phangtonpower

She really loves edamame and corn. We're trying to cut back on that. We also used whole peanuts as rewards. We've been cutting back on that too, cutting a peanut into smaller pieces. Everything seems to be working. They also sell super grain packs that you are supposed to mix into rice when you make it for people. It has things like hemp, quinoa, beans, etc. We've boiled some of it by itself and mixing it into the chop. So far so good. Yesterday I also found hemp seed. It feels like she's taking to the new diet ok. We've tried giving her nutriberries like snacks to her in the past with no luck.

Not sure about food allergies. I'll admit she doesn't have the best diet. We do give her fresh fruits and veggies everyday, but she only picks out what she likes, so we've trying to do chop the last few days, She still picking out what she likes though. At least she has to dig around it so it keeps her busy. We do also give her harrisons. She eats eat it if she doesn't like in her fresh foods bowl. Harrisons is really expensive here and I have no idea when they'll stop carrying it.

Thanks for the links. I feel her sleep cage maybe too small so she thinks that it's a nesting box. Funny thing is that this is a standard sized cage for Japanese and was almost $400 We had to import our main one from the states. I actually take her into the shower with me everyday. She only likes misting bottles and she'll fly down from her perch to the window sill when she wants a spray down, which is not often. But I read some where that spraying them everyday helps with plucking. Maybe one of the reasons pluck no more works for some? I'm trying to spray her a couple times a day. I don't get her totally wet, but enough to get some moisture in. Again thanks for replying and I'll do my best!

Thanks for the well wishes! I'm a part time teacher at universities here. We've been teaching online for the last year and a half, so I'm with her for most of the day, but her plucking has not gotten any better. In fact I feel it's getting worse. She plucks mostly at night in her sleep cage especially after I've cleaned it. Should I just leave all her feathers in there? I'm not hopeful for any medication for her from the vet. Medication for people here isn't great. My friend broke his leg and needed major surgery on it. They were giving him aspirin for pain at the hospital.

They don't sell Avian lights here and I'm kinda worried of importing because voltage is different here. I do have a light on her. The best thing I can do, which I have to find a new solution for very soon, is a cfl that has a good kelvin rating for plants? Other wise the only other bulbs I can find are for reptiles and they just didn't seem right. Edit: Ohisashiburi(long time no see)!! You helped a long time ago when I was trying to figure out a way to keep her warm in the winter.

Hey everyone, So the thread title says it all. I know it's a common problem. I I have not taken her to the vet yet. I live in Japan and there are no local vets and the nearest one was 3 hours away, but we did find one an hour and half a way and we have set an appointment for this coming Monday. So I think she is plucking because of nesting behavior. It started a few years ago when she started laying eggs. We try our hardest to discourage this. She has a separate sleeping cage and that could be the issue, as she usually only does it when she goes to bed. I've noticed that when I clean her cage out she starts plucking pretty bad again. how can I keep her cage clean? I know I should try keeping her in her main cage for bed time, but my house is really small and her cage is in the main living room where we can spend most of our time with her. It would be too loud for her if we kept her in there at night. Plus winter time is pretty harsh and old Japanese houses aren't insolated so warming up a smaller area (her sleep cage) is easier than keeping her in the main cage which uses a oil radiator. It's pretty expensive keeping it running through out winter as it is now. We still aren't sure if that's the main cause, so we're going to see what the vet says. Hopefully he can be helpful as local vets in general, even the ones that were trained in avian medicine, have been horrifying. He has a youtube channel and does talk a lot about bird issues. I'm hoping it's not stress. We have her out a few hours a day including walks outside when the weather is warm enough, try and feed her a good diet, and try and interact with her as much as possible. I hate showing this video, but you can see the size of my house and a little bit of where her cage is located. Any help will be appreciated! Edit: I would also love to try products that would help, but they do not exist in Japan. Maybe home remedies??

Nice. How do the food bowls come out? Do you have stick your hand in the cage?

That's exactly what I'm looking for, but a little small if I'm gonna be out of town for a few days to a week, and she's at my Mother in Laws. I use her sleep cage, a dog kennel, for when I have to take her to the vets or things like that. She is also harness trained for small outings. Thanks for the link though.

I think the one I linked is of the same quality and $200 cheaper. Thanks for all the help.

I know I know rakuten quite well. did you see those prices though. Also one of the worst pages to try and navigate. I got my cage from the states for about $600 shipped here. It is about 4 foot by 3 foot cage made of powder coated iron. $400 for a 19" by 27" cage that my cag can bend the bars is a joke. Plus those are mostly the same brands as the links I provided. Japanese don\t label anything. And even calling will provide no answers. The link you provided on Rakuten shows all acrylic cages for winter that are meant to be heated. According to others on here, heat and acrylic are a big no no. Do you have a link to the cage you have? It would probably be cheaper after shipping than the ones we have here. Plus foldable.

