I have a few cage questions

[brfussne]

I TOO am interested in the EZ Care Playtop cage for medium sized parrots for my Caique. This website sells it for around $15 cheaper than Amazon. I don't know if that puts it in your price range or not? If you buy it before I do, please let me know how you like it!

http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Medium-Bi ... Birds.aspx

Also, for travel cages, I've heard King's Aluminun travel cages are the very best! See if you like any of these: http://www.kingscages.com/SearchResults ... yID=Travel Carriers&SubCatID=Aluminum Travel Carriers

Thanks for the links! lol, $15 saved is $15 saved! (that could be an extra toy to buy!) And I checked it out, it qualifies for free shipping, so that's cool too. Have you ordered from this company before? I was just wondering how they are with returns if for some reason its damaged? I know Amazon is pretty good at backing products sold on their site.

I'll have to take a look at the King cages once I have a little more time to play! There are so many options and things you have to watch out for it can make the whole cage shopping thing confusing!

I have not ordered from them yet so I cannot say how good they are with returns or damaged products. I found another cheap website called http://www.cagesunder500dollars.com and they have some nice ones that are pretty cheap! I found a nice corner cage with 37"w X 26"d X 63" h for $299.95 with free shipping. I've never heard of that site before so I'm a little hesitant to buy from it though.

http://www.cagesunder500dollars.com/p-4 ... -1000.aspx

[christie]

I have not ordered from them yet so I cannot say how good they are with returns or damaged products. I found another cheap website called http://www.cagesunder500dollars.com and they have some nice ones that are pretty cheap! I found a nice corner cage with 37"w X 26"d X 63" h for $299.95 with free shipping. I've never heard of that site before so I'm a little hesitant to buy from it though.

http://www.cagesunder500dollars.com/p-4 ... -1000.aspx

Yeah, they do seem to have some nice cages. I like that corner cage too.... I'm trying to figure out now if a corner cage will work for me too. I did find this one too, it's a bit smaller and square, but would also work for what I'm looking for I think. And it's under $300 too.

http://www.cagesunder500dollars.com/p-5 ... -1302.aspx

I did think it was interesting that they had their cages tested for lead & zinc (certain colors at least) by an independent lab in the US. However, when I looked at the report it was done in January 2009, so it's three years old. Since I'm not up to date on how often these tests should be run I don't know if it should be done again. My thoughts are that over three years the paint/products on the cages could have been changed in the last three years. Now, if they have their cages tested on a yearly basis, I think I would be really impressed!

But, yeah, I'm kinda leery ordering from a site I don't have a history with, especially a large cage.

I'll have to take a longer look at the site a bit later when I have more time. I have some RL stuff that I need to get done tonight before I get too involved in my research tonight! lol, I think I'm getting obsessed with the cage research, but I will at lest be able to know what I'm talking about! I'm thinking about making a chart next! I LOVE Excel! Wonder if you can post documents on this site? If I make one I'll be sure to find out and share.

[brfussne]

I tried to research how often should a company's paint be tested for zinc & lead for parrot cages ... I got nowhere. I did, however, find a very interesting article about testing paint on parrot cages, and what is a safe #. Apparently no cages made in China are safe due to the fact that their paint may contain lead. Stainless steel cages are the best but are usually powder coated to protect from rusting. Any powder coated cage should be tested though. The author lists the price and a place to get your cage tested. http://www.happybirdy.com/

[christie]

Thanks for the link. It was very interesting! It does however answer the question on how to get your cage tested for lead and zinc. It looks like he is sending it to his state lab. I'm going to check with some of our labs here locally and see if I can get a better price for the tests.

Currently from what I can tell from their price list (Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (LADDL) ) the lead testing is $25.00, zinc is $23.00 plus there is a "Tissue Digestion Fee" for each test. I could not find the price for this additional fee on their site anywhere. AND the price list posted is dated 10/21/2010, so the prices may have increased since then. I have a few sources at work that I can check to see if they do lead and zinc testing. If they will work with the general public (and you can send the samples in directly instead of through your vet) I will let you know.

If you (or anyone reading this post) are interested in testing, I wouldn't be surprised if you Google your local state veterinarian or state lab they will probably be willing to do the test as well. From what I can tell you need to make sure you do ask for the "Digestion" method. If you have a Veterinary College in your state, I would check with them too.

Larry (from the link) mentioned some folks were having issues returning cages they had tested that failed. Kind of makes me worry about purchasing cages from a new site.

I've had issues from internet purchasing in the past. When I've tried to complain to the BBB or Federal Trade Commission (after I tried several times to resolve the issue with the company) I ran into road blocks because the site/company did not have any type of physical address on the site or a phone number where you could actually talk to someone. So if purchasing from a "new" company, I would check to make sure they have an actual physical address (not a PO Box) and try to reach them via phone and see if you can actually get through before sending any type of payment. I've learned my lesson on this one the hard way.

