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Hi Cathy,

I measured Jamie's tent and it is the medium-size one. The measurements are approx. 11" x 11"

http://www.parrotdiseperch.com/parrot/s ... p?prod=495



Jamie also has a smaller one (I thought that she might want to sleep in it) but she does not like it as much.

Bu the way, you can email Parrotdise Perch, asking to see pictures of the fabric. They have all kinds of neat fabric (much nicer than the picture on the web).



Kate

Dear Kate, Thank you so much for getting the information on the tent for me. I ordered a medium tent and Kristy emailed me some fabric choices and I picked one out. I also ordered 2 liners for the bottom.

I could have spent a lot of money if Christmas wasn't coming so soon. They have some really neat stuff. I aded that web site to my list of favorites!

Jamie is so beautiful. Yankee is just about 18 weeks old so he does not have the pretty white chest, yet. But he has become so affectionate, I am hooked on caiques, although i wouldn't want another one. I have a hard time juggling my 4 birds, even though the lovebirds and my p'let don't require the attention that Yankee does. Wow. He doesn't want to stay on his gym. If he is out of his cage, he wants to be on me.

I'm rambling. Thanks again for sharing, Cathy

Kate, I meant to say that Jaime's cage set-up looks very stimulating. AND how do you keep the walls so clean? How big is Jaime's cage and does Jaime spend much time on top of his cage or gym? I would love to see a picture of Jaime's whole cage.

Hi Cathy,

When you get the liners, I suggest you cut off the sides. It has a thread all around it. It looks nice - but it's not necessary and I would worry about birds catching toes in it. The tent seems to be fine and really well-made.

Here is Jamie's cage size:
Size: 36" x 26 ' x 45" 68" overall height

She used to have a cage 32' x 24" but she is so active that I got her a bigger one a couple of years ago. She loves it and uses every inch of it. The cage goes almost to the floor so if Jamie drops something, she needs to go down and up to get it. Her dishes are almost all the way down so that she gets more excercise. Now I should point out that she is totally comfortable on the bottom so that's why her dishes can be low.

I don't really have any good pictures of Jamie's cage because it's hard to fit the whole cage in the camera. Plus I change the setup every month (just to keep her interested and occupied).

Here is a link to a few more pictures that I found:
http://www.nvan.com/kate/JamieCastle/home.htm

By the way, the walls behind Jamie's cage are never clean! lol She is so messy!. Now I have a piece of corrogated plastic behind the cage to protect the wall. Drs. Foster & Smith sell a washable poster that I am thinking of getting for behind the cage. Here is the link if you want to have a look:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... 2003&Nty=1

I'm glad that Yankee is getting used to his new home. Just wait - he will be more and more fun. I wouldn't worry about him not staying on the gym. He is young and still unsecure. It took Jamie about 6 months to start staying on her cage to play and about 1.5 years to really start staying on the play gym for longer periods of time. Now she flies away from me to get to the play gym by the window

It's all part of the birds' growing up. As you probably know, the bigger birds stay with the parents for quite some time and they get constant reassurance from their parents. If you give that to Yankee, he will become an independent little bird. Now I don't mean that you should spoil him and have him on you 12 hours a day - but I would not really force him to stay on the play gym or punish him for not staying on it.

I read a very interesting study about macaws. Even a baby over the age of 1 year (who is already fully weaned but still with the parents) gets hand-fed if he hurts himself or becomes spooked. This gives him reassurance and he is fine pretty much right away. I think we should keep that in mind when dealing with our birds.


Kate

Kate, that is absolutely wonderful advice. I worried because Yankee's breeder said that he had been trained to stay on his playpen and I haven't been making him. I have read about how caiques need discipline and I have been afraid that I have been spoiling him too much. Everyday, it seems like he is becoming more and more friendly and he touches my heart so when he wants to be on me. I wish that I had 12 hours a day to spend with him but I am a teacher and that is impossible. I do hope to take him to school with me after Christmas. I teach middle school social studies and my sixth grade is studying Latin America... I bought a cage that I think will work for school and I am going to hang a playgym if it works out.

The new cage that I bought for Yankee is almost the same size as Jamie's cage. It does sit about a foot from the floor which is great because I have 3 Yorkies that love bird food. I am hoping that Yankee with bite their noses! I was afraid that it should have been wider that it is tall but I just didn't want to take up that much floor space.

I am going to order a hanging gym for this site. It has awesome hanging gyms and stands. The people that make this stuff live in a suburb of Atlanta and I have seen their stuff at the bird shows. They also raise eclectus (spelled wrong?) and they have beautiful birds and very high standards. I am very impressed with them.

http://www.prettyparrot.com/

Again, thanks for the support.

Kate, that is a great idea, but since I am a teacher, I have access to a laminator so I think that I will look for a poster and have it laminated at school. It would be a lot cheaper, although the two that are on that site are really beautiful.

Although, I may get a couple of pieces of poster board and paint them the same color as my walls and then laminate them! The possibilities...

Thanks for the idea!