Poquito Avian Hotel and weekend trips

[zandperl]

Anybody here have experience with the Poquito Avian Hotel? Here's the product listings on Windy City Parrot and Doctors Foster and Smith. Its dimensions are given differently on the two sites as either (approximately) 14x18x18", or 14x14x18", bar spacing 1/2", powder coated. The cage is described as being "not for car travel" and I'd like to

Comments

[kynekh_amagire]

The cage I kept my (green-cheeked) conure in for our week-long roadtrip to California was 18x18x18"; I was able to belt it onto the back seat of my Ford without issue, so it's probably not the size of the Poquito that's a problem. (For the record, he was very "oh okay we live in a car now? Cool" about the whole thing.) My guess is that the in-car prohibition is either a stability issue (the cage stands on a low frame instead of being solidly flat-bottomed, and it looks as though it would be mildly challenging to belt it securely in place on a car seat), or a noise issue (with the slide-in tray or doorframe rattling in place in a moving vehicle -- that at least would be easy to solve with the cunning application of some tape). Birds in strange new places tend to be subdued versions of their usual selves anyway, so I doubt that the smaller space would be a behavioral issue in a week or less: by the time she feels safe enough to be bored, you'll be on your way home

[zandperl]

I'm suspecting the issue using it in a moving car might be with the bottom grill/base falling/sliding out, considering it seems similarly designed to the HQ flight cage. But I'm not sure, and I don't know if it's something I can rig to not open.

As for travel cages, I currently have two of them, one that looks like this and provides Kappa a lot of view out, which seems to keep her calmer while in the car, and an airline approved travel cage which is quite sturdy but gets Kappa more anxious since she can't see out as readily. Unfortunately the first one that allows her the view isn't that sturdy - if you drop it, the handle can pop off and then the grill can be pushed out from the plastic, so I'm not sure it'd even survive falling off a seat (if it came out of the seatbelt I use), let alone an accident. I do use this one for short trips to the vet or boarding, but I wouldn't use it for more than a 15-30 minute drive. If the Poquito can handle being in a car, I'd rather use it than either the un-sturdy cage or the closed-in

[kynekh_amagire]

I have that airline carrier. Firefly seems to enjoy being able to peer through the slats without being as easy to see himself. Conures.

Here's the cage I used (on the right). It's got a solid plastic bottom into which the cage tray fits like a drawer -- which is a right bitch to clean, but it's silent and easy to buckle securely into a car seat. The solid bottom also makes it much less fragile than it looks: I have to compress it really hard before it starts to buckle, and it won't collapse when dropped. For extended use, I make it more secure by zip-tying the frame.

It's a pretty awful cage in all other regards (use of internal space, door design, aesthetics), but as a roadtrip/vacation cage, it's worked well enough. It's perhaps not suitable for a larger bird: I wouldn't leave Kalu (Senegal) in there, for example, but she will chew/bend bars if she can, but those are the features I would look for.

[zandperl]

Is the image friendslocked, as I can't see it?

Is the door design such that a bird can open it? Kappa's not a very clever puzzle solver yet, but it's nice to be prepared for the future.

Thanks again!

[maui_dolphin]

I use a collapsible cage when I take my Green cheeks to my parents house.
Something like this: http://www.windycityparrot.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=19301391002&Category_Code=cagestravel&Product_Count=16

[zandperl]

When open with a bird in it, how easy is it to move around? Does it seem sturdy enough that if you dropped it, it'd survive? The wire material seems the same as the cockatiel cage I have. Have you seen any damage from them biting it at all?

[maui_dolphin]

The wire is thicker than an average cockatiel cage. It's pretty study, the wire grate is not removable. I think it would be fine if dropped. The tray is plastic and has slid out if I dropped it, for some reason on mine the piece holding the tray in is bent a little so it does not hold it well if jiggled. If the tray is removed the bird is still secure. I haven't had any damage on the white coating, but then again my girls are not bar chewers at all.
I think this is the same version that Bloolark used to travel to canada. She probably has the larger size. I think I have either the small or medium.

[bloolark]

I used these to move all of my parrots from the US to Canada -- about 22 hours in the car total over two days, and probably 48 hours in the carriers for them.

The wire is a LOT thicker than a cockatiel cage. I had a macaw in the larger sized one. :)

[rumorofrain]

I've heard good things about the Poquito Avian Hotel, but I think that's a heck of a lot of money for a cage that tiny. That's more money than a full EFC

[zandperl]

Kappa is usually less stressed in a car if she can see me - the key appears to be seeing ME, she's still nervous though since she can see everything else too. Occasionally she freaks out at the other things she can see, so I usually put her "security blanket" (a purple Snuggle Booty) in the travel cage with her.

Do you know which collapsible cage you have? I'm going to try Kappa on the cockatiel cage hanging out on the porch with me to see how she likes it.

[cyaneus]

I would hazard a guess that "not for car travel" actually refers to many birds getting freaked out by the visual experience of traveling in a car. My cockatiel, however, totally loves car travel and can even behave well on a shower perch in the car.

I don't think I'd put a conure in it for a week unless she's going to get a lot of out-of-cage exercise, but I don't know your conure and I've never owned one myself. I have been looking into that model as a carrier and car cage for a grey, and this is the cheapest I've been able to find online. They don't seem to let you choose the color, though.

[zandperl]

I put the link to the Drs. F and S in the original post. ;) And once you click on the cage button, it does then give you the choice of colors.

I do want Kappa in a cage in the car. The 'tiels I've traveled with tend to get in trouble inside a car w/o a cage (such as exploring the back seat, or sitting between my right knee and the steering wheel for convenient squishing if I have to slam on the brakes). I know Kappa would be worse since she's higher energy than a 'tiel. Also if there were ever a car accident, I need to know that I took reasonable steps to restrain my bird from slamming against the inside of the windshield (well, other than putting her in a harness and tying it to something), and unless the cage itself were damaged I would know that she wouldn't be flying out of the car through a broken window.

[cyaneus]

D'oh! Reading comprehension fail. XD

I agree that it's much safer to keep your bird contained while driving, especially if you don't have another human in the car. I'm just vouching that I have a bird that enjoys seeing out the window, so the visibility offered by the Poquito isn't what I'd worry about.