Reddit reviews Mcage Large Wrought Iron Flight Canary Parakeet Cockatiel Lovebird Finch Cage with Removable Stand (32" L x 18" W x 64" H, Black Vein)

Here's a thought- does your friend like birds?

Because if she can afford it, something like this with a little flock of small birds wouldn't be an obvious attempt at deterring the MIL, but it TOTALLY would.

• Enough people are weirdly afraid of birds that there's a reasonable chance the MIL wouldn't want to sleep in the same room as a flock of birds.
  
  
• According to my mom, birds have a "smell" to them no matter how often you clean. (I have no sense of smell so I'm taking her word for it.) This bothers some people.
  
  
• Birds are LOUD in the morning if you don't cover the cage. (Sometimes even when you cover the cage, tbh.) But small birds like budgies and finches wouldn't be so loud that they'd wake up people sleeping in another room if you kept the doors shut. So while staying in the guest room would be unpleasant, it wouldn't be a problem for Friend and her SO.
  
  
• Birds get seed shells everywhere if seeds are offered as food. (Pellet diets are favored by most bird enthusiasts these days because they're less fattening, and supposedly more nutritionally complete.) Spray millet, which birds LOVE, is especially bad. Friend can just give her little flock a treat every time MIL's over. And oh look, now there are seed shells all over the floor. That's just part of living with birds. Hope MIL wasn't planning on going barefoot during her stay, because those seeds WILL get in her bed sheets.
  
  
• Birds will get feathers all over a room even if you clean. (Seriously, I haven't had my birds living in my bedroom in years and I still find little down feathers in things sometimes.) It's a part of bird ownership and if you love birds it's worth it. But it can make a guest room... unpleasant if that's not your thing.
  
  
• Birds produce a sort of white dust. This white dust is easily wiped/vacuumed up, but like the feathers it gets everywhere. All you have to do is "forget" to vacuum the bird room whenever MIL is there, and suddenly extended stays are a lot less pleasant.
  
  I'd recommend either budgies or finches. Budgies are more sociable and really should be allowed to fly around a room (although for 4-6 budgies in a huge flight cage like the one I'm suggesting, that wouldn't be super necessary.) Finches are pretty hands-off, you mostly just keep them fed, clean their cage, and let them do their own thing.
  
  (I swear I actually really love birds. I've had budgies since I was four. They're awesome little animals that are pretty easy to tame/care for. But they aren't for everyone, and that can be used to your advantage.)

While not a huge cage, this one is what I keep one of my cockatiels in. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EQ28WX0/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_31?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

It's a fairly decent size and I'm also a fan of longer cages, especially since I've found she likes to run back and forth along the bottom. You can get with or without the stand but I prefer the stand. They're also stackable if you plan on some other birds later on.

Something like this one is a bit bigger but still fairly wide compared to others, and might also be a good option depending on what you're looking for. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00C332AOG/ref=pd_aw_sbs_199_of_11?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TR3DDN23PHS076Q80P0G

Thanks everyone! Here is a link to his cage.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00C332AOG/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These are the cages I've been looking at for a cockatiel, they might be of some use for you. :P

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00176F5L0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_img?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1PYULTW2U23E0&coliid=I1Y8P06YPYHEGA

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C332AOG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_img?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1PYULTW2U23E0&coliid=I3M9R1939J71TR

I'm under the impression that longer is better than taller because it gives more room to roam and fly versus having to climb up and down the cage to access different areas. I'm also not an expert, I've had chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese, but still researching house birds before I take one in. /r/parrots would be a good resource for you as well, lots of 'tiel posts and lots of people with their own birdies, good place to ask for input!

I don't really recommend it for cockatiels. It's a very narrow cage and just not very good in terms of them actually being able to spread their wings and do some flappin'. (For budgies and similarly-sized birds however - it's great!)

For a tiel I recommend something more like this if you want lots of space.

