Appropriate Perches?

[vmtwriter]

When Bailey first adopted us, we bought a cage that had 2 dowel perches in it.

Well, Bailey has managed to bite through one of the perches and has started on another.

I'd like to get him new perches but there are quite a few choices. I'd like to hear your thoughts and experiences with them.

I have a rope perch that bends to be shaped. I will put that one in until I can get him another new one. But, what kind should I get him?

What about those concrete perches with sand imbedded in them? What do you think of those? What about the "natural" perches made out of tree limbs? Then there are the sandpaper covered perches.

What other kinds of perches are there? What should I look for when buying a new perch?

[Shirley]

We use a variety of perches, and avoid the old "original" concrete perches. The "Sandy Perch" perches are great and they can't destroy them and they take the place of the concrete perches. The rope perches are a favorite for sleeping perches, and very comfortable, and they love to chew them up. If they get long stringy pieces, just trim them off.

We also like the oddly-shaped manzanita perches of various widths. Anything that gives their feet different shapes to grip as they walk and climb around. The least-used are the dowel perches, even with our finches.

Sandy Perch (http://www.parrotopia.net/intro.html)
(it says guaranteed to trim nails... yeah, right) well, it is comfortable my birds tell me.

If you use a dremel to rough up the manzanita, he won't slip on it so easily if it's the natural dark wood type, and not the kind where the outer layer has been stripped off.

[Islandzoo]

We have concrete perches without sand embedded in them, they come in various sizes - I believe it's better to get slightly bigger ones or their toes can deform over time with too small perches.
I also like the thick rope perches you can bend into the shape you want and fix whereever you like in the cage.
I bought one perche with sand in it, but it isn't concrete - Bob's picked off all the sand and all the wood is showing through now!! I think some of those sandy ones are a bit rough on their toes. I guess you can't beat proper branches, but for us it's difficult to get hold of apple tree branches, I'm not too sure which varieties are safe apart from apple and pear trees!

[SadennaAndFlock]

sisal or rope perches, natural wood like mazanita is great as it has natural bumps and curves that are good for their feet, try to find ones that have had the bark sand blasted off makes for better traction the manzanita with the bark left on can be a bit slippery..I also use the latex my pet perches in some of my cages to those are nice as well..becareful with cotton rope though if your bird is a chewer and they chew on it watch for loose threads and cut them immediately sometimes birds can get toes, and even other body parts tangled in the threads so it's a good idea to check on cotton perches each day for frayed ends that need to be cut.