Traveling Cage

[motti718]

I have read that every bird owner should have a traveling cage for their bird. I am going to travel for 1.5 hours this weekend and was wondering: Why do I need a traveling cage? Why can't I just put his regular cage in my car?

[DeaGrain]

If his cage will fit in you car and you can secure it...I don't see why you couldn't. I have a travel cage (wingabago) for the car ('cause Ki's won't even fit in the back of a pick-up) and a smaller cage for when we go visiting. I use the Wingabago for short trips around town and up to 2 hours away. Anything longer and I use the smaller cage for the trip to give him more room to spread his wings.

[chapala]

The problem with using a cage instead of a travel crate is that in a larger space the bird can get thrown around and possibly injured in an accident or fast stop.

[jenseits]

As chapala said, it's not as safe as a smaller space. But to be honest, if you have a cockatoo and you can easily fit his cage in your car and it's not a major PITA to get out of your house... your cage is too small.

Both my birds are smaller than a cockatoo, and one of their cages just fits into the back of an SUV (but it's a pain to remove all the stuff that would be swinging around and smacking the bird around), and the other one can only be moved by disassembling it.

[cfulhage]

Originally Posted by jenseits

But to be honest, if you have a cockatoo and you can easily fit his cage in your car and it's not a major PITA to get out of your house... your cage is too small.

I agree with the above statement!

My grey is much smaller than any too and her cage barely fits laying down in the back of a truck. I just use a small bird cage (like the "starter" cages they sell for cockatiel sized birds) for my grey when traveling. A curious, destructive cockatoo could probably break through the bars in a matter of hours though. If we're going to be away from home for more than a week or so I disassemble her old cage to take along. Even her old cage that is half the size of her current one is too large to fit in my SUV without breaking it down.

[bethn]

We have several cages for Jazz. One is his regular "home cage" that he sleeps in. He has a small cage that we use as a carrier to go to the vet or any traveling that we do. (Even down to the local hot dog stand where he is becoming a regular) :). then we have a collapsible cage that is just slightly smaller than his home cage, that goes with us when we visit my mom, that one is also the one that he goes in if we leave him for any period of time during the day as he won't poop in his overnite cage.
When we first became parronts, we were told never to have the bird loose in the car, and that his travel cage should not be so large that he could fall and hurt himself in case of an accident.

[RubyMuse]

If you can carry it around it is too small. You need a larger day cage and maybe can use that one for travel or short stays somewhere else.