Should I get them a new cage?

[kan]

Hi all. First post here and I'm hoping you lovely people can give me some advice.

About a month ago I bought two budgies from another owner complete with a cage. After a month, I'm making some progress with taming them, they sit on my hand when coerced with a treat, but very reluctantly. I know it's going to be a slow process seeing as they've already had a previous owner so I'm not expecting miracles yet. They're about 8-9 months old I was told so they're not old.

The main problem I have is their cage. It's quite small I feel for two of them and really hard to clean properly. The sides slope down and then the trays only cover about half of the bottom so every time I want to clean it I have to deconstruct the entire cage, upsetting my budgies a lot in the process. Even changing their sand sheet I have to go through a tiny door and really upset them.

They don't like to sit anywhere other than their cage for long yet so they find themselves at a loss when I have to do all of this.

My question is do I buy them a new cage yet? A new cage would be more comfortable for them and hopefully much easier to clean, but if they're still not used to the rest of their surroundings will taking away their familiar cage cause more distress? They're really happy going in an out of their cage and they've just started exploring the house a bit more, landing on curtain rails every now and then and so on.

Any advice would be really helpful. I was thinking of getting a ferplast cage as the sides at the bottom are quite high and it'd hopefully stop a bit of the mess!

[jellybean]

Hi kan, welcome to the forum. I would buy the biggest cage you can afford, they will love you for it. These little birds are so resilient and will adapt to their new home, no problem, you will probably see 2 happier little birdies when they have more room to move around.
You mentioned sand sheets in your post, these and sanded perches are the worst things you could use, they are so bad for budgies feet, and can give them a condition called Bumblefoot. 
I use plain white paper (chip shop paper) or newspaper is just as good, I tend to put this on top of the grill rather than under, it's kinder to their little feet if they venture to the bottom of the cage, and it's a lot easier to remove a sheet of paper, than to clean the grill.
This is the cage I have for my two boys, and I find it very easy to keep clean, quite a few members on the forum have the same one, and we all love it:-

www.littlepetwarehouse.co.uk/products/hamberley-single-metal-large-cage.html

We would love to see pictures of your little birds.

[kan]

Ah that's good to know!

The sand sheets are under a grill so they're not standing right on top of them but I'll certainly start using paper instead even to save a bit of money!

That cage is a little out of my price range, but I like that it comes with a stand. Does a lot of seed and feathers still end up outside of the cage? I have to hoover every day at the moment but I think that's primarily because of the shape and size of the cage.

I was thinking of getting this one: www.cagesworld.co.uk/p/Ferplast_Rekord_3_Bird_Cage.htm?product_id=87457&utm_source=pla&affiliate=CGW-google-shopping&gclid=Cj0KEQjw9IS-BRC4qZXagbLs6uMBEiQAYHBh-ygfZLoFYg6yOBKypvb83IXZ-OXyS8GWQeU5OBsNz0waAiUM8P8HAQ

Hopefully that's not too small for two birds? Its more than a third bigger than what I've already got.

I'm not very good with forums so I can't work out how to put a picture up!

[charliebird23]

Personally I would say that the cage in your link is too small.
When we bought our single bird we purchased what we thought would be an okay cage-the pet shop even recommend it but after a few weeks we felt that it wasn't big enough so we purchased a much larger cage. I read that it's better for the cage to be tall rather than wide, not sure whether this is correct but it makes sense as birds like to fly upward. Our bird is so much happier in a large cage-you could see straight away how much he loved the room. We paid £40 for ours from a pet store.

[charliebird23]

This is Charlie's cage
With Ferplast it's expensive because of the name although the quality will be good.
with hindsight I would have preferred a square top to our cage but it does look nice 😊

[jellybean]

I'd also say that it's too small. Looks more like a travel cage to me.

[ffiscool]

It's should also be as wide as possible so they can fly back and forth.

It also depends on how much out of cage time there is, I think. And if there is room enough in their cage for toys and them, easily

[stevex]

I agree with others. I think the cage is way too small, even for a single bird.

