Does Your Parrot Hate His Cage?
My sister Nancy gave Mom an African Grey for her birthday, and she named him Rudi. Rudi was about 9 months old when she got him, and they had a love/hate relationship until mom passed away in 2004.
Having been living in Brazil for the last 5 years drilling oil wells in the Amazon Jungle, I didn’t get to meet Rudi until 1993, after she had raised him for 3 years, and was appalled by the little cage she kept him in. It was smaller than the cage I had for my cockatiel, which was not a large cage by any means. She was using an old parakeet cage from the garage, that she had saved from the 1960’s. I remembered that cage well, it used to by my little parakeets’ cage!
I had talked to mom many times while overseas, and knew quite a bit about Rudi, and some of the trouble she had with him. He was very intelligent, and had learned to talk a lot, but went through many periods where he would bite her a lot, and quite severely. Even though he spent hours on her shoulder every day while she did her sewing and quilting, sharing grapes, cantaloupe, mango, apples and other snacks with her, and learning all the names of the fruits and even asking for them by name, he would bite her frequently, especially at night when she tried to put him to bed. I had never thought to ask her what kind of cage she had him in, not being a particular expert on birds, or parrots especially. When I came back from living in Brazil, and met Rudi and saw the cage, I immediately wondered if his biting was related to that tiny cage, because it was obviously way too small, and since he usually bit her when she tried to put him in the cage at night.
Now mom was 70 years old at the time, a widow on a fixed income, and I didn't want to embarrass her, so I bought her a much larger cage for Rudi as a Christmas present. It was about 3’x4’x6′, very similar in size to this Prolific Dome Top Cage, and had two perches of different sizes, stainless steel water and food cups, and bought a playtop attachment . When I put the cage together Christmas morning, I could see Rudi watching me intently from his cage, and I wondered if HE was wondering “Is that for ME?”
Yep, Rudi, it was for you, bud.
Mom took Rudi out of his little cage, and after she had filled the new cage with toys, food, and water, set him down on top of his new home. He shot like a streak through the open door, and started ringing the bell that she had hung inside, It was a bell from his old cage, but I had never heard it ring before. He must have rang it 40 or 50 times in a row, and I knew, right there on the spot, that this was one happy bird.
I was living very close to my mom in Ft Worth at the time, and would go over 3 or 4 times a week to help her shop, cook, and eat dinner together, catching up on old times, and becoming good buddies with Rudi. I taught him how to whistle many, many different tunes, and lots of my favorite lines from the the movie “Caddyshack”
My best memory of Rudi was the time I oiled her squeaky kitchen pantry door, which was very annoying. Rudi’s cage was just 3 feet away from the pantry. When I opened the door several times to work the oil in, it stopped squeaking, but about the 7th or 8th time I swung it open and closed, well after it had stopped squeaking, I heard the EXACT same squeak, at the exact same volume, that it used to make! And then, a little bird chuckle, the one Rudi used to make when he was happy and liked to show it. Yep, I got rid of the squeak in mom’s pantry, but we never did get rid of the noise. Every time we opened the pantry door, Rudi would remind us of the noise the door SHOULD have made. Mom and I laughed every time it happened
It wasn’t even a month later before mom mentioned that Rudi had stopped biting her, and I knew it was mainly because he now had a cage where he could stretch his wings, and climb around and get more exercise. I loved her too much to explain that her old cage was way too small, that he didn’t like being in it, and had been biting her as his only way to convey that fact, but I was convinced that was the reason when she told me he had stopped biting. As far as Iknow he never bit her again until the day she died.
When mom passed away in 2004, we gave Rudi to a woman who was the president of an animal rescue society in Dallas, who answered an ad my sister put on Craigslist to find Rudi a new home. I had moved to Oregon by then to start a new business, which kept me on the road so much I couldn’t take him myself, although i wanted to desperately. When I flew down for the funeral, I met her and she met Rudi, who didn’t say a single word or whistle while they met. She told me she had a huge aviary at her home in Dallas, with over 20 birds in it, and that Rudi would have many other playmates. I was convinced of her love for birds and she took him home. She called me in Oregon 2 weeks after the funeral, and was just gushing about Rudi, about how he loosened up after a few days in his new, gigantic aviary with lots of playmates, and was the star attraction for the other parrots there, entertaining them with his many whistles and his extensive vocabulary, which mom had told me one day was well over 500 words, and many complete sentences. I was very happy for Rudi, and still think about him quite often.
It’s been five years since I saw Rudi, and the lesson I learned about parrot cages convinced me to start my own cage store. We proudly promote the new Innovative Cages, the best parrot cages for sale anywhere. The powder coating is laboratory-tested to be lead and zinc free. The much-anticipated line of INNOVATIVE CAGES are now available to the public. Innovative Parrot Cages are the best cages on the market, with an unprecedented 5-year guarantee, which is indicative of the quality of a cage. These parrot cages come in 4 beautiful and distinctive colors. They are the only cages made of non-toxic, powder coated cold-rolled steel with thick, double welded bars on the market. The manufactures of Innovative Cages have laboratory tests proving that the powder coating on their cages are completely non toxic, and bird safe Whether you need a large or small parrot cage, for your Cockatoo, African Grey, Amazon Yellow Nape, Senegal, Conure, or a large Macaw Cage, Innovative parrot cages will give your parrot maximum comfort, safety, and enjoyment for a lifetime. They are the best parrot cages for sale anywhere.