 That's why there's always toys on the top of the cage. Yeah. Oh, I just thought they were like to-dos. What do you mean? I'm going to hang these. Like I was about to when I got lazy? Not lazy, but you probably got busy. Your pressure-washing operation out here. How's it going? It's going. I think we're done. Good. For now, there's like four more over there. Hello, my fellow Snippers, Flighters, and Boobies. My name is Marlene McCohen. Welcome to my channel. This right here is Leo. He is a hybrid Amazon. He is obviously a Red Lord-not obviously, because some of you guys wouldn't know that. He's a Red Lord Amazon mixed with a Salvin Amazon. So he's so cute and so fluffy. Everywhere I take him, everybody's excited about Leo and his very, very cute eyes, which are pinning right now. Today, we're going to get right into the video. We're going to do a cage setup. So this is a cage setup not only for an Amazon. We're going to go over some very specific things about why this cage setup would fit most Amazons, but also we're going to tailor it to Leo. So if you don't know much about Leo, you're going to learn right now. And if you do know a lot about Leo, you're going to enjoy this video. However, this video is part of a series where we're setting up all different kinds of bird cages. So if you're looking for a certain cage setup, stay tuned because we'll have African Grey setup, Senegal setup, mustache parakeet, Galapakatu, Kakatu, and of course, Rocky Armacaw. So we're going to have a lot of setups for you guys. So let's get right into the video. The first and most important thing when choosing a cage, I think it's important that we go over that right away. Because a lot of you asked me what kind of cage should I see this, is the length of the bars, okay? So these bars are a little more than an inch. They're an inch and one eighth, the space between the bar. The reason this is a very important aspect of choosing a cage is because if the bars are too far apart where your bird's head could fit through, they might panic and not be able to get their head out. Also, if the bars are too tight, then usually that signifies a cage that is too small. So about an inch and one eighth is the right place for a bird of this size. You could even go a little bit bigger, but just not big enough that his head could get through. Rocky's cage would also be okay, which is probably about an inch and a half, but we'll verify that in Rocky's cage setup video. So that's the first most important thing. We also have a visitor here. I'm wondering if any of you know who this bird is because I woke up this morning and this bird was in my house. This is Picasso, not my Picasso, but this is Picasso the African Gray. Picasso the African Gray doesn't really go to everybody and has never come to me. And maybe I see Picasso the African Gray one or two times a year. I'm gonna approach Picasso right now and see if he'll step up because he's kind of in a vulnerable state and this is not his cage, so he might not be territorial. Step up Picasso. Okay. If you wanna work with an African Gray and it's your first day ever with an African Gray, one trick is that if they get themselves in a situation that is not their territory, that's a little bit of the time he'll approach. You see, I didn't scare him, I just offered him a step up and he did. If I tried to do this from the cage he was sitting in, he would for sure bite me. By the way, this is his first day in the house. I have never picked him up and that is how it is. I tried this morning and he wasn't interested. Every time I see him in his house, he tells me to go. So that's Picasso. I thought you were gonna introduce Tracy. Well, Tracy's here. Tracy is Van a White, right Tracy? I obviously am trying to do a cage setup so I don't want to be holding Picasso right now. However, if I wasn't trying to do something else, the main thing I'd want to do is keep Picasso in my hands and take Picasso somewhere else to an isolated area and hang out with Picasso. But I just want to show you something real quick. I want to put Picasso down, right? So I'm gonna offer Picasso this cage. You see that body language? He doesn't want to go. I'm not gonna make him go. I'm not gonna give him the chance to be scared and freak out. If he did freak out, then it would be to my benefit because if he's scared, it would be easy for me to pick him up but I don't want to do that in this dress. So I'm gonna try another spot until he feels comfortable. He might just feel comfortable sitting in a strange, strange spot. Sometimes they're like that. You see, he's a little hesitant. He doesn't know where he wants to go because he doesn't know the house. Do you feel comfortable stepping on that? Now I already feel the tension in his foot so I won't even take him closer. So that means you feel more comfortable than me. Do you want to see the toys? Are they interesting? As like in Graeus can be really, really timid, you really have to feel their body language before you do anything. Do you want to sit right here, Picasso? Very good. They have a winner. And that was Tracy's suggestion because if you really treat your birds like family and have them live in the house with you, your really good friends will become great at working with birds as well. So that's the benefit. The beauty of my best friends here is she