new to birds

[chuck]

Hi every one we are new to birds. I got my wife a Sun Conure. I have made a couple posts but so far no help. I guess this fourum is just for the regulars. I was wanting to make a play gym and asked if pvc was safe for birds and what size pvc I needed to make it out of I was thinking probably 3/4". I was thinking of something for front of cage where bird could come out on his own onto gym. I also asked for people to post there pics of homed gyms but no responce except fo doing a search which really didn't bring much up. So this may very well be my last post here and will start looking for a friendlier board.

Thanks Chuck

[Isaac Miller]

wow ummm sorry I didnt see your previous posts but maybe I can help Chuck. The play gym might be more durable as PVC but honestly I would recommend doing it out of wood like regular wood dowels or manzanita wood because all birds like to tear and chew their toys so PVC may not be a wise choice. As for the base a piece of 3/4" laminate like 30x30 may work perfectly edged with wall trim to act as a seed catcher.

[wildirish]

I didn't see it either. Someone on one of your posts mentioned a few listed in the DIY section:

http://birdboard.com/forum/showthrea...t=pvc+playgyms

http://birdboard.com/forum/showthrea...t=pvc+playgyms

The other thread didn't have a picture posted, so it wasn't something you missed, they mentioned a book of playgyms.

I hope these help.

[AmandaB]

I think 3/4 inch would be too large for a sun conure. I use half inch for mine, even my amazon. The pvc is fine to use, just be sure you buy the kind made for drinking water. You must make sure to do any cutting or sanding outside, the pvc gives off harmful fumes and dust when doing this. Also make sure to rinse it well to remove any dust or splinters.

You can sand it for texture, so it's not so slippy, or a lot of people like to use vet wrap or rope to wrap the gym also. You can also add wooden perches to a pvc gym, but I wouldn't use dowels unless you want to be changing them often. They don't stand up to even a cockatiel beak in my house. Make sure to add lots of toys to keep the bird's interest.

The great thing about using pvc for a gym, is that if your bird doesn't seem happy with it, you can take it apart and redo it. And it is safe to use, contrary to some opinions.

[stepht25]

Sorry Chuck - I can honestly say I didn't see your post or I would have responded as I have made a few pvc playgyms myself. I have a bad habit of just clicking on "new posts" instead of going through each individual section. Sometimes when I'm done reading the first new post - I forget to hit the back button and hit "new posts" again and instead of showing me all the new posts I haven't read yet - it seems to just show the ones that weren't there the first time I hit the button. (hope that makes sense! I need to be less lazey and just go through all the sections to see what I'm missing! I apologize and hope you'll stick around!)

Anyway - on to the playgyms. I don't really have instructions or measurments as I just did everything by eyeing it and experimenting! I made a table top one (which is currently on top of Cosmo's cage (I just put newspaper under it to catch droppings, etc. and change it every day.)

Then I made a standing one so that I can move it from room to room and use it for the conures, the tiels and the quaker (not all at the same time of course!) I'm hoping to add some kind of food/water dish to the standing one in the near future.

I used 1/2" pvc for both of the gyms. I found that size worked for all the fids that would be using it. Plus once I wrapped the perches - it actually made them a little bigger than 1/2".

For the table top - I used vet wrap and hemp rope to cover a few of the perches and was also able to add a few bottlebrush branches that I had by wrapping the ends of the branches in vet wrap and stuffing and twisting them into an open end of the pvc. I made a "bridge" by taking 3 equal lengths of sisal rope and braiding them together and then slid those child, plastic linking things (don't know what they're really called? LOL) and hooked them onto ss eye hooks. To attach the ss eye hooks so I could hang the bridge and toys, I simply drilled a hole in the pvc, slightly smaller than the eye hooks, and then twisted them in.

For the standing gym I covered all the perches in hemp rope or some supreme cotton rope I had. I took the stand to a different room than the fids were in, slightly opened a window and used a hot glue gun to add a little glue here and there under the rope so it would stay in place. I made a place to hang toys by most of the perches. I also glued together certain parts of the gyms to give it more stability and so they wouldn't fall apart when I moved them. I left parts of the perches unglued so I could change them some if I wanted to. Just make sure to twist the pvc pieces you don't glue to get a good tight fit.

If you want close ups of anything or want me to measure any parts of the gyms, etc. just let me know and I'll see what I can do! HTH!

[stepht25]

Forgot to mention that I bought a tool specifically used for cutting pvc. I think it's just called a pvc cutter?! It's very easy to use and I think it was $10 - $15, and well worth it for me! I was able to cut the pvc much straighter and a lot less work than trying to use a hand saw and less mess trying to use an electric jig saw. Any of the hardware stores that sell pvc should have them available.

[Kevin]

Some great responses for ya chuck. I hope you got some better idea's of what you can use and do for your sun conure.

[chuck]

Ok that was much better responce guesss i won't pull the plug and leave this board just yet.

Steph u sure that is 1/2" looks bigger in pic may be an illusion though

Isn't all pvc for plumbing drinking water the one post said to make sure you used drinking water pvc.

Issac where do you get manzantia wood

Thanks Cuck

[Kevin]

Alot of people use pvc, but seems they try and treat it so the birds can get alittle better grip. There is a couple threads talking about twisting the pvc and others who sanded it alittle for texture.

[Machelle]

vet wrap is good also.