Escape from the Cage

[catschair]

I bought a bunch of carabiners and use them on the cage doors. They get chewed on, but nobody has quite figured them out yet.

[Conure & Macaw Mom]

I tried everything with Nalah. I had clamps, she chewed them & broke em. I got a different kind, she just learned that if she pushed the button they would let go. I tried tie strap things, chewed. I have the chains & dog clasp things on there now. The things that are at the end of a dogs rope. She will open them if I dont double the chain.

TIELMAMA It was funny but she scared me! I work evening / nights. I get off work at 10pm / 11pm depending on what day it is. The front door is upstairs & the fids are down stairs in the living room so to open the door in total darkness & have something shout HELLO at your feet is not something you expect. But it is a very good thing she did cause there was no light on & I would of stepped on her. Or she could of went out the door without me knowing. Either one would kill me!

I used to get on my room mates all the time about coming in & not shutting the door right away. I was so scared the birds would get out. I dont have those room mates anymore, they didn't listen.

[CrazyforCockatiels]

Catschair~ I was thinking along the lines of carabiners.

Conure & Macaw Mom~ I know it's not funny but everytime I think of Nalah calling out "hello" to you in a darkened house, I giggle.

[Conure & Macaw Mom]

It was funny after I realized what was going on. LOL I almost peed my pants. Crystal

[Joe&Young]

Hmmm.............my conures do it all the time... but my tiels are just starting to learn how to barely hold something with their feet. Oh my goodness.. I can't even imagine Percy and Roo being jail bird escapee's, lol

[CrazyforCockatiels]

Conure & Macaw Mom~ Crystal, I am still laughing over it. I can just imagine the fear, at first, of hearing a strange "hello" in a darkened house and then seeing one's parrot at the door. Maybe next time she'll say, "Welcome home. I've cooked a late night snack for you!"

Joe & Young~ I wish I would've captured the scene on camera but I couldn't have even if I'd had the camera out. The sheer surprise of seeing Roo sitting on a chair and Percy down below as well as the look the two of them gave me when my son and I walked in....It was priceless.

Also, Percy is the only one of the two who holds food with her feet. Roo will not. Maybe one day.

[tielmama]

This thread reminds me of what Whiteboy did at his last house. He opened his own cage, and then went around and opened all the other birds cages too. At my house, he doesn't even attempt to open his cage. I'm looking at his door right now. The lock isn't even on, and it's only held closed by a little tab at the top. He's covered up and not making a peep. He had one of those dog leash clasps on the door of the cage he came in.
Crystal, Nalah is so smart. Even though she was out, isn't it cute that she came to the door since she knew you would be coming through it?

[CrazyforCockatiels]

Yowwww! You go, Whiteboy! That is pretty funny, Tielmama! We saw a cockatoo on America's Funniest Videos tonight and the owner had put him outside sliding glass doors. He was jumping up and down and crying to be let in. It was a bit comical but sad, too. It felt like he was being teased all for the sake of a funny video. There was a video of a budgie knocking over a stick repeatedly and this was very funny as the bird didn't appear to be tormented or teased.

I LOVE Whiteboy!

[tielfan]

I latch cage doors securely whether the bird knows how to open the door or not because of something that happened about 30 years ago. One of my budgies figured out how to open the door while I was at work, and when I came home she was nowhere to be found. After searching for about an hour I heard wings fluttering inside the chimney. She'd somehow gotten inside the fireplace in spite of the very stiff screen in front of it that I found difficult to open, then somehow gone up behind the damper, either by climbing up the impossibly smooth wall or by flying almost straight up with clipped wings. By wedging myself into the fireplace and twisting my arm into a pretzel I was just barely able to grab her and get her out of there. Her color had gone from almost-white pale blue to coal black and my other budgie didn't recognize her! A little of the soot washed off and more of it flaked off during the next few days, but she didn't return to her original color until she molted.

I've had one tiel who knew how to open her cage if I didn't lock it. The others haven't had the chance to learn because I secure the door with safety pins or dog clips. My biggest cage has built-in cockatiel-proof locks.

[tielmama]

CforC, More than once when I have taken Whiteboy outside in my backyard, he has decided it was time to go in. He walked over to the sliding glass door and stood there hoping I would get the message. I let him in right away. That does seem mean to make that poor bird beg to come in.