Why bigger cage?

[Michael]

I've been getting a lot of comments saying I should get Kili a bigger cage. I don't really understand what's the big deal though. First off, she only uses the top half of her cage as it is. If I got a bigger cage I doubt I'd put much more toys in anyway. The amount by which a new cage would expand her space would only be a few inches. So 18x18 to 20x24. I don't think that's such a huge improvement to merit spending $400 when her cage is perfectly fine. There's been a lot of talk about how roomy the Cape cage is but in proportion of weight to volume, it's the same as Kili's cage! In proportion of price of cage to price of bird it's also the same. I have perches out of the cage and climbing tree for her. She spends time out of the cage and flies. So I really don't understand what the big deal is and why I've been getting a lot of comments saying that I should get a bigger cage. If hers rusts or breaks, I'll probably get a slightly bigger one next time but otherwise I don't see the point of getting rid of a perfectly fine cage for a few inches of upgrade.

[HyperD]

Obviously the bigger the cage, the more room they have to stretch and play. However, there must be an upper limit. IF they are unable to fly in the cage then ultimately adding extra room wont acheive much.

As long as the parrot feels comfortable, has enough room to stretch then I do not think it is a problem. Although this is assuming as is the case with Kili, that they can come out to fly and have a proper exercise...

[notscaredtodance]

Because bigger is always better! Really, you're the only one who knows how much interaction and out of cage time she gets. You're the only one who sees her every day to see if she's bored. The rest of us are just trying to be helpful. If you have the means for a bigger cage, that is.

[pchela]

I base my opinion on my Senegal who is very active and uses all of his space in his cage which is 28 x 22. If you moved Kili up to a 24 x 20 which I consider minimum for a Senegal, then she'd have 6 extra inches which is quite a lot. You say she doesn't use the bottom of the cage which is true of my Senegal also. That's why I hate those cages that are really tall. It's wasted space. Most parrots only use the top. The 24 x 22 is wide instead of tall. It is actually shorter than the one you have. So really, she'd probably have similar square inches but she'd have 6 more inches of usable space. I just hate to see any parrot cooped up in a small space and I think Kili would appreciate the extra room. I wish you lived closer to me! I would sell you my 24 x 20 cage cheap... I'm working on getting a bigger one for my caique. If you sold her current cage and bought a used one on craigslist it might even work out so that you don't have to spend extra money.

BTW- the first cage I had for Pippin was the same as yours... very tall and 18 x 18. Pippin would sit on his perch and climb around a bit but he wasn't horribly active. When I upgraded he started playing more in his cage. I can't say for sure if it was because he was getting more comfortable in our home or if the extra space encouraged him to play, but I suspect that the size of the cage had something to do with it.

[miajag]

I currently have the same size cage for a similar sized bird, but am strongly considering replacing it with a larger flight cage, especially now that A) she's getting better at flying and B) I'm going to be at home a lot less for the next few months than I have recently, and thus she will have to spend more time in the cage. I think the real question is "why NOT a bigger cage." There are certainly some things worth taking into account such as cost, the space you have available, and the fact that your parrot views its current cage, regardless of its size, as its "home" and replacing it will be stressful to some extent. Obviously you can't ask your parrot "would you rather stay in your current, familiar cage, or move to a new one that is different, but quite a bit larger?" and get an answer. So you kind of have to weigh how much happier you think the parrot would be in a larger cage against the cons. For me personally, I think the fact that Winnie is used to being out a lot and having room to fly means she'd be quite a bit happier in a larger cage than the one she has now. And, I have the money and the space, so those aren't really issues.

In short, I'd say it depends on you and your own situation. I don't think 18x18 is "too small" for a Senegal, especially one who apparently gets as much out-of-cage time as Kili, but in my opinion it's hard to err on the side of "too big," so, again, I think the real question you should be asking is "why not?"

edited to add: It's also rather fallacious to argue that a bigger cage would be pointless because she doesn't even use the bottom half of her cage now. Is there even anything in the bottom half of her cage? Because I'm pretty sure that if you put her food and water in the bottom half, she would use it. Birds like being up high, and rarely go to the bottom of their cage without a good reason. This is not to say I disagree with your overall position, especially since 20x24 likely isn't enough of a size upgrade over 18x18 to be "worth it."

[Michael]

The food bowls are built into the middle of the cage. I do put toys and perches on the bottom as well but as I said she rarely goes down there at all. So even though the cage is 18x18x32, she spends 95% of her time in 18x18x18 top section. What I like about the new Cape cage is that the bowls ARE at the bottom so hopefully the space will be better used. The downside to low bowls though is that everything falls into them.

[Natacha]

I had an 18" x 18" for Shade when I first got her. This cage was always intended on being her baby cage - something not too small yet not too big while she was still learning to move around (she did have a bad leg and total dexterity didn't come as easily as it would to a totally healthy chick).

At the time, I was also living in my parents house so whatever space that cage took had to be ok with them. I had always known I wanted to give a bigger cage to Shade, the question was just when...Eventually I was able to convince my mom to let me get a bigger cage for Shade, and she did the same for her Senegal.

While the 18" x 18" is sufficient, I don't think it's ideal. Shade got a whole lot of time out of her cage back then (my mom would let her out with her birds during the day, definitively more than the 3-5 hours she gets during the week now) so it was ok. But given that she is in most of the day now when I'm at work, I find that giving her a bigger cage was necessary; she does use the entire height of her cage as well, I've put some toys, such as a foraging bucket filled with goodies and foot toys in the bottom half of her cage (I've done this with all my Pois) and she'll play there. The extra inches in width (I have a 24" wide cage) has actually made a difference as well and she does use the extra space available that way. I once again have a space constraint and will not get anything bigger in the next few years but maybe, down the line, I will get a bigger cage for each of my Pois, although I don't feel it's as important as when I did the first upgrade for Shade.

Also, put it this way...would you rather be stuck in the smallest acceptable room for a whole 7-9 hours or would you like a little extra space? I would take the extra space, find it only fitting I provided that to my birds as well.

[Michael]

What I don't understand is why people are impressed with size of Cape Cage but then criticizing me about size of Kili's cage. In proportion to the mass, price, and I'd assume volume of the two birds, the cages are exactly proportional to each other. The Cape cage is something like 3.5X larger in volume. Senegal is about 115g, Cape about 400g. The Cape could be a bit less or more but basically the proportion is quite consistent. I don't want to play "favorites" and treat one parrot to a disproportionately larger cage. Actually from most of the cages I was considering, it looked like the Cape would end up with the proportionally less volume in cage than Senegal. Luckily with the dome top though, it evened out. So that ginormous 32x24x60 whatever cape cage really is similar to 18x18x30 to senegal.

[HyperD]

I suppose it is just a lack of persepective?

We can see Kili in her cage and compare, we cannot see your Cape (still no final name yet?) in the cage so maybe we just picture Kili in that cage?

[pchela]

You also have to take into consideration activity levels for birds when looking at cage size. A 24x20 cage is okay for a poi, but a Caique needs a bigger cage than that. Minimum for a Caique would be 28 or 30x24 or so, even though the Caique is about the same size as the Poi. To me, 18x18 is a greencheek conure or lovebird cage. Also, say I have two kids and one is considerably smaller than the other even though he's older. Do I make his room the walk in closet and give the bigger kid a full bedroom?

I feel as strongly about cage size as a lot of you do about keeping them flighted. I believe we owe them as big a home as we can provide with lots of toys and foraging opportunities. It is their home... why not give them the best?