The Practical Parrot #1

This is the month of love, Valentine's Day, and my favorite valentine is George of the Jungle. George is not lacking for love or playpens-he has two window perches, a shower perch and various free-standing perches, all made of PVC piping. I've found that PVC is a fantastic material for parrots mostly because it is almost indestructible, easy to clean and very portable due to its light weight. Please be sure that the perch itself is roughed up either by scoring the surface or sand papering it so that your kids have a safe foothold. My favorite local source for these goodies happens to be Rey and Sue Ruiz (owners of PARROT VENTURES COMPANY), who are members of B.A.B.A. Rey is constantly puttering around with his products to improve on his designs and hardware being used. They will make custom perches as well to suit your birds and your wallet.

Speaking of perches...most of the perches being used in cages are made of wood and we all know what a pain in the beak these are to clean. A few summers ago I was shopping in a discount housewares store and happened upon what I consider to be the perfect perch scraper: a barbecue brush with metal bristles and a sharp metal strip across the top of it. What the brush can't remove, the scraper does. A good substitute can be found in a paint or hardware store-a painter's scraping tool. It doesn't have the brush but it does a great job anyway (these scrapers come in a variety of shapes and sizes to suit your needs).

Not to get off the topic.... If some of you were too lazy to pack up all the holiday trappings and still have your Christmas tree stand available you can put it to good use for your and the feathered fiends. Use a manzanita branch that can be found locally at most bird shops or if you're fortunate enough to have access to some property that has trees then you can "borrow" a suitable, non-toxic (see note below) branch. Secure the base of the branch to the stand and please make sure the birds cannot get caught in the screws or other mechanism used to hold the branch in place. Try to obtain branches that have some horizontal limbs on them so they have at least one suitable resting perch. Also, and most importantly, be absolutely certain that no chemicals or insecticide sprays were used on these - they can be fatal to your kids.

Please, please, please, when in doubt toss it out.

P.S.: Wash off any loose pieces of bark or debris from the branches before offering it to the kids.

Note: Please consult a list of safe plants, such as the one from Birds USA, 1992-93 Annual, page 53, or Pocket Pamphlet #1, from Bird-Safe Co.