risk. OWNING a bird is a big risk of heartbreak. Caring about anything or anyone is. So I felt a bit more in perspective finally and was able to sleep. It's definitely not that I'm careless. But I insist on thinking about these things... if it doesn't make sense to me, I need to dig until it makes sense, or I'm just not going to believe it on the grounds of someone said so without convincing evidence. Philosophically, and I'm speaking here of talking heads, not present company, so please don't take this the wrong way, I think a lot of the problems we have as a society right now are because people listen to, believe, even obey -- without thinking -- folks who set themselves up as authority figures and spout "truth" without offering verifiable facts or logic to support it. So I'm a bit stubborn about something fitting into what I have learned about the world and how it works.

I think the solution is that I will make one out of vegetable-tanned undyed leather. It will last longer anyway, and still have some softness to it.,. maybe I'll make a fortune this way. Not. Aside form which, wood carries its own list of things to worry about. Is the wood really untreated and from a safe source? Does it have any sharp edges or splinters? Is what I use to connect it together safe, and safely away from prying beaks? Nails could poke through or contain heavy metals, glue could be toxic. Leather can be an issue, but once you have a source you trust, the rest should be fairly low risk.

As far as I can tell at this point, a bird is a life waiting for an accident. Bit like horses that way. And half of the well-circulated "truth" about horses has been conclusively demonstrated wrong, so I will continue to try and dig at things. With birds, it is much harder to find trusted sources of information. There seems to be a lot less research to start with.

[Munchy]

Entranced if you can make something safe similar to a tent that is soft and enjoyable for the bird, I'll buy it.
Disney has the soft furry tent and absolutely LOVES it. It is his favorite thing. He sleeps in it, takes cat naps, and walks through it like a tunnel. He even swings on top of it playing with the metal hooks.

[Munchy]

Maybe I'll just take it out. I'd rather side on caution. I'll feel bad though as he loves it so much. Goes in when he's ready to sleep. He seems so much happier sleeping in it that when he slept on a perch.

[TheNzJessie]

Maybe I'll just take it out. I'd rather side on caution. I'll feel bad though as he loves it so much. Goes in when he's ready to sleep. He seems so much happier sleeping in it that when he slept on a perch.

i wouldn;t take it out unless you see him chewing/biting it or any loose threads come off, my lori loves his and the hut has oppsite stitching so all the threads and stitching in is on the inside so its practicly foolproof unless hes out to destroy it.

[pfinarffle]

I think whether it's good for you is entirely bird dependent. Some birds adore them and use them with no problems to keep warm. Others, like our Sennie, chew the living crap out of them. PeeWee actually chewed through the bottom of his right on to the plastic! He was working his way through the plastic when we realized what was going on and promptly took it out of his cage. There's a nice little "glass bottom" view to the hut's floor now! Guess his nesting cavity instinct got the better of him and he was just trying to make his "nest" a bit bigger to impress us. Thankfully, he doesn't try to eat things he saws through, so he didn't hurt himself at all. But there are birds out there who will swallow fabric or toy parts as they chew through anything. So be mindful of this when trying out any new accessoring, including a happy hut. Supervise your guys!