has set me up a tray with bird toys and options. We also have more options over there. She took a guess at what toy she thinks that would be good for Leo. So let's see if she's correct. Leo's a little angry and I'm gonna tell you why. Those of you who are regular viewers of my channel know that Tracy has a three-year-old that Leo has been obsessed with right now because she has come without the baby. I'm not kidding you, this is for real. The first thing we want to do is set up the bottom of the cage. There are a few options and I'm gonna show you what I use and I'm gonna give you guys some other ideas too. So the first thing is, we actually use some paper. The reason we use this paper is because one, it's recyclable, but two, we were donated a lot of it. This is not the paper cut out for Leo's cage so we're not gonna use it right now. It's just a little faster for me to do these videos with these incontinence pads. So I'm gonna use this today just to make it a little bit quicker because I don't know where the exact cut out of that is. Hi, Brandon. It's important to note that these are not doggy pee pads. Doggy pee pads are treated with chemical that you do not want to be next to your bird. These are adult incontinence pads. This one happens to fit the cage just perfectly. You can find these at... You can find these at CVS. I don't think you can get them at Costco but some people do get them at Sam's Club. Amazon as well. Actually, we have them ordered from Amazon. Reason we have these, even though we use the papers because I prefer to put these on the tree stands. They're easy to cut. They're easier to handle. They're easier to wrap up and clean. I like them a little bit better. You can also use butcher paper. You can also use non-toxic newspaper. I still try to stay away from all the colored newspapers. So it doesn't have to cost you a lot to get the pads for the bottom of the cage but you do wanna keep the cage clean. Very important to note about Leo is that Leo, he has big thunder fights, alright Leo? He has very thick feet. He has a big hard grip. So you wanna make sure that the perches that you offer Leo are a variation of sizes but also a size that suits Leo. So if you guys look, this perch was already in here. I'm not gonna change it. But this perch is about... I'm very serious about this. Almost two inches, maybe an inch and a half. That fits Leo very perfectly. Oh my God. One, two, three, four, seven inch. Okay, so almost two inches. Oh no, that's the cage. One and a half. One and a half, perfect. So it's one and a half in diameter. Now, this cage also has a small, tiny perch. When you put a perch in, one thing you wanna test is the strength of it. You push on it. It's important to note if you don't already have a cage for your bird, what shape you're gonna get. So this is a little more of a rectangular shape than let's say some of my other cages, which are more square. What I've learned is that I kind of prefer them to be a little more square and I'll tell you why. You have more room to create perch situations. If you look at this cage, there's a lot of good things about it. But some of the things is you're a little bit forced to keep things close to each other and next to each other. Obviously my birds are out all day. I do love the cages that have the tops, flat top, so I could keep a lot of toys in here as well. And a bar so that they can stand and play in. This is also a thick perch, but it's a little bit thinner than this. You wanna make sure that you have perches of a variation of sizes so that it's a little more orthopedic for their feet. Also, I prefer to use real wood perches that are shaped like trees. This could be ribbon wood. I'll tell you that these perches right here are ribbon wood. But there's a lot of other types of wood that you can use. They're available on parrotstation.com, which is our store. This perch right here, I think we're gonna experiment with moving it because I like it to be a little closer to the bowl. And perhaps this is a little too thin for Leo's foot. Now I do want it to be thinner than these so he has a variation, but I think it's time to move this. So Tracy, come over here. I always need two people to help me with this because one person's gotta get the other side. Ready, tiny Lucy, left or Lucy? Turn left. You're turning right. What thing do you need? My hair. Okay. When you're revamping a cage, make sure that you take everything old out. I'm starting with a clean, fresh cage. George pressure washed all of these cages. It's very important if you get a used cage or a cage from somewhere that you take the time to pressure wash it or if it came from another bird, take that time. What I love about pressure washing is you barely need anything to clean it besides the pressure of the water. But if you'd like, you can add some lemon, some baking soda and things like that. I would love to have you for my demo. I had a lot of toys set up and Brando already played with them. Brando loves our toy store. Then for Leo, this would be a better perch for Brando. We're looking at half an inch. This is courtesy of jungle toys. We're going to put this one in. This is almost an inch. So we're already looking better. We're going to strategically place it that it's closer to the bowl. All right, just in case anyone doesn't know your perch should