Sushi is the DEVIL.

[FabFeatheredFour]

Sushi is an incredible escape artist. For the last couple of times I have come in to check on them she has been flying around the shed. I kept chalking it up to me not closing the nesting box properly, but last night I put a gallon of water on it to make sure it would stay closed and she was STILL out.

So I took it down, tightened it and installed a latch, put it back up, and made sure it was completely tight against the cage, then went back into the house to make their breakfast. When I came back out 15 minutes later, Sushi was happily playing with the top of a toy on Pip and Kip's cage. I almost dropped the dishes!

So I had to catch her... AGAIN and put her back. This time I saw one of the food doors was open, so I cursed myself thinking I had left the food door open when I was removing and cleaning dishes. I put her back in, shut it firmly, and finished feeding. not 10 minutes later I hear a "shoook" and look behind and see her grabbing the bottom of the door and tossing it up- and once it was open, out she hopped!

The little DEVIL! I had to use twisty ties on all of the doors in the cage to keep her in.

Anyone else have a bird that can do this? If so, what do you use to keep them in? I need to find something I can take off easily when its time to open and close the doors, the twisty ties are a pain!

[Flapjack]

Neither Jack nor Chino have ever even looked like they were going to open a door- however- I'm so paranoid that they would one day when I wasn't home.
I use those butterfly clips for hair on all doors, large and small.

[Kali]

Hi Shawn,
I have found lovebirds to be very professional escape artists.
They could probably have taught Houdini a thing or two.
I always have to secure all openings if I leave them in the cage for any length of time.
I used to use clothes pegs, but have upgraded to a snap locks similar to ones used on keyrings.Available at hardwares here in Australia but I don't know about USA.

[cp.lovebird]

While we were on our honeymoon, one of my birds (Squeaky probably - he could have been called Houdini!) opened up the door and they both got out and did some major plant chewing! I didn't believe it was possible for them to open the door so I thought the birds' sitter had left the cage open by mistake.

However, one day I saw Squeaky lifting and dropping a cage door (the "guillotine" type) until it stuck in the open position and out he came! My husband and I couldn't believe it and sat there with our mouths open.

So I now tie all the doors shut with string with the knots on the outside of the cage. I have a larger door with a bar to secure it which makes for easy access to the cage.

Good luck with your little Houdini!

[michael]

Anyone else have a bird that can do this? If so, what do you use to keep them in? I need to find something I can take off easily when its time to open and close the doors, the twisty ties are a pain!

I had the same problem when Goof was brought to me in his original cage. I used heavy zip ties the same colour as his cage to secure the smaller sliding doors and simply hung the food bowls on the horizontal bars instead of in the smaller guillotine windows. Last thing I wanted was for him to get stuck panic and possibly injure himself fatally. Fortunately there was a larger front door with a bar latch to let him in and out and also to maintain/clean his cage. One thing I had to make sure of was that he didn't chew the plastic zipties because that could be harmful if he swallowed the pieces. Perhaps he didn't take notice because he never did chew on them thankfully. One thing I feel thats very important is to make sure you latch any doors completely shut. I do know of one case where an owner used a screw ring bird toy holder which allowed the doors to slide open partially. Her bird died with its head stuck in the partially open door. I suspect because of this birds previous success in escaping this led to its own belief there was no problem succeding again. :(

[sphinxface]

When I worked at the pet store there was an adorable little yellow lovie that was being housed in a slightly broken cage, I was cleaning the bird cages and watched as he found his way to the broken section of the cage and started exploring. I told my boss about this, shes supposedly a bird expert, and she didn't think he could get out, well 10 minutes later I went back in and birdie was happily sitting on the top section of the cage :roll:

Haven't had this problem with Beezle yet but I'm sure some clips on every door would keep him secure?