Also, for birds I'd say you can usually find them on craigslist (or your local equivalent) or at a rescue, especially since there are so many who don't have good homes already, and tiels are very easily rehabilitated with some TLC even if they've had bad owners. Be sure, however, that you quarantine any new bird!

I had the cage you suggested. The thing I hated about it is, the grate at the bottom can't be removed for cleaning unless you remove the whole base and take it out. Other than that it's an alright cage. My GCC lived in it for a year no problem. I ended up upgrading to something more like this. I will say the cage you suggested has much thicker bars and seems to be better made. However, my GCC has been in the larger cage with somewhat thinner bars for 3 years and he's been just fine. The cage has held up well. OP I think it just depends on how much time your bird spends in the cage.

Oops, sorry! I guess they need to update that page. :( This is the cage I have though, and my birds like it a lot. It did arrive with one bent bar (part of the stand, not the cage itself) but it hasn't been too much of an issue: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C332AOG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yes, this one

Excellent! I think this is the cage I was thinking of and I was wrong, no bars.

Here you go! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C332AOG its actually a bit cheaper than I remembered.

As others have said, rats can escape 7/8" wire spacing.

I recently bought this cage and I'm pretty happy with it: http://www.amazon.com/Parakeet-Cockatiel-Lovebird-Removable-Black/dp/B00C332AOG

The spacing is 1/2 inch, so even my small female rat can't squeeze through.

I like that the base is smaller than the critter nation, so it takes up less space in my room. It comes with 2 ladders and 2 platforms. They are made of wire, so they need to be wrapped with something (like fleece).

I just bought this cage about a week ago and I absolutely love it. It doesn't have quite as much vertical height as the Prevue cage, but it has a few things that really sold me.

1.) It comes with some platforms and ladders. My little girl Archie came from Petco with her wings clipped and she won't grow the feathers back in until her first molt in another month, so having the platforms and ladders helps her get around the cage.

2.) The base of the cage is high enough off the ground that my cat can't get to it. I highly recommend this if you have dogs or cats (maybe small children??)

3.) The door is really big and really easy to open. Archie is still pretty wary of hands and having the big open space for my hand to come through has definitely eased some of her anxiety. She feels less trapped. And it doesn't make any noise or shake the cage when you open it.

Anyway I really love this cage and just wanted the opportunity to rave about it. My bird has been so much happier since I got it. Good luck!

That's the larger one I mentioned in my response to you, yes. I think you are better off getting a flight cage (like this for the money). The L12, the one you linked to, is the same one that I had and talked about in my responses to your post. However, like I said, cleaning it was a PAIN because you have to remove the whole cage top from the bottom (are you going to have it somewhere you can easily lift the entire cage up and over and set it down on to clean the tray and bottom out?), my elderly/blind Green Cheek Conures could escape from it, and wire sides are individually snapped together, which made it seem not that sturdy to me. But really, the cleaning thing and the GCCs (which are half the size of a Sun) being able to escape from it are the major big deals.

A flight cage like the kind I linked to is even bigger, already has a stand it is on, and the sides are individually cast and screwed together, which is much more sturdy. The pull out tray is also easy to clean - the grates and tray both slide out so that you can clean them without upsetting the rest of the cage. The vision's 'claim to fame' is it is cleaner because of the plastic fling guard along the bottom of the cage, but I find the flight cages are just as good if you use food dishes like this. If you amazon or google search for parrot flight cages, you'll get lots of sizes/options, you want to stay with bar spacing that's appropriate for Suns.

Toys totally depends on what your sun likes.. does he like shredding things? If so, cardboard, paper, or wood? Plastic toys where he messes with the parts? Does he like foot toys or hanging toys? Bells? Etc. Some ideas of the types of things he likes already would help us come up with some ideas for you.

There are lots of online toy vendors that are pretty good. I'm a fan of my safe bird store but there are lots of other similar stores and they always send a smattering of extra foot toys and stuff with their orders.