African grey falling in cage

Question
Hi, I just brought my seven month old african grey congo home yesterday.  He has been doing great except he cannot get steady on perches or my arm.  He gets off balance and starts flapping like crazy.  His cage at the place I bought him was stackable and he had one tiny perch.  I put him to bed last night and shut the lights off and kept a night lite on and within ten minutes he fell twice.  I was freaking out so I got a small cage I used for my cockatiel and put him in that in my roof with a perch that he fit on.  For awhile he was climbing all over the place and making no noises then he settled down and went to sleep.  Im not sure what to do to help him learn to perch right.  I am afraid that he is going to get seriously hurt in his cage.  I put all the perches and toys low but he insists climbing to the top on the walls of the cage.  Please help me any suggestions would be helpful.  I am scared to leave the room in case he falls. I have put a big comforter at the bottom for cushion but he can still get hurt.  Thanks you so much. Christina

Answer
Hi Christina,

It's likely that your baby is overwhelmed by his new cage as hopefully it's larger and has more perches and toys inside of it.  I brought home my baby Grey in October and she had a little bit of a problem getting around her cage too when she first got home.  It took a few weeks but she eventually settled in.  

Do you have any Booda rope perches in his cage?  If not, I would go out and get several of various lengths and diameters and replace any slippery wooden perches with those.  Also, something that will help him dramatically is to put a "boing" in his cage.  A boing is a spiral rope perch that can be adjusted in height to span the entire height of the cage.  Below is a couple of links to one just in case you're not familiar with them.  You can get these at most pet stores where bird supplies are sold (probably where you bought him from as well).  They are also known as bungees.  Be sure you get the right diameter for him so he can get a good grip - too small would not give him a good grip and would not hold his weight.  I would go with a large.  

Boings or Bungees
www.parrotkeyboard.com/mithrander.html
www.windycityparrot.com/.../PROD/20401791011

Booda Comfy Perch
www.windycityparrot.com/.../PROD/20401791011
www.birdsupplies.com/.../bda5610x.htm

Since these are all made of rope - it's a softer surface and easier to grip.  Another great perch you may want to order for your baby is a flagstone perch (or two).  These are GREAT alternatives to sandy perches for grooming and best of all, they provide a larger flat surface for the bird to perch on and they are not as hard on the feet as sandy perches are.  I have at least one of these in every one of my birds' cages.  Their website is:

www.birdontherocks.com

Birds feel safer perched up high - and it seems your guy is no exception.  The boing/bungee will provide your bird with a higher place to perch in the cage if you connect it to the top of the cage.  My Grey sleeps on her boing every night.

My Grey too would crawl around the cage bars and continually move her feet on them while holding on with her beak.  It would take 5 or so minutes for her to settle down.  For the first few months, I wrapped a dark sheet around all sides of her cage (leaving the top open without the tray) and leave a little opening in the very front of the cage.  I put her flagstone perch on the inside of her door, so she would sleep on it, right by the opening of the sheet every night.  Since moving her in the living room with my other birds, I now cover all sides of her cage completely and still leave the top uncovered.  She now sleeps at the very top of her boing/bungee perch.  :-)  Before I brought her home she was kept in a flat glass enclosure and had no exposure to a cage at all.

I too, let her sleep in a smaller cage the first two nights - actually it was the carrier I brought her home in and I kept it right with me on my bed.  It was hard to watch her struggle a bit when I first put her in her cage - but I would move out of sight, but still near her cage in case she fell and she would settle down within a few minutes.  She now will get right in (still with a bit of protest as she MUST have at least 30 minutes of cuddle time with me first lol) her cage and crawl up to her boing perch and settle in.

It might be good to let her sleep in a smaller cage for a couple more nights - but she does need to get used to being in her cage.  Be sure you have places on the outside of her cage for her to perch (more rope perches are great) when she's hanging out outside of it.  This will keep her practicing to perch.

I hope this info helps and I wish you the best with your new guy.  If you'd like, there is a great parrot forum I belong to that you could join, share stories and seek advice from tons of fellow bird owners.  It's www.theperch.net (my username there is wondermomma - if you join, send me a PM and say hi!)