have these two washers. Megan are you impressed? I know this is a washer. Where's the dryer? If your bars are too big, but you need a smaller perch, you can get larger washers. This just gives him access to the treat bowl or the fruit bowl or however you want to do it. Push it down. Make sure it's strong for the bird. You want to make sure that the bars are in a spot where if the bird is sitting, the droppings are not going to go on the other perch because ultimately the bird's going to be stepping in that and you do not want that kind of bacteria around your bird. That is one big pile. So just be weary. Everywhere the bird sits here, hopefully is not going to get anything on the other perch. So let's get into the toys and other things. I want to show you something about this cage. This cage has a little lock. So some birds throw tantrums. Then I'll show you how this opens and closes. Beautiful. Some birds throw tantrums. Let's see if this has water. Cody will literally shake it and get it out. This cage here has a lock so that they can't do that. That it can't actually get out. Birds love to put stuff over. So if you want a cage with something like that, that's good, but I discovered something about some of the other cages yesterday that I thought was pretty cool. Those cages didn't have a lock, but the bar was open here so that you could kind of tighten it in case the bowl was too small. I'll show you that in another video on the Nellie and Monty cage setup. All right, so you want to get your bowls in. You guys understand how to do that. The most important thing is toys. Leo does not really chew toys. He has begun to chew toys, but just because we don't see him chewing toys yet does not mean we deny him toys. So I'm going to tell you how I got Leo to start playing with toys. I got something similar to a box. It's made out of cardboard. I don't have it here right now. It is a cat. Scratch. It's a, it's very thick corrugated cardboard with many, many layers. You make sure that the catnip is not on it. Most of it comes with the catnip separately. You do not put that on there and it really got Leo interested. So here's the thing with the box. Boxes can really be controversial sometimes, just in case like your bird is going to try to nest in it or things like that. I like boxes for foraging. I like boxes to get them to choose simple things. They like to play with boxes. Okay, Leo is a male. He's not going to have any issues with laying eggs. Some males can get aggressive over their boxes. You guys know how Vinny is. What's going on? But he doesn't sit in there and nest them and he does let me pull him away from them. So that's okay for me. Don't have any tape on him. It's best to use some fresh boxes. Tape has blue. You don't want any of that. But for the sake of just this video, I'm going to temporarily put this in the cage and you could put it in or on top of the cage. This honestly helped Leo with playing with toys and he has since played with wood. Remember that Megan? Remember and you're like, oh my God, Leo's playing with the wood toys. I am all so stuck right now. While she does that, we'll talk about toys. I'm going to show you wood toys that are great for birds that don't like to play with toys. Generally, if they're going to chew up a box, they will graduate to wood, but you want the wood to have pieces that are easy for them to get a little bite off of. I love this toy. This is called, this is called the Peacock. Brando just got at it, all right? What I love about Peacock is that the wood is very thin. Sometimes if a bird doesn't feel like they can get it, like for example, if Leo was faced with only this thickness of wood, it wouldn't be a good choice for a bird that doesn't really like to play with toys. They'll try, Leo doesn't generally chew things. You guys know, a lot of you get my notebooks signed by the birds. I really can't get things signed by Leo because it doesn't really want to chew it. Whereas Vinny wants to chew it right away. So this would not be a good choice. Although it has this piece, it still might be a waste of a toy for some bird. So I prefer to start with toys that generally have a lot of thin pieces where they can feel a wind. Does that make sense? So they chew a little bit and it was easy and then they feel a wind. Another great toy is anything with yucca. I don't like it. I have brand of pictures. Will Tracy laid out all the toys? And as you can see, this looks like a large toy or a looked. It's called Sidewinder. This is yucca. It's extremely easy for birds to chew. It's seasonal. So right now is the season for it. We also have bees on our site. She's just like the auntie that lets them do this. At first glance, this is great for like mustache parakeets and smaller birds because they really get into this. But then this is a little bit harder. I would recommend this toy for a bird like Leo that doesn't like to chew toys. And even a toy like this. This is, I call it Tiki. They can get a little bit at the paper, but also there's toys like this. So they have really easy to chew pieces. Brando just got on everything. Brando thinks she lives in the toy factory. And technically she basically is born to, she's an heiress to parrot station. So she has access to all of the toys and we brought them out. She didn't literally did all this right now. So