[brfussne]

I did not know picking out a cage could be so stressful!! I think I'm going to start off by looking for companies who have updated lab results from lead & zinc testing and/or get their testing done regularly on their cages. I'll update my findings here ...

[christie]

I was rather discouraged by my cage search today. I had about 90 min of travel time to go to two different bird stores to look at cages today. One store only had about 3 different cages that would be in my size category, and I didn't like any of them. Either the bar spacing was too far apart and/or the main door was skinny. Big enough to get a bird in and out of the cage, but not big enough to make it convenient to clean. They didn't have cage brands written on them anywhere, but I THINK they were HQ cages.

At the other store they had a few more cages and a better selection (small - large), but basically only 3 styles that were in the size range I was looking at.

I think this is the same cage as I saw in the shop, it matches the pictures I took pretty well

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... &subref=AA

The cage looked nice enough, and I liked the fact that it had the double perch on the play top, but the main door is skinny again. I would have a hard time getting my head and arms in there to clean. When I rattled around the cups (those were stainless steel) and they seemed "parrot" proof inside the cage. The ones on top of the cage did not have anything to lock them into place. But I don't think those are the ones that typically have issues with tossing. I did like the lock on the side of the food doors, those were a turn bolt lock and pretty easy to use. The 22x24 cage was 1/2 bar spacing.

This another HQ cage I found to play with.

http://www.birdscomfort.com/playtopsmal ... cages.html

Again, it had the skinny door (which I think is just what HQ cages do?), the bowls inside the cage seemed toss proof. The locks on the food doors are just metal round discs that slide down to keep the door shut. It is functional, I'm just not too sure how much I personally care for it.

The third HQ cage I can't find on the internet. But the store described it as: HQ Cage Model #9002422(D) 24x22. It was a dome shaped cage, had the skinny door and the turn bolt lock for the food doors.

All three styles had lower pull out trays and the bottom wire shelf would pull out for easier cleaning. the two play tops did have pull out trays as well.

All three were powder coated paint, stainless steel bowls and no storage on the bottom of the cage.

They had another interesting cage for around $58 I thought was pretty neat until I played with it a little more. (sorry no idea on brand, they didn't have it labeled). It was an 18x18 and was more of a "travel" or temporary cage. What I thought was interesting is that the dome top was split at the top so when opened the top would just slide down the two sides and allow the parrot to come out the top to play. What concerned me after playing is that the lock to keep the two halves of the top up was not that great. An inventive parrot could easily "push" it up and open the cage on their own. I have a policy, if I'm shutting a door, I expect it to say shut! I would like to have my bird out as much as possible, but if I'm closing the cage, there is usually a good reason for it.......

[christie]

Well as far as I know it would require you nothing less then a 20x20 cage. Because do remember that it will also grow in size.

Thanks for the input anz0002. After looking at the 18x18 cages, they just don't seem big enough to me either. I'll be looking for larger for their home cage. I might end up with an 18x18 for travel purposes though.

[Lovebird Lady]

Christie, it's too bad that they don't make the EZ Care cage in a larger size than 18x18 (without the plexiglass door) because it seems to have what you are looking for - the play bar on playtop for variety of toys for parrot to play with and and full-size front door for easier cleaning.
Sylvia

[brfussne]

I disagree that an 18X18 is too small IF the parrot has plenty of outside cage time. The Black Headed Caique that Im bringing home next weekend is VERY energetic and I wouldn't mind housing it in an 18X18 cage as long as it is outside the cage at least 80% of the time and flighted for ample exercise. Obviously, if the parrot is too large for the cage then no, such as a Cockatoo or Macaw. I dont think its bad if the parrot basically uses it just to sleep in at night or be used to house the parrot when it cant be supervised, such as when someone is cooking. You should buy the largest cage you can afford though.

[Lovebird Lady]

I disagree that an 18X18 is too small IF the parrot has plenty of outside cage time. The Black Headed Caique that Im bringing home next weekend is VERY energetic and I wouldn't mind housing it in an 18X18 cage as long as it is outside the cage at least 80% of the time and flighted for ample exercise. Obviously, if the parrot is too large for the cage then no, such as a Cockatoo or Macaw. I dont think its bad if the parrot basically uses it just to sleep in at night or be used to house the parrot when it cant be supervised, such as when someone is cooking. You should buy the largest cage you can afford though.

What about a 18x18 for a Pois (senegal, Brown Head) who stays in his cage during working hours when nobody is home (ten hours per day, five days per week)? We are undecided between the 18x18 or 22x24 playtops and which brand is better quality.