YOUR INFORMATION SOURCE FOR A SAFE, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND WELL BEHAVED BIRD
SEPTEMBER 2006 EDITION |
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| DO YOU HAVE A GENERAL QUESTION? Send it to info@birdcagesgalore.com and Kim or Jan will address it in our newsletter and answer you privately. |
CAGE SAFETY TIPS:Twine, Yarn and other Strings - Never hang string, twine or yarn in your bird’s cage. These types of materials can wrap around your baby and strangle or entrap, causing injury or death. Yarn and twine fibers can easily be ingested, causing crop impaction and the need for major surgery and may cause death before you are able to get your bird to the Vet. Please use only vegetable tanned leather strips or plastic chain links available at most reputable bird supply companies. |
| Cage Bottom Liners and Bedding – Avoid using commercially sold beddings such as wood chips, corn cob chips or recycled paper chips. These things are mold producing, dusty and can harm your bird if they reach below the grate and grab some for chewing on and possible swallowing. Use newsprint (all newsprint is printed with soy based ink these days and harmless to your bird). You may obtain (usually for free) the roll ends of blank newsprint from your local newspaper or shoppers guide. There are many uses for this beyond the bird cage; i.e.; children’s activities and covering work areas while doing crafts. |
| Perches - Cage manufacturers include perches with their cages most of the time, but; that does not mean that the perches are size appropriate for your bird’s feet. The manufacturer outfits the cage with perches that are size appropriate to the cage because they have no way of knowing what size the occupant of the new cage/house will be. Make sure that perches are not so large that your bird is standing “flat or nearly-flat footed” all the time. Make sure that the perches are not so small that your bird’s feet are completely gripped around the whole thing, so as to have its nails meeting the foot pad. Choose a variety of perches and try the new comfort perches that are contoured in different diameters. Be cautious in using boing type perches. Birds love them, but; they can become frayed and birds can get the stray ends logged in their crop causing impaction. If a boing perch becomes frayed, clip all loose pieces and when it becomes seriously frayed, discard it and replace it with a new one. |
| Toys – Most birds love toys, toys, and more toys. They keep them occupied and helps prevent them from plucking or self-mutilating from boredom. Please make sure that the toys are size appropriate for your bird and that they are truly bird safe, both in the material that they are made from and that they dye used to color wooden toys is natural vegetable dye. ON THAT NOTE …… |
 Bird Cages Galore has toy packages at 44% off |