[matecito]

The cage is fine only if they spend most of the time out.

If they have a more limited time out, than the cage is too small.

[JennyB]

My two budgies are in L02 Hagen vision cage the measurements are L 75 x B 38 x H 93 cm compared to the cage you're looking at being a fair bit smaller. I think the ferplast one in your link would be for a single bird.
Dimensions for the ferplast
Width (cm): 30
Depth (cm): 49
Height (cm): 69

I was excited to recommend it to you as when I bought it back in 2014 it was only £5 more than the ferplast. I'm disappointed to see it's currently at a whopping £80 : (

[sweetpea]

Aug 27, 2016 11:22:43 GMT kan said:

Ah that's good to know!

The sand sheets are under a grill so they're not standing right on top of them but I'll certainly start using paper instead even to save a bit of money!

That cage is a little out of my price range, but I like that it comes with a stand. Does a lot of seed and feathers still end up outside of the cage? I have to hoover every day at the moment but I think that's primarily because of the shape and size of the cage.

I was thinking of getting this one: www.cagesworld.co.uk/p/Ferplast_Rekord_3_Bird_Cage.htm?product_id=87457&utm_source=pla&affiliate=CGW-google-shopping&gclid=Cj0KEQjw9IS-BRC4qZXagbLs6uMBEiQAYHBh-ygfZLoFYg6yOBKypvb83IXZ-OXyS8GWQeU5OBsNz0waAiUM8P8HAQ

Hopefully that's not too small for two birds? Its more than a third bigger than what I've already got.

I'm not very good with forums so I can't work out how to put a picture up!

Agree with others that the cage in the link is too small. If your budget is around £40, you would be better off getting something like the following which is cheaper but more than double the width:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Folding-Breeding-Cage-for-Budgies-Canaries-Finches-77x46x46cm-White-/261871645409?hash=item3cf8c432e1:g:6DEAAOxy4dNS355u

I have one similar in black that is my 'back up' cage, i.e., for quarantine etc.

[Hezz]

As mentioned, the cage in the link is way too small; sweetpea's link shows a great cage for the money spent. While I am not in the UK, I have two cages very similar to these. They are not the most sturdy, but if put onto a firm base, such as a table they are great.

For your information, and charliebird23's, a budgie's cage should be (much) wider rather than taller; tall cages are a waste of space, particularly for only one or two birds as they will spend most of their time in the top tiers. Flat topped cages are much better for placing toys and perches inside the cage, and for making the top of their cage a play area when outside the cage.

Mess is part of owning budgies, unfortunately. You could try using a cage tidy - buy or make one to fit whatever cage you end up getting, but I have never bothered with them; I don't think most other members have either, we seem to love making work for ourselves.

[Hezz]

Just to add, also, if you are new to keeping budgies, this link might help you with what to have and what not to have:
budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/thread/13493/essential-budgie

[kan]

Before



After

Thanks for the advice everyone! I went to four pet stores yesterday just to look at cages for size. The first three didn't even have any cages and then I went to Jollies and came across this one. It could probably be a bit wider but without doubling the amount I was able to spend I wasn't going to get a wider one.

Pika (yellow) and Polo (blue) spent a little bit of time eating some millet spray right in the entrance before deciding to venture further but the changeover was very easy and they're much happier! Now if I need to go into the cage they have plenty of room to move away from me without clinging to the bars. And the big doors mean I can clean the cage without having to completely take it apart.

Also for those that are curious, I've been letting them out of the cage for a good 4-5 hours most days, pretty much from getting home from work until bedtime. 

[charliebird23]

Before Charlie got sick he loved to flutter upwards to the highest branch in his cage and sit up there looking down-I thought that's what budgies love to do, like they are up in the trees. The cage I have certainly seems wide enough for Charlie and besides I wouldn't have the space for something much wider. If wide is important then I feel all budgies should be outside in an avery.