Can you use Live plants or fake ones In cages? Or none?

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Alastor
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Can you use Live plants or fake ones In cages? Or none?

Post by Alastor » Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:57 am

Is there any species of safe plants to use in bird cages? I keep seeing people with plants in their bird cages and they say its fine but I’ve also heard people say it isnt safe for the birds, if i put in plants should i use real ones? Or just stick to using fake ones? Or none at all? I want my finches i plan to get to be happy and feel safe in their new home but im not sure about the plants.. Any and all help is appreciated! Thank you and have a nice day!

Icearstorm
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Re: Can you use Live plants or fake ones In cages? Or none?

Post by Icearstorm » Tue Mar 05, 2019 5:28 pm

Alastor

Plants are good to give them something to hide in; the only time I would recommend providing no cover is when you have a chronic egg-layer that lays eggs and tries to nest in the plants. Even then, there can be better options than removing everything in the cage.

Here's a list of safe and toxic plants. My birds liked to eat sword fern and also tore up the magnolia a bit, so if you use live, you will probably have to replace them more often. Try to avoid harvesting plants in areas that use a lot of pesticides or contain a lot of wild bird poop (so no gathering plants from under a roosting tree).

I now use fake plants (silk I think) because I haven't had as much access to real plants since I moved. Not having to replace them every couple of weeks is also a plus. You can tell they're fake up close, but they're pretty convincing from a distance. They're moderately easy to clean; I usually scrape the poo off then wipe up the residue with water or vinegar. Every few months I'll take them down and scrub them off in the tub. Just watch out for signs of wear, as some people have found birds dead after they got their claws stuck in the plants. Plastic plants may not be as much of an issue in this regard, although some birds will chew little bits of plastic off of the ends of the stems.

Doing pretty much anything risks some kind of freak accident occurring. Some people don't put much of anything in their birds' cages so it is easier to sanitize. Others refuse to use silk for the risk of the birds getting caught in it. Some people don't use real plants because they could have been in contact with diseased wild birds. The risk of issues arising due to your choice of real or fake plants is pretty minimal, but at the end of the day, it is up to you to decide how much risk is worth it.
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My flight cage with fake greenery
My flight cage with fake greenery

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Phoenix811
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Re: Can you use Live plants or fake ones In cages? Or none?

Post by Phoenix811 » Sun Mar 17, 2019 2:55 pm

I personally would stick with real ones (where death is not an option) I do have silks on the OUTSIDE of the cage which is unreachable but allows some privacy- I see many finch birds with fake plants no problem, its just not a risk I would take- thats just me- no disrespect to anyone else. :)

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Re: Can you use Live plants or fake ones In cages? Or none?

Post by limechiffon » Wed Mar 20, 2019 9:22 am

I have fake plants in my cages the finches love to tug at. The zebras yanked at one so much they started shredding it and the male got a string caught around his foot. We had to catch him and cut it off before it cut off his circulation. I still use fake plants, I just replace them when they start getting tattered.
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*Three Owl finches, 2 Zebra finches, a cat, one painted turtle, one red-eared slider, and too many fish*

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