What is a Proper Size Birdcage for an Amazon Parrot?

Last Updated on February 16, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

Gwyneth asks

Is a 16 x 24 open done top actually bug enough for an Amazon parrot. I have a small space. The cage would fit much better than the 24 x 30 current cage?

Hi Gwyneth

Do you mean 24″ wide x 16″ deep?

Do you also currently have a 30″ wide x 24″ deep cage?

If your parrot is able to be outside of the cage (on top or on a stand) for several hours a day, then the smaller cage should be fine.

But if the bird is a large amazon you may wish to stay with the 30″ wide cage.

Regards,

Catherine

23 Videos of 23 Species of Amazon Parrots Many You Never Heard of

Thank you for your prompt response, Catherine.

The cage I currently have is 36 x 26 x 28 high.

It is 27.5″ x 21.5″ x 33″ high and with stand 70″ high.

It is smaller, but Odin, our little Amazon, will be lavished with attention and out of the cage for several hours a day with few exceptions.

Editors note: Mexican Red Head Amazons are about 13 inches long

The white-fronted Amazon is the smallest Amazon species (10 inches long); the Mealy Amazon is one of the largest Amazon parrot species (16 inches long). Endnote

Odin is a bird who is about 15 years old.

He was found 10 years ago running away from crows in a shopping mall atrium and was living in an over-crowded avian rescue in a room with no windows ever since.

I rescued him from the rescue in mid-November.

It took me over a month before I could give him treats by hand.

So, it’s been a slow process.

He’s finally climbing onto a stick for high-value treat rewards. Judging by his behavior, I think he was probably trained at one point but has had no training and no one working with him for over 10 years as the rescue was unable to devote time to him.

I think that he will do better if I expand his horizons with an open play top.

He is at my shop, so I can close my office door and let him loose after hours whilst I finish up daily paperwork.

However, my space is limited, and the cage he has currently does not open at the top and is not in great shape.

Plus it is low profile, so everyone towers over him.

That has to be intimidating.

All in all, he definitely needs a new cage. I definitely wanted to get him an appropriately sized cage, but my office is very small, so I found one I think will work.

I have another Mexican Red Head Amazon, Taco, at home who is very friendly and out of her very large macaw cage whenever either my husband or I am at home.

Since he’s retired….she’s out of her cage most of the time on her separate perch or on top of her cage looking out a window.

I hope to be able to bring Odin back and forth someday, as I think it may eventually be possible.

However, this little guy will have to wait to come home with me until I can completely gain his trust.

Eventually, he will hopefully live between the two places…but not for quite a while.

We have lots of bonding to do first.

He’s never alone at my office. We have a caretaker who stays in the back of the shop at night.

Anyway, I appreciate your forum.

It has helped me immensely over the past several years.

I was always just a cat person until I got Taco, my wonderful Amazon about 5 years ago.

Oddly, she gets along really well with all 5 of my cats.

When I got her from an elderly friend who could no longer care for her, I knew absolutely nothing about parrots. Reading your forum has helped me with my crash course in all things birds.

I now understand what my cats understand.

Taco is really a flying green cat… I had no idea how similar bird personalities would be to finicky kitties.

This is Taco’s Facebook page:

Thank you for your support.

Hi Gwen.

I just wanted to chime in here because after seeing a picture of Taco, his feet are hurting him.

I don’t see any soft rope perch for sleeping, only the hard wooden perch next to the food dishes.

The top of his cage appears to have had the play top removed so he’s forced to grab onto the cage itself.

The edges of the bar he’s perching on are hurting his feet and because it (the bar) is too small his front nails may be scraping or pushing into the back of his feet.

36 x 26 x 28 high is fine for either of your birds but I would advocate more perches as well as forging and enrichment opportunities.

You can find some tips here

Does the Plethora of Parrot Perches Produce Puzzlement? Learn Perches & Placement Now!

and see why Taco’s feet are being compromised

I would focus more on what you put in or on the cage rather than the cage itself.

Best of luck

MitchR

Thanks for the advice, Mitch.

I’m going to address your next comments before we proceed because I feel this is important.

This is not good – she has no comfortable place to perch so please check the bottom of her feet for tenderness and sores.

Your amazon has no soft horizontal perches.

The hard perch is too high in the cage and probably gets slept on (if so – not good).

The small Booda rope perch is too small a diameter and should be removed.

Try to cable tie it onto the play stand dowel perch as in this picture.

The long spiral bungee is too large for the cage and is positioned vertically which enables climbing but offers no horizontal support for sitting on something soft for long periods.

The floor of the cages is filled with some sort of shavings.

Shavings don’t allow you to see and examine your bird’s poop.

They collect bacteria that your bird walks through.

“As birds both eat and defecate in their cages, it is essential to keep their cages as clean as possible. The bottom of the cage should be lined with a disposable paper such as newspaper or paper towel that can be thrown away every day.” Read more:

Gwen continues with her new comment

I am in the process of slowly adding things into Odin’s new cage.

He’s definitely going to get a rope.

He already has a fairly new foraging perch, which he is just learning to use.

At the rescue, he just had 2 sticks, one large and a smaller one.

He’s quite timid, so I am adding things slowly.

That worked well for Taco.

The rope is definitely on my list.

It took Taco almost a year to trust the rope that swings from one side of her cage to the other. Change did not come easily for her.

Taco had originally come to me having spent 10 years in an 18 by 18 preview budgie cage with a play top.

She was only out on the play top with a small perch for about an hour at the most a day.

When I realized how small her cage was almost immediately after I got her, I got her the side porch which she simply absolutely loves.

She went into the very big white cage and never looked back the day that I brought it home about three months after I got her.

Odin has seemed to adjust to the other cage quite well.

He’s a little confused because I don’t quite have his perches sorted out yet but that will happen tomorrow.

I just got that cage set up today.

I will be getting him a rope. It does not escape me that the parrot’s feet can and will develop arthritis if they’re not given alternative sizes and shapes to walk around on.

Taco was already 25 when I got her and she been living in that tiny little cage for over ten years.

She was unable to straighten out her feet and walk flat on the bottom of the perch that I got her.

She now does just fine. But I think because her little cage perch bars were so small some part of her is very used to standing on that small metal top.

This is why I think she likes to go up there a lot.

Not only is it high, but it is also small and part of her feels like that’s normal. But she’s not on that all day which is a good thing I think.