I always try to bump this thread when I log in.

with a lot of new members, here is a useful guide when deciding what cage to get for your keets

BUMP

Looking at cages for one parakeet, it seems the cages that would be best should be more rectangular rather than tall. But the ones I've seen (on ebay) that are rectangular are called aviary breeding cages. Are there any reasons you can't use one of these for your everyday cage? I saw one that was 30X18X18. Wouldn't birds prefer more length than height? Am I missing something here as to why most cages for parakeets are so tall? Thanks.

Continuing on with what I just wrote, I finally found "flight cages" One is 26X14X20 which is more what I was hoping to find. This also is on ebay. I guessing there are more features on a flight cage than the breeding cages which seemed to be pretty basic cages.

its about room and excercise and not cluttering up the space of a cage too much...the main difference is ..longer cages take up more room in a home and a lot find them harder to clean ..the pros are birds fly lengthwise as opposed to flying up in a high cage...but again now if you sticking all sorts of things in a cage it makes no difference if it height or length...for excercise climbing is good too and hopefully birds are let out to fly ...

IMO...its a personal choice mostly and has a lot to do with ease of cleaning thoroughly and in some cases fitting a cage into a bathtub or having to take it outside...and the room it will take up inside a house or room...

as long as a bird has sufficient room and you can deal with having to maybe break down a cage to thoroughly clean its all more a personal choice height vs length

If a bird gets a lot of out of cage time it doesnt matter but if they have to be in the cage 8 hours during the day while humans are at work, school etc it seems better to have the length
I have a Centurion CF3221 for 4 budgies and there is plenty of room for lots of toys and for them to move around plus it is super easy to clean since the bottom tray and grate both slide out so no hidden corners and the sides wipe down easily (I take perches and toys out to clean them) http://www.centurionaviaries.com/cages.html Were I to get a flight cage again I would spend the extra money for the deluxe CF3422 which has a seed guard

Thanks Illusive and Cetan for replying. Thanks for the links too, always love to see exactly the type of cage to which one is referring. This is a very informative thread.

Been enjoying looking at all the Centurion cages from the link you sent Cetan. Is there a brand and/or cage that you or Illusive if you're reading this, would recommend for one bird? A brand to avoid? Thanks for your help. I know the general dimensions but there are so many brands out there.......

we all have our preferences as im sure you will to thru some maybe trial and error as to what works best for you and your bird...

as mentioned no cage is too big even for one bird except for convenience of cleaning purposes, and the room it will take up in where ever you put it...

cages to stay away from are non powder coated and ones with wire spacing to large..3/8ths of a inch is the actual proper space between wires for a budgie but many use 1/2 inch as well but no larger...

cages which are put together flimsy and not sturdy of course as well should be shied from...you want to make a careful study on a cage so your not buying a different one in six months to a year...

i myself for space purpose and ease of cleaning as well as asthetic appearance dont like anything ive seen in pet stores but if thats all you can get till a later time we do what we have to do...just again make sure its big enough...

in fact the first cage i got for Cappy as i had to grab one on the same day i bought him and there wasnt time to shop around ..was a pet store cage...and where petstores make their money from us as most of us do it that way.

i might suggest before getting a bird shop for a good cage but again...most giggle wont realize this and get the petstore cage just like i did...and he stayed in for a year till i shopped around and found just what i wanted.
in fact it was a forum user who had one and i spotted it and right away i knew that was the cage for me.

its no secret i prefer the hagen vision cage which you wont find in any store only online...i find the price amazingly affordable for all you get...being on a very ridgid fixed income that just suit me just fine.

and then there is THIS which was a real selling point for me BIG TIME...

http://hagen-us.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/hag...amp;p_topview=1

so even if the powder coating for whatever reason should begin to chip off you have the confidence of knowing the wire under it is safe and your birds wont suffer from metal toxicity which is very nasty...

this is Cappys new cage of only about two months now ...as you can see it has double side by side doors which can open in or out..if you open in ..it makes its own drawbridge platform if you open outward you can see the bottom doors on his cage then the top ones which i made a very simple improv on to create the drawbridge...i love the clean look to it with the deep clear seed guards, which actually incorporate right into the design and dont get in the way jutting out, making that much less i have to clean as well, and extra wide side openings for the double food cups...and it fits on top of a tv tray lol..so im not having to wrestle with it when i vacuum etc.

Cappy is a bit of a odd duck, always has been...he just aint right sometimes lol and before i could even get it set up he was in it investigating his new digs...and that was that...so ive not had to deal with what some do on how do i get my bird into the new cage...Cappy is such a nosey lil guy always having to be a part of what im doing it was a ridiculously easy transition for me...in fact i had to shooo him out to finish as every little thing i did he litterally had his beak right in the middle of what i was doing and i couldnt get anything done..this picture was only five minutes AFTER i finished with it and you can see how comfortable he took to it right off...with all doors open he is sitting there comfortably preening himself.

anyway this is the cage..and i was able to make a lovely cover for it too with some iron on appliques...





the cage that cetan has is a another great cage but it would be too much for me alone to handle and would need to be hauled outdoors for a really good scrub that would make me feel comfortable...

in fact its the type of cage i most likely would have gravatated to had i not seen these hagen vision cages ...which btw this model is the MO2

and right now here is a link on ebay for it at a steal of a price with free shipping and you can see where this seller has sold i forget how many but has two left.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hagen-83255-Vision-B...=item1e60a2915c

the other thing i like about my cage or i should say Cappys is its alllll horizontal bars all the way around.

good luck in your search and making your decision...both are nice cages. I just like the added confidence in knowing about the wire under the coating.

one more thing i like with this cage...if i had to grab an run with him in it for any reason heaven forbid ...it would be a snap to do.