Lisa Shea Forums Parakeets General Parakeet Chat New Owner! Question about perches.

Hello everyone!

I bought my first parakeet yesterday! A sweet little (assumed female) yellow faced clearwing from Petsmart (they had the cleanest cages I've ever seen in a store! I was so surprised.). I named her Beck, kind of after the muscian, kind of because it's cute. I'll have pictures sometime soon, hopefully.

She's currently living with my best friend and her parakeet Kaiba for a week or two (seperate cages) just so they can tweet at each other and keep each other company while I get ready for her to come home. We want them to be friends eventually, and she's working a lot this week so Kaiba needs the distraction!

I'm getting Kaiba's old cage from her, just because she bought a newer, larger one for him and I'm cheap. I wanted to replace it's plastic dowels with wooden ones, though, because they're better for her (so I heard). I don't want to buy them, though, I want to just get a few sticks from one of the trees in my backyard and cut them down to size.

I have a lot of trees that could work, but I've heard that the bark of many kinds of trees is poisonous to them. I've got fruit trees, maples, oaks, evergreens, you name it. But I want to know which kind I can safely put in her cage without having to worry about it harming her.

Any ideas, guys?

Aww Beck..what a cute name
Congrats Keruru
Not to be a bummer here, but You guys should have kept Beck in quarantine away from Kaiba for at least 30-45 days just in case the new kid had some kind of undetected illness. And I don't know if the 2 can bond in 1-2 weeks but if so it might be hard for them to separate? Something you guys might want to think about?
As for ur question about safe branches here's a link for keet safe trees. http://www.mdvaden.com/bird_page.shtml Be sure you don't get any near roadways and also be sure there have been no pesticides used on or around the trees.
Soak and scrub in ACV(apple cider vinegar) and water, then dry THOROUGHLY in sun or bake in 200 degree oven for 1/2 hr or so.

Enjoy your new baby..and YES we love pics! lol

Well, they're in seperate cages kind of across the room from each other. They can see each other in their cages, but far enough away that I think they should be alright. Right now Kaiba just seems to be curious that there's someone else making sounds in HIS room! xD

Thanks for the link!! All of our trees are never sprayed, we live out in the middle of nowhere on five acres of property, and as far as I know they don't have any sorts of bugs that I sawww, but I will clean them like nobody's business anyway. :3

how big is the cage please and its IMPERATIVE YOU SAVE for a vet fund and not be caught with no money for emergencies. Little as this keet is ..its now your responsibility so where you said "im cheap" this concerns me that you need to realize how important a vet fund is and $300 is NOT a unlikely cost depending on what happens. Also at the first sign of a problem you should have already researched for AVIAN vets in your area have number and directions there handy and dont waste time by coming here to ask folks what you can do if you think or know that whatever can or is serious as every hour could mean life or death..these little guys go downhill extremely rapid...

So please, do save and dont put it off..while you are ..enjoy bonding with your new friend

The dimensions of the cage are 14" x 18" x 21".

I meant cheap in the way that I don't want to pay for something I already have or could easily make from materials I already have. I'm not cheap about everything, especially when it comes to pets' health. I'm used to expensive vet bills after having owned ferrets a few years ago, and can pay them.

I actually volunteer at a homeopathic vet that often deals with exotic animals and birds. The vet that my ferrets used to go to is also an avian vet.

We've owned birds in the past, this is just my first parakeet. I'm not one of those people that just jumps into buying pets without knowing anything about them and expects everything to go perfectly, don't worry.

Congratulations on your new family member! Then apparently you're not cheap, you're thrifty. Huge difference.
Yes, please show us a picture. She sounds gorgeous.

Chippy has a lava rock. I understand they are also good for the birds' feet to rest on and spread wide. He seems to like it a lot even though it looks a bit big and rough in his cage.

Ohhhh, your parakeet is darling!! Wow~

Lava rocks, that's a good idea! I think I actually have some of those somewhere...

Thrifty definately IS a better word, thank you!

I took Beck home last night!

She is such a cutie, and she's doing really well! I got her to eat some broccoli, as well as get onto the stick I was holding for her. She also lets me set my hand inside her cage without flapping all over as long as I don't move too fast or touch her. She's such a good girl so far, I hope I can get her trained soon. :3

Picture! Isn't she darling~



Her other wing is more yellow, but you can kinda see how that one is light yellow like her head is at the bottom. She also has a white stripe across her chest (faint) and a spot that's devoid of lines on the back of her head that's almost heart shaped.

what isssss that for a treat hanging there it looks so dang good...also if there is a spot void of any stripes that would say she/HE lol is a pied..as for the rest ..wow you got some mix there...would have to say a blue base/yellow face pied. I just love the powdery light yellow its so soft looking. Too early to say HE/SHE as this bird is a real young buckwheat..and you can almost tell whatever it is ...its gonna be a reallllll sweatheart