Yes! I was just reading your comment about wanting to make some yourself, I am keen to see if you manage to find the right way.
In the meantime I will do some Amazon shopping, since in this land we can only dream (and pay through our teeth) of manzanitas and chollas

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

In the meantime I will do some Amazon shopping, since in this land we can only dream (and pay through our teeth) of manzanitas and chollas



Same here!! Keep us posted

People who don't have cholla cactus growing in their yard don't have to worry about getting impaled on it lol. It's not as nasty as prickly pear, whose armament includes tiny, almost-invisible needles called glochids that are very hard to get out of your skin. But cholla needles seem to have a barb on the end, like a fish hook, so it hurts to pull them out, unlike most other cactus needles which just slide out. The whole cactus segment frequently breaks off, so your first problem isn't pulling the needles out of your skin. It's figuring out how to pry the segment loose without getting MORE needles stuck in your skin.

I would love to have one in my garden! Placed strategically, it can be a great hedge.

After observing Charlie for a while, I have noticed that he is not comfortable on flat surfaces. I think his right foot needs to constantly grab something, and when he is on a flat surface he puts the right foot on the left foot and grabs it.
I bought some soft materials, mainly faux leather with and without padding, and used the one without padding to cover a platform I made for his cage. It wasn't a great success because it's flat, but I added a strip of weird material on top of it and now he uses it to reach his water bowl and one of the food dishes



This is that weird material:




No idea how it's called, but when I saw it I thought I could make ladders with it. Charlie can walk on it pretty well, but he doesn't trust it very much yet.


The cage I chose for him is the old hospital cage; it opens on top and one of the sides opens completely so I thought I could use it as base for his playpen, but it's too small so I will go back to the original idea and build him one ad hoc, low and large.
He needs perches all around because he can't hop from one to another so I need more space to make something decent.

One of the materials I bought is padded, and I have been using it to cover the perches with it, so that they are soft and comfy.
As you can see from the photos below, I haven't found a very good way to fix the padding to the wood stick, so for now I am using ties and they make the perch look like a string of sausages

This is the material:




And these are the perches







He is quite comfy on them and he sleeps on the one in the cage, but they are horrendous. Please please give me some good ideas on how to fix it to the wood perches without those ties!

He hates that plastic platform, can't blame him... so that has to go.
I will make more platforms covered with the faux leather.

I just wanted to show the difference between before and after a good head scritches session

Before:






And After:






The amount of chalky dust that came off is undescribable... But now he's such a pretty boy!

He looks so much better after the head scratch. He seems so happy in his new home.

*Gasp* Magic hands that give birdy makeovers.

I've only just seen your post on this topic Barbara...
Drummer the tiel I've had for around 5 years, found by the river, we think he is an old bird...
Avian vet cant tell me!
I've had to adapt his cage, around the perches I've found that pipe covers, (go around water pipes, ect. ) they are padded and soft... I've covered Drummers perches with these...
Drums has very bad feet and cant walk well, cant fly much, is a very happy bird. whistles and sings much of the time... I've had to put him into a smaller cage than I like for my tiels, as his balance isn't good.
I've 2 perches made of wood... made like a rectangular shape solid, about 1 inch thick.. with a dawl driven into one side, and 2 washers, one around the dawl, which goes threw the bars of the cage and another washer on the outside with a butterfly screw to hold it onto the inside of the cage... very easy to make but I bought mine from the USA.
He spends his time sitting on these perches and also sleeps on one... maybe one in Charlie's cage would help him...
I've lowered all feeding bowls and perches so they are quite near the floor of the cage...
Yes I have to help him with his feathers. ect...
He's happy I don't know how much he see's...
Maybe this will help you a little....

What an amazing difference in his feathers!

I'm trying to think of some ideas but I'm kind of brain dead right now. Double-sided tape or nontoxic glue could be used to attach the covers to the perch but I have doubts about the safety and durability of this. Could you use staples or small nails to attach it to the perch?