this is easy to chew. It's a little bit of foam, some foraging paper. And this is also a choice I would hang up for Leo. But you know what Leo's favorite toy is? So this is hanging tree basket and it's a little bit of a foraging toy. It's simple. It's obviously a little bit more for smaller birds, but since he doesn't chew and damage, this bird doesn't damage anything. It's a great choice for him because he won't break it. Some of your larger birds would break it in a second. So I don't recommend it for larger birds, but I do recommend it maybe for a bird like Brando. So he can be treated it. Right. And obviously I wouldn't put it here because he wouldn't reach it, but I would definitely put it here where if he's sitting here and he can get into it, always make sure to tighten your D-rings. All right. He might sit there for two months and not know that's in there, but when he does, it's like a surprise. Or he might recognize it right away. So that is a good toy for Leo. This is a good toy for Leo. So you want to make sure also, if you're hanging a wood toyer, any wood toys or pieces, do not put them over water bowls, okay? You don't want pieces to fall into the water. Same with food. Another thing is things with bells, things with coloring. You don't want anything to fall in the water and rust. You don't want things to fall in the food that they could swallow. So your placement of things is very important. Brandon's excited. So I'm going to put this here and also the way they navigate is important. So he could eat and can he walk across here? Doesn't really look like it. So I think it's best to put it on this hook where it could move forward if he wants and backward so he could push it out of the way. Sometimes him needing to push it out of the way is a very good motive for him to play with it. Like that show where people have to jump from thing to thing. If you have a bird that's scared of toys or a new bird, you don't want to overwhelm them with toys, okay? So if you have a new bird and you just brought the bird home, it's a bird's first day, you might want to spend the first few days not putting toys in there, just so that they kind of need to rely on you for that bonding experience, provided that you're going to spend a lot of time with the bird, which is very important otherwise. You shouldn't get a bird. If it's a bird that's scared of toys, just don't put too many. So I don't really want to overwhelm Leo. Leo doesn't chew through the boxes very much. He just kind of sits on it and chews these pieces. His cage setup is extremely simple and underwhelming. And that's what's different about his cage setup versus what we do, Brando's. Brando's cage setup is going to be a lot more exciting. So I want you to stay tuned for that. Here's what you're going to get if you watch all the different cage setups. All my cages are shaped differently. A lot of my birds prefer different things. Some of them like to swing, some of them like wood toys, some of them like foraging toys, some of them need forging toys, some of them are pluckers and they need certain toys. Some cages are shaped differently where we can do a lot more different things. Cage covers, these are mine. And also there's going to be a lot of other different things that we put in some of the other cages like cuddle bones and calcium things. So we'll talk about that. What I love about cages with a tabletop and also a cage cover is, check this out, when it's half open, kind of at night and they're relaxing, they have like their own little tent situation. You guys know a lot of birds like tents. If you feel that your bird is getting aggressive or nasty, then just don't put the cage cover like this. But if you feel like your bird is going in there and playing for hours and you're getting a break and it's as simple as that, then this is a little trick for you. And then you just put different toys in the cage that you can hang up, that you can have flat. Some toys that hang are a little less intimidating. This could be, it's a very exciting toy, but it could be very intimidating for certain birth. That's why there's always toys on the top of the cage. Yeah. Oh, I just thought they were like to-dos. What do you mean? I'm gonna hang these. Like I was about to when I got lazy? Not lazy, but you probably got busy. No, it's just like for them extra for them to play with. But another important thing is do not live toys and strings and pieces in the cage with, you know, that they could choke on, hang on, all that kind of stuff. You should be doing a daily check every day. Another thing we'll talk about in some other cage setups is swings and whether your bird is interested in the swing or not. Some of my birds have to have one. I would recommend in the beginning, putting one in some cages with like a little ledge to step on just to see if it's something that they like because if it is, cause Merlin really enjoys it, you don't wanna deny that to your bird. So this is a very simple cage setup for a timid bird and a bird that is scared of toys. Also, you could have some shredded paper and things like that that are easy to play with as well. I hope you guys stay tuned to see our other bird cage setups. We're gonna cover all of them, so check out the rest of our series. Thank you, Tracy. 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