New budgie owner, new cage

[mizloco]

I have a vision cage and put the paper down on top of the bars so they are covered.

[samwiseg]

Hi andi and tweety welcome! Looking forward to seeing more pics, Tweetie is beautiful!

[skysmum]

Hi and welcome, Tweetie is a beauty.

[andi]

Tweetie is settling in very nicely. He/she is already stepping up! Not too vocal, just the occasional tweet. Suddenly this morning Tweetie is living up to the name. I think he/she likes the kids playing nearby and rattling their toys more than me on the computer and Radio 2 in the background.

I tried it with the newspaper under the bars and over the bars and I think I'll stick with over the bars for now. It seemed more difficult for Tweetie to move over the bare bars than over the newspaper.

Right now Tweetie is giving the occasional tweet and eating some carrot tops at the bottom of the cage. Very pleased he seems to have settled so well. I had asked the breeder if they handled them at all and she said they did when they were in the nests, but not once they could fly. So I don't know if that's why Tweetie is so cooperative or if it's because s/he's still in shock and just going along. But it seems promising, none the less.

[tinker]

You should actually be able to remove the floor bars if you aren't going to use them. Most cages have some sort of clip out mechanism. I took my floor bars out and hung the square floor bars up on the wall with hooks. Then I attached lots of perches and toys to it on the wall so that Smokey could fly back and forth between the cage and the 'wall play gym' as I called it. He can no longer fly now, but that's what I was doing.

[OP]

The vision cage has a grid at the bottom which rests on carrying handles either side of the cage. There are no clips for the grid, it just lifts out. It is very much like the sides of the cage in construction. In fact when the budgie walks along it it is no different to them climbing the sides of the cage, and I would think no more of a hazard. When Joey flies across the cage at the side bars he just clamps his feet on to the bars and hangs on there. As I said earlier it is a matter of personal preference with grid in or out. Whatever suits you andi.
Glad to know your Tweetie is settled in, and likes the children around. Good to hear.

[moonkira *Julie *]

Hello and welcome Andi and Tweetie who is gorgeous by the way .

www.petsandpastimesltd.com/trixie-natural-wood-perches.html

I use these type of perches in my house cage you can also buy them in The Range for £1.99 and the birds love them .
I also use the bendy rope ones that you can get on ebay and pet shops, they give more grip than the plastic slippery ones.

[Hezz]

Newspaper down over the grate is very good! Put a few sheets down at a time and you can simply lift the top one off to leave nice clean paper underneath. Plastic perches are not good for budgies' feet - forget getting sand sheets or perches while I think of it ..... they are even worse!!! There are plenty of websites that give lists of safe trees for budgies.

You don't have to spend a fortune on things for your bird especially if you have access to open spaces, trees and grasses. A little imagination and a few freebies can come up with some great toys and perches for your bird. Natural branches are the very best thing for your budgie's feet and beak.