I'm trying to find something locally. I found this one so far which is the largest cage I have found period. http://www.shopcompamal.com/shop/item_detail?category_id=351230&item_id=2073378 Kind of pricey at 200 bucks. It's also made of chrome covered iron. Don't know if that would be an issue? I don't think it's collapsible either. I also think it's made for cockatiels, so I don't know if the door is big enough. Funny how the largest cage you can find here are for smaller birds. These are the ones meant for Medium sized to large birds here. http://www.shopcompamal.com/shop/item_detail?category_id=351230&item_id=1281084 I'm going to make the 3 hour trip next week to give it a look. If it's not that great, I can at least buy toys, so the trip wont be a complete waste.

I already have a medium sized dog crate that she uses as her sleeping cage. It's not the collapsable kind, but one of those plastic ones, so not much light comes in. It's fine for sleep and trips, but I don't think she would be happy in it if she had to stay at the in laws for a good amount of time. The collapsible cage style ones I feel have the bar spacing too far. I know bar spacing should be 3/4" to 1", but has anyone used anything wider? I was also looking into ferret cages since they are usually a lot wider than bird cages.

I'm looking for a light weight cage for my cag for when I go on vacation. Bringing her with us isn't always an option. I live in Japan and most hotels wont allow pets. The closest boarding place is a 3 hour trip away and their boarding cages are really small, so our only option is to take her to my mother in laws place. Here's is the thing. MIL and family are the only ones willing to watch her and are also scared of her, so she probably wont come out. Most cages they sell here are only about 20" wide, but most travel cages I have seen online in the US are about the same. They aren't really willing to stay at our house were she has 3' by 4' cage. My only options are ordering a larger cage from the US, but I'm looking for something lighter and a little wider than 20", so shipping wont be crazy and so it would be easier to transport from my house to MIL's place. We ordered our cage from the states. It was only $200, but after shipping, it came to $600. Still cheaper than anything here and a lot larger.

Our Bird speaks English and Japanese. When ever she hears the phone ring she'll say "Moshi Moshi", hello in Japanese, and make up her own conversation and we have no idea what she is saying. Also my wife taught her a Japanese song. She can't do the end part, so makes up her own words and rhythm.

Like I said I have a planted tank and know not to use incandescent bulbs. I live in Japan and do not have options for anything specific for birds. Your first link is for the Aviansun, which the is the same as the reptisun according to the manufacturer. Confused >< Edit: So I did more research on the aviansun. This is what one article mentioned about the color temp. "As stated earlier, ZooMed does not provide information online, but other internet sources say that the Avian Sun light is 88 CRI, 7500K, no word on UVA, and 5% UVB" And here is a quote from one of the links greywings posted. ".....while higher color temperatures (more blue) have been shown to produce more stress and feather destruction. For tropical birds, look for a light that has a temperature of at least 5000º K and not more than 5700º K" Maybe the aviansuns should be avoided as well since the color temperature is higher than recommended.

Thanks for the info. I only mention the T5/T8 fixtures as options that I don't want to go through I know the light hoods you are talking about. I have a planted aquarium, so i did plenty of research for what we have in Japan. They usually don't sell CFL type hoods bigger than a 13w CFL. Pretty much you scared me off buying the Reptisun. I did ask the zoomed representative again about the spectrum and if there was any difference between the two and she said they are the same just rebranded. So does that mean that aviansuns should be avoided since they are the same CFL? Like I said they don't label lights here except for cool/warm etc. No other info like spectrum or lumens, so I'm worried that a buy a bulb that flickers and makes the birds go nuts?

Well the rep from zoomed pretty much said there is no difference between the aviansun and reptisun. She said it doesn't produce heat and is only a uvb bulb at 5% and the spectrum is the same. Very helpful.

Thanks for the advice Dave. The area that our bird is in is very shaded, so can get really dark. She's placed right next to sliding glass doors so she could look outside, but I live next to a mountain. Most of the window is covered by a big wall that prevent mud slides. The other quarter is a shrine with lots of tall trees. I heard they do a sumo neighborhood sumo tournament once a year, so she gets a perfect view of that. The ceilings are kinda low. I can't go all out and buy T5/T8 lighting for now as money is tight. Plus we pretty much only have panasonic and national brands here, so I can't find anything people suggest here anyway and they don't like to label specs for lighting here. So that brings me down to CFLs. Those are not labeled as well and are about the same price as pet specific lighting, but even with pet lighting is very minimal. Pretty much the reptisun was the only light that I can find that is recommended here. I know we aren't supposed to use reptile lighting for birds, but since the manufacture claims that they are at least similar that it can be used. Plus the Distance that we are supposed to use these lights for, I don't think the heat would have any affect. Don't know yet as I haven't bought one. Anyway it seems that horizontal is the way to go

