Natural cage Theme?

[alyzaria]

Hello all!
I've been thinking it might be nice to have a "natural" theme for my birdies' cages ( I have an alexandrine and a cockatiel). I was thinking about having a small potted fruit tree or two as well as some other plants on the floor and in hanging baskets just for something a little different for him.
Has anyone tried this? Do you think it would be worthwhile or would everything be quickly destroyed? Its mostly Mo, the alexandrine I'm worried about destroying things. He's quite the chewer and always powers through his wooden chew toys. I'd still have those sorts of things for him to chew on, I'd just like some plants in addition to his other toys.
Suggestions and advice appreciated!

Edit: Just thought I should add, they do spend a lot of their time out of the cage during the day. Perhaps it would be better to just add some potted plants around their play stand?

[avinet]

Jun 23, 2011 19:26:23 GMT 10 alyzaria said:

Hello all!
I've been thinking it might be nice to have a "natural" theme for my birdies' cages ( I have an alexandrine and a cockatiel). I was thinking about having a small potted fruit tree or two as well as some other plants on the floor and in hanging baskets just for something a little different for him.

Indoor plants and parrots are not really compatible, while with Alexes in particular (and we have 11 in the house so I know about their chewing capabilities ) they are not at all compatible!. They will get destroyed very quickly. Even a cockatiel will likely chew them up - but an Alex will decimate them.

Hopefully you are already putting prunings of shrubs and trees in their cages already as browsing foliage - from such as Grevilleas, Bottlebrush, Wattle and Eucalypt. That will give them their natural fix.

Also be aware that quite a few of the traditional indoor plants are potentially toxic to birds, such as the humble African Violet for instance.

cheers,

Mike

[alyzaria]

I know NOTHING about plants so I really don't trust myself to gather branches of random trees and successfully identify them. I do give them pine cones because I know what they look like lol.
I was thinking having my own plants would take the guess work out of it and guarantee that what they're chewing is safe. At the moment the natural branch perches they have are ones I've purchased from pet shops because I have no faith in my ability to choose safe woods
Its okay though, I'll just have to keep using purchased things for now. Thank you very much for the advice!

[avinet]

Best way is to talk to a friend who can point out to you what Grevilleas, Bottlebrush, wattle and eucalypt look like and perhaps has a garden with some growing that you can take the prunings from.

Alternatively visit a good sized Nursery and have a look at their native plant section - they will have some of them in flower so you can identify them in the future. And everybody should know what wattle at least looks like - it is Australia's national floral emblem!

Providing such prunings to your birds will be great for them so it is worth spending a bit of time doing the research so you can enrich their lives more.

If your cages are inside then most of the suitable plants to put with birds - that they can safely destroy - would not survive being inside - and the suitable inside plants are usually not good for a parrot to chew.

cheers,

Mike