Our cage and playstand set up

This is a view of Rocky & Tiele's main cages, which are right off our kitchen and family room. Plus they are easily wheeled outside for hosing down.

Inside Rocky's cage:

We put a slipper sock over a perch to give him a soft spot to sit on. We put his beans, rice, etc. in the bowl in front on the left and his water is in back of it. The bowl on the right has seeds, nuts and pellets. His favorite food is whatever we are eating...so we try to keep it healthy!

When he wants to be ornery, Rocky will sit on the circle that holds his food bowl when we are trying to put the bowl in. When we open the door, he goes with it like a ragdoll and won't budge. We have learned to used a wooden dowel that we put through the cage near the bowl, he gets up on that, we open the little food bowl door and put the bowl in place, close the door and pull the dowel back out. If he is very hungry, he doesn't cause a problem...and we have been working on him having to move before he will get his dish.

He does a similar ragdoll thing when he doesn't want to step up back into his cage. I found that if I force him by pushing him at the perch, he will lock his legs and hold onto my finger more tightly and then lean forward around the perch and bite my finger. So instead, I tell him it's to get back in his cage as we are walking to his cage, place him near the perch and ask him to step up while cuddling around him. If he steps up, I praise him over and over and kiss and hug him. If he doesn't after several tries, I tell him I am going to "get the ladder"...or actually pick up the birdie ladder and he goes right in. - more on the ladder thing later.

He also likes to show us he's upset to have to go back into his cage by throwing a tantrum and food - usually from his seed dish. We remove his dishes so he can't continue...replacing them when he has calmed down.

The rope perch in the back is his loop-de-loop spot - more about loop-de-loops below in the trick section. He has clearance to get his body around. We even saw him do a couple on the circle perch there in front. He doesn't need a lot of room for it. He got so excited once, he flung around and accidentally let go of the perch and hit the bottom of the cage. Didn't hurt or bother him though. He went right back to it!

They both watch TV with us, which they can see from their cages too, but mostly are sitting on us or the couch for their viewing pleasure. It cracks us up when they will wolf whistle at a pretty girl on the screen or start talking gibberish and flapping wings when something happens on screen. Once we were trying out our new speakers and we put in "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner. The first scene is Kevin Costner shooting a gun in target practice. Rocky was sitting on Mark and when he heard it, he "hit the deck", jumped to the ground and started running and flopping. It looked as though he were shot. We felt bad, but it was so funny too!

When I am cooking, Rocky will jump to me at times - which can be dangerous for him. We found that if we open the last cabinet door, he stops and will sit and watch instead. We just make sure he can't chew on it or any electrical cords.

This is his office cage since he can't seem to sit on a perch with me for long without wanting to sit on me...and at times, I just have to move around to work.

This is his spot in the bathroom. He plays or falls asleep while we take showers. He likes to go through my make-up and I have to hide anything that would be bad for him....And I confess that he has hung from the back of my hair and flapped his wings when I dry my hair. It's also one of his favorite times to cuddle. It's then that I give him a hug and take him to his downstairs cage because he just won't let me finish what I am doing!

He has an elaborate project of slinkies, string plastic balls and shower hooks here!

Rocky is funny in the bathroom. Mark got in the habit of playing with him with a closed bottle of deodorant...rubbing it under his wings and on his belly (more touch and attention). So Mark will say "Wait for it...wait for it", then open the medicine cabinet and pull out the bottle. Rocky will scream with delight and lift his wing in anticipation!

...and the tile is easy to clean the poops off of!

This is Tiele in his box. Tiele spends a ton of time in there with his towel, his security blanket. He came to us with a thing for towels and still has this idiosyncrasy. We considered renaming him "Linus", but he was already known as Tiele and seemed to know his own name. The box thing is not something I would recommend to everyone, but he's at least 16 years-old and over many years, he showed us that that is what makes him happy. It's really easy to tell if you pay attention. He would lean toward any box, bag or drawer and come "unglued", bouncing, chirping and screaming whenever he saw one. He does the same thing with chip bags because he loves tortilla chips (he only gets a nibble every now and then)!

We looked into it and were told that that wasn't a good idea to let him do because it would promote territorial behavior - aggression, biting, etc. So we tried taking the box away and he wouldn't have it. He would jump in kitchen drawers - anywhere that was cave-like. Over time, we figured out the system he has now and when we knock on his box to come out for dinner, he jumps out with beak open, but doesn't bite us, and climbs up the ladder for dinner. What it is is a "nesting" instinct...it's natural and he just LOVES to chew up and hang out in boxes. He still will cuddle and likes his head scratched!

Tiele climbing the ladder.

He's so cute! And walks it really fast!

He has virtual independence. He can go from box to cage and back all day long. We think of it like his own little Habitrail! Just like a hamster. He does venture out and walk on the floor some. At night, he will walk around and peek his head out around the couch at us, poop and head back. He nibbles the grout on the fireplace a little and used to nibble on the wood work, until I got the draft dodger pictured below.

This draft dodger saved our woodwork and Tiele's independence! And it's darn cute with the kitty faces! I don't recommend letting cockatiels run free as a rule, but Tiele gets in that box and chews and sleeps most of the day! I had always heard how cockatiels were "mean". They aren't mean, they are just trying to relate their needs to people who aren't understanding them.