Thank you Greywings for the links. So from my understanding the polycarbonate cover will filter some light. Well winter is coming and I don't really have a choice but I will be using the light all year around as my house is well shaded. I will be removing the cover when it does get warmer though. I do take my bird out when the weather is good on a harness to try and give him some sun. I emailed zoomed as well but they didn't really answer any questions. They didn't actually say that the reptisun and aviansun are the same thing. Just that they have the same ratio of UVB/UVA. They also said that they haven't tested their light with other hoods, vertical or horizontal, except for the one they sell so couldn't say if one was better to other. They don't sell the hood here and is a little expensive to begin with. I guess what I really want to know now is if a horizontal or vertical hood would be better?

I'm going to be using a 26w reptisun cfl style light as that's all that is available in Japan. I've read on this forum that the manufacture says that they are the same as the Aviansun. Since they don't sell the hood here I'm going to have to either buy something or make something. My question is would it be better to have the light horizontal like the zoomed hood or vertical? Does it matter? Vertical hoods are a lot easier to find. Haven't seen any horizontal hoods, so I'd probably have to make it. And last I'm going to be using polycarbonate on top of the cage for winter care, as suggested by the fine members here. I found 2mm clear sheets. Would this have any affect on the UVB and UVA?

No that's what I had it about last year when the heater was on. I was actually thinking of dropping the temperature this year so that when he comes out it's closer to what the room temperature is when I heat it up. Probably about the mid 60s.

Great idea, except that real estate is still important Trying to make it as compact as possible. I really do appreciate the idea. Maybe one day though I do love DIY. Just don't have the time or tools. Remember when I said people here don't like buying old houses, well it's actually cheaper here to buy an old house then to buy the land it sits on because you are charged to demolish the house and to clear what ever is left behind to build a new one in which most people do. Well found an old house for really cheap, but since the house I live in now is similar in construction, I never mentioned it. Only problem it's smaller. Plenty of room for the 3 of us though. Trust me I would move back home, but there is ban on "all poultry" to enter the states from Japan. There is a pet shop here that has a Macaw. I was so excited to see it until I saw the cage it's apparently lived the last 20 years of life in. Never even went in and try not to even look at the direction of the shop when I drive past since it's right in the front window. I wish I could do a non profit sanctuary for surrendered pet birds, but non-profit is not that great here and am poor myself. I'm sure in a few years there is going to be a lot of people giving up their CAGSs since most people don't understand the requirements of having a bird in their families and there is constant supply for them here.

Ok I found some polycarbonate at a local home center just like the link from amazon. I also found flat sheets of it. Since I'm using a reptisun 5.0 bulb ( I know, I know, we're not supposed to use reptile lighting, but I've read here that reptisun and aviansun are the same thing according to the manufacturer. Can't find anything specifically for birds here, but I have seen reptisun.) Will using the polycarbonate that is built for insulating that is layered weaken the light or would a flat sheet be better? I prefer the flat sheet, so If he wants to look out the window, things aren't distorted.

Very helpful thanks. Now to figure out what polycarbonate is in Japanese and if they sell it at a reasonable price. Also do you guys think acrylic would be another option? I'm sure Japanese love there bird's as much as we do since they are twice the price here, but they are not as informed as we are in the states. I mean the cages aren't even as big as the 24"x24" minimum size requirement and they do use the soft vinyl sheeting to cover cages with heaters touching it in the winter. They still tie dogs on short leads here and I'm always really sad when I see them.

Most old houses have no insulation, or very minimal insulation, and are made to be drafty. Windows are mostly single pane glass. Houses are drafty to let air in during summer so things don't get moldy. Also because Japan has a lot of natural disasters, houses are made a little weaker so they fall apart more easily and are easily built up again. Japanese also don't really like old things, so usually don't buy old houses, but instead tear them down and build new houses which maybe better insulated, but are very pricey and not an option. Not too many places have central air. I used to teach elementary schools here. In the summer kids sat in their own sweat and in winters would layer up. Only heating would be a kerosene heater placed in each room in the front, so kids in the back where cold. I would have bought a heated perch and the panel heater thing from the states since they don't sell them here, but the voltage in Japan is different, so I probably wouldn't be able to use them to their full potential. Plus it's so cold that I would still have used blankets anyway. Japan is not at all high tec like most people think. Is there any kind of clear paneling I can use besides glass that wont be toxic? Also since I'm going to keep the blankets on the sides, would there be enough ventilation for out gassing? Last year I measured the temperature inside the cage with the blankets and it was at about 80 degrees. Is that too hot for the PVC to start out gassing more? I wish Japanese cared for their pets like we do back home since most people use soft PVC to completely cover cages during the winter.