They’ll always surprise you... just wait.

Hi friends!

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted. I’ve been so busy between my work, personal life, and managing my animals. I currently have a beautiful German Shepherd who has been occupying my time when the birds and rabbit aren’t, as we are in competitive obedience and are training in a sport known as Schutzhund. All very fun and exciting, but certainly busy. I hope you and your flocks have all been well.

This serves as a message to new parrot owners, or experienced, who like to chance cage bar sizing. Now, let me start by saying never once did I think that the cage bar sizing of my rabbit’s enclosure would ever matter. His cage spacing is an inch wide. Him and my parrots have been cohabiting for 3+ years now with zero incident, as I do take their safety very seriously.

That being said, my rabbit and parrots do share a room where I rotate them. They are allotted total freedom, because, as far as we knew, every square inch had been bird proofed/rabbit proofed. No visible wires, no ropes that loosen or can be chewed easily, no toys that are unsafe without supervision. The birds are out while the rabbit is in, and vice versa.

And, for at least two years, the birds and rabbit have happily lived in their room with zero incident.

So, you may ask, well, why the story Chantal? To which I reply... because of CAGE SPACING. If you have a GCC or similarly sized parrot, do not ever consider them safe in anything that is an inch in width. Because you may go to hang out with your birds, having only checked on them an hour prior, to see something like this...



Never would I imagine cage bar spacing would be important for keeping the parrot OUT of a cage! But I did choose Avery because she almost managed to dismantle her enclosure at the store. Little did I know that wicked charm would come to bite me (or perhaps my rabbit... she is a spitfire) in the behind.

Thankfully no one was hurt, and we will be investing in either a new rabbit enclosure or a way to keep the birds away from the rabbit’s bars.

So, to all friends old and new, please take your cage bar spacing very seriously! You will eventually be surprised by them because quite frankly, they’re too smart not to throw you a few here and there.

Oh, and here’s a few adorable pictures of them all, just for good measure.

My beautiful girl, Ryka. She turns a year at the end of this month:



A cute puppy picture for good measure:



And of course my flying goobers...

Shiko with a floof hat:



And Avery giving me some night time cuddles:

This is SO funny! My GCC’s cage bar spacing is 5/8”. When I had a guinea pig I bet my budgies could have slid right through those bars. But Bluebell never tried (I didn’t have Pearl or Kermit yet). She did sneak in through the door, though! And Ducky did too! Even played with the paper bedding in there.

Very sweet family of fur and feathers!

I bet you almost fainted when you saw that bird breaking in on the bunny!

Thank you [emoji4]. And I did! It absolutely shocked me. She’s never done it before, so I was completely taken by surprise. And yes, they were certainly making themselves look like cozy roommates, that’s for sure.

Naughty naughty birdie harassing the poor bunny

Looking at the size of the bird and the spacing on the bars, I'm shocked she could squeeze through those bars. I know GCCs are small conures but sheesh, they aren't that small! Are you sure she didn't get in somewhere else? Perhaps she opened and closed the door behind herself? Not even joking about her possibly doing that, especially if she's a good lock pick. They learn a lot through observation, even things we may not think they'd pay much attention to! Kiwi's cage is never locked, but he will close his little door behind himself when he's ready for bed at night or when he wants to nap in his cage during the day. He picked this behavior up years ago. I've heard of other birds learning to close doors behind themselves as well!