# Attention PARROT Owners!



## horseluvr2524 (Sep 17, 2013)

So I've been thinking about and planning my indoor and outdoor aviaries, which will be built after our new house is built.

I know some of you may use galvanized wire with no problems, but it makes me very uncomfortable considering its toxic and I would be building a smaller indoor aviary which my galah would live in 20/7.

I found this fantastic website, and am now wishing my galah was macaw sized. https://www.k9kennelstore.com/Kennels.html

Powdercoated steel at a reasonable price! What a novel idea!

Unfortunately, the spacing is not suitable for any of my birds. It would only be suitable for a macaw. I may still use these kennels, or I may not. If I do use them, I will have to line it with a netting of some sort. I would also have to put some kind of roof on, maybe a wood one. Worry about that later.

So two choices for netting: the nylon type (which mouthy parrots can easily chew through, especially if living in such an enclosure all the time), or the plastic aquaculture netting, made from polyethylene.

Aquaculture Netting

The aquaculture netting would be perfect for the indoor aviary, but all of it is UV treated. I've read a bit about UV treatment, and it says its nontoxic (the above link didn't, but other manufacturers did. I was just giving you all a reference site), but I don't quite understand UV treatment so I don't trust it.

Does anyone know what this is? Is it safe for humans? Is it safe for birds? (keep in mind, parrots chew, mouth and eat anything and everything available, like babies) the general rule of thumb is if its safe for humans (human babies especially) its safe for birds, but this rule doesn't apply in many situations.


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## SueNH (Nov 7, 2011)

A parrot would chew through that in a very short time. I know my macaw would have had no trouble. Would provide an afternoon challenge for a cockatiel. Galahs I suspect would take an hour or two.

It's made for fish. They don't chew. They bump and squeeze through holes. It's made to withstand a casual escape attempt not the more professional escape attempts most parrots would make.

What about non galvanized hardware cloth?

If you do a google search for hardware cloth, plain steel a few things come up. All the plastic aviary mesh I've ever seen were made for pheasant type birds that don't chew.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Unless your bird is the type who pulls himself around the cage by hanging off the wire, I really would not worry about galvanized. Most fly around from perch to perch, play with toys and eat. I think the nylon netting is more toxic than the galvanized, but I might be thinking of something else.


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