Playcage Suggestions?
This summer I may be taking a job out of town with a summer camp for 7 weeks. I would not be able to bring Kappa with me, so my taking the job is dependent upon finding alternative care for her for while I am gone. I am trying to convince my boyfriend (the three of us live together) to care for her - he likes Kappa well enough, but feels that caring for a pet is a major inconvenience.
To try and help convince him, I have made a number of suggestions, and one is buying a second play cage for Kappa that could be kept in our home office where he spends a lot of time on the computer. This would allow Kappa to get flock time with him (she definitely considers him a member of our flock), while still keeping her in a more controllable space - my boyfriend's able to get her to step up and down for him, but he's tentative about having her sit on him, and he's always worrying about Kappa flying around the office and such.
Problem is, I'm having trouble finding a suitable and not horribly expensive cage. Kappa's a dusky conure and I think 5/8" bar spacing is acceptable but I prefer 3/4" if possible. She doesn't usually chew cage bars, but if she ends up in the same space for 7 weeks without any toy rotation she might - her normal cage is the HQ Flight Cage and she hasn't damaged it at all. For the space I'm looking at, 18" square would fit perfectly, but it could probably take up to 24" wide, and any height (the more the better since it won't be all that wide) - she'll only be in this cage a couple hours in the evening each day, and her day/sleep cage is huge, so it's okay if this is smaller than ideal. I'd like the cage to come with a stand, but also be detachable from it if I wanted to put it on a table. I actually have a little cockatiel cage similar to this one but I don't think it's sturdy enough for any conure species and I don't know that my boyfriend would know what to look for if Kappa were damaging it.
These are a few styles I'm looking at:
* Playtop Parrot Cage for Small Birds HQ 80018 - 18" w x 18" d x 25" h, Bar Spacing 1/2", $195
* Dome Top Parrot Cage for Smaller Birds HQ 22217C - 22" w x 17" d x 34" h, Bar Spacing 1/2", $180
* Scroll Top 22X17 Cage for Small Birds HQ 82217C - 22" w x 17" d x 30" h, Bar Spacing 1/2", $175
These all seem a bit expensive to me for a cage I may never use again. Anyone have other suggestions or thoughts? I'm going to check out Craig's List and see if I can find anything cheaper but still good quality.
To try and help convince him, I have made a number of suggestions, and one is buying a second play cage for Kappa that could be kept in our home office where he spends a lot of time on the computer. This would allow Kappa to get flock time with him (she definitely considers him a member of our flock), while still keeping her in a more controllable space - my boyfriend's able to get her to step up and down for him, but he's tentative about having her sit on him, and he's always worrying about Kappa flying around the office and such.
Problem is, I'm having trouble finding a suitable and not horribly expensive cage. Kappa's a dusky conure and I think 5/8" bar spacing is acceptable but I prefer 3/4" if possible. She doesn't usually chew cage bars, but if she ends up in the same space for 7 weeks without any toy rotation she might - her normal cage is the HQ Flight Cage and she hasn't damaged it at all. For the space I'm looking at, 18" square would fit perfectly, but it could probably take up to 24" wide, and any height (the more the better since it won't be all that wide) - she'll only be in this cage a couple hours in the evening each day, and her day/sleep cage is huge, so it's okay if this is smaller than ideal. I'd like the cage to come with a stand, but also be detachable from it if I wanted to put it on a table. I actually have a little cockatiel cage similar to this one but I don't think it's sturdy enough for any conure species and I don't know that my boyfriend would know what to look for if Kappa were damaging it.
These are a few styles I'm looking at:
* Playtop Parrot Cage for Small Birds HQ 80018 - 18" w x 18" d x 25" h, Bar Spacing 1/2", $195
* Dome Top Parrot Cage for Smaller Birds HQ 22217C - 22" w x 17" d x 34" h, Bar Spacing 1/2", $180
* Scroll Top 22X17 Cage for Small Birds HQ 82217C - 22" w x 17" d x 30" h, Bar Spacing 1/2", $175
These all seem a bit expensive to me for a cage I may never use again. Anyone have other suggestions or thoughts? I'm going to check out Craig's List and see if I can find anything cheaper but still good quality.