Havoc's New Shower Perch

I have wanted a new shower perch for Havoc, my severe macaw, ever since she discovered how much fun it was to rip the suction cups off the wall and go crashing down.

At the Mid American Exotic Bird Society Fair, I found these "activity gyms" that are actually meant to go on your window. They keep the bird occupied enough that I figure she'll be too entertained to gnaw on the suction cups. The price was a bit steep ($45), but after a year of waiting and wanting, I purchased one last week. I call it "the monstrosity."

The perch is roughly 30" tall, and it sticks out at least 20". If you know how large a severe macaw is, you can appreciate how big that perch is from the photos! It makes showering with Havoc a bit precarious, because she's the type of parrot that waits for an opening, and then attacks. Luckily for me, she seems to be more fascinated with biting the shower curtain than me... at least for now. She absolutely loves those little chains. She'll put one foot on them, one on the perch, and dangle off, flapping her wings madly and screeching with joy as she gets sprayed.

I really like that the perch is of a size I can use with my other, smaller birds. And, because it's so big, I can shower with multiple of the littler parrots, like both my plumheads at the same time. Even my quaker and the two plum headed parakeets all at once. I have four cockatiels, and they would all fit on there comfortably as well.

The bad thing about having a parrot shower playgym is that it takes up a lot of room and is a storage problem. The normal, pet store collapsible parrot shower perches just fold back into the wall. This one takes up about 1/3 of my shower. It's great that I can put it in the birdroom when the blinds are up, and it's another parrot playgym for the birds to fly onto and look out the window.

So far, though, it's really great. Havoc hasn't gotten hold of those suction cups yet, and really likes having more room and more things to do while she's showering.