Concrete floors?

[rivx]

This is probably a paranoid question, so fair warning.

We recently had a flooding issue and had to take out the carpeting in the room Grace gets out in. We're thinking of just painting over the concrete but she does occasionally crash -- hits the wall and sort of flap slides down, or just crash lands while circling. Would a hard flooring be a bad idea? I'm a little worried she would hurt herself in one of these crashes. We don't want full carpet again as it's difficult to clean with her. A rug might work, but it wouldn't reach the walls where most of her crashes occur. Any thoughts?

And of course, keeping her safe while fixing this problem is a concern. Would the garage be a safe place to keep her from fumes during the process?

[Dragonlady2]

Remind me...is she clipped? You could always put down an outdoor rug. They are made of a kind of resin material that washes off easily.
As to keeping her in the garage. What is the temp? Can other critters access her in there? How long are thinking of keeping her there?
Is there another room she can stay in?

[rivx]

She is fully flighted! She just gets spooked sometimes and crash lands, or panics when her landing area of