Doug

Dawn, Here are the links that I have: http://www.birdsafe.com/woods.htm http://www.mdvaden.com/bird_page.shtml http://www.avianweb.com/toxicfoods.html (near the bottom) You'll notice that the lists are NOT in perfect agreement about some woods. Some people seem to frown on pear, peach, plum & apple (which is a shame because I have a bunch of callery pears...). It seems that oak and pine are okay if you take off the bark (and avoid pine sap). I've used hibiscus, magnolia & sycamore to make perches. It is best to bake the perches in the oven to kill any bacteria or fungus. If you can't do that (how big is your kiln?) you can use a mild bleach solution, but be sure to rinse VERY WELL and then let it dry completely in some of that warm Texas sun...

Penny (is that right?), You can call me Ray or you can call me Jay... Oops. You can call me anything, but I AM Doug. BUT, it was Ray and it was this post.

I didn't do as much research as I should've BEFORE I paid the downpayment for Ellie. After then, I tore through the internet and read a couple of books. I did get a bit nervous and started to reconsider whether a grey was appropriate for me. But after I got on this forum, I started to feel that I could handle it. I think it is good to always be a little nervous about owning a grey - just so you don't become complacent in your knowledge...

Welcome, Sassy! I have the same situation with reversed genders. My wife, Kel, doesn't understand the appeal. She does try to interact with Ellie but Ellie isn't terribly receptive. I hope your husband is tolerant of messes or your marriage might be at risk! Ellie loves her yucca "kabobs" which mean there are bits of yucca all over the house - Ellie throws the bits to the floor and the dogs run off with them... Ellie doesn't like to mess up her playtop, so she goes to the edge, aims carefully and poops on the floor. (The paper in the poop tray is mostly to make it easy to clean up the bits of food and toys!)

I HAVE been to both places on business. Maybe it's time for a repeat visit...

I make Ellie's food AND the human food, so I'm not complaining about the new kitchen! Recent changes: The new mattress set for the guest room, the new bed and closet for my daughter's room, the new carpet for my son's room... Luckily Kel did all of the painting. (I get freaky if I can't get the tape positioned EXACTLY. Kel is not so concerned with precision application of the paint...) Soon I'm going to have to convert a room into a walk-in closet for Kel...

My wife, Kelleigh, is spending so much money on house renovations that I have to scrounge around for stuff for Ellie...

Yes, I could make something with a variety of branches, but I love the natural flow of the java wood. That's why I was asking about using tree roots - depending on the type of tree and the ground condition, the roots can be really cool.

Now that I've been searching instead of working (I mean, "while working"), I've seen some really beautiful java wood perches and playstands. Just gorgeous (as is yours). I just don't want to pay so much! Branches for the inside of the cage are no problem. I can do some really nice ones with hibiscus from my hedge... I want one of those honkin' big ones!

I'm guessing that the airline AND the US Customs and Border Patrol would have an issue if I brought a few trees back with me the next time that I went to the Dominican Republic or Colombia. (Both tentatively scheduled for May...)

Manzanita is different than java. According to this site, java wood is, literally, from the coffee tree. (Coffea genus, dunno which species...) Now I KNOW it isn't growing in Virginia...

I'm not saying anything bad about it. Apparently a LOT of them are sold by bird stores everywhere. At first I thought it was a root structure, but I was WRONG. I know. Shocking, huh? Now I'm trying to find out exactly what the wood is because I'm curious. There is a type of wood called, "giant java willow tree" which is a species of ficus (Ficus benjamina - AKA weeping fig) but I can't tell from the bird stores if this is what the "java tree" playstands are made from...

What a sweetie. Welcome (again!) to the forum, both of you! I hope that everything works out with Lucky!

My late cockatiel, Zippy, used to fly into my bedroom at sunrise and walk around my pillow. There was no risk of rolling over on him as he would be wolf-whistling at the top of his tiny lungs... Kelleigh wasn't amused by my feathered alarm clock...

I'm pretending that I'm multi-tasking... I just sent out a revised proposal for a project in Mexico and confirmed plans for a trip to Charlotte, NC, next week...

There are no shortages of trees around here. I'm pretty sure one little tree won't be missed...

What do you mean by "unstable"?

Maybe. I live near a national forest. With rivers. Hopefully I can find a small tree on river's edge, that I can identify (of course), that has been undercut along the river making it easy to get to...

Tree roots tend to have a much more complex and interesting structure than the branches do. Is there a risk of aspergillis using tree roots? If so, is there a safe way to treat the roots to eliminate the risk?

That's actually the branches? Wow. That's an amazingly cool tree. Too bad they don't grow in Virginia... Any idea what the scientific name for this tree is?

As I mentioned, 400 series stainless steel is magnetic, but that will rarely (ever?) be found in something like chains or connectors or other toy hardware. (400 series is used in knives and some other cooking implements.) Most places that sell bird toys will have nickel-plated chain. This IS magnetic. I don't know how to tell the difference between nickel-plated and zinc-plated (other than reading the label on the product when it is new).

I can't make any definitive statements as I am a new grey owner. I'm sure a lot of people have successfully kept TAGs in cages with 1" spacing. Of course, I haven't died in a car crash yet, but that doesn't mean that I am a safe driver... (To quote financial planners, "Past performance is no indication of future results"...) Dave is dead set against 1" spacing on cages for TAGs: http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?193275-Help-with-bar-spacing.&p=231005&viewfull=1#post231005 Other people recommend 3/4" to 1" for TAGs.

She should be full "height" but may put on more weight (muscle mass).

Ellie seems to groom my beard hair...

Those're the outside dimensions. (Including the playtop and the seed catcher.)