Rope perches

Max loves preening toys. She had a rope perch in her cage that Thomas and I purchased before we purchased her. We knew we were going to get a parrot and bought and outfitted a cage in preparation. Not the brightest idea since we didn't know what species of parrot we were going to get so the cage size and/or bar spacing could have been inappropriate.

That rope perch lasted in her cage for six and a half years. One day, after using it exclusively as a perch for over 300 weeks, it's like a switch went off and she noticed it. In less than three weeks, she had severed the rope from the plastic holder. We replaced it, and three weeks later, she had chewed through it again!

So now we hang rope perches from the top of her cage, intending them to be used as a preening toy instead of a perch. When I was doing her cage inspection yesterday, I noticed that one single thread was keeping the rope perch attached.

Here is a before and after picture, as I replaced the worn-out toy.

She had made progress on her new one this morning, so I'll keep the blog updated to see how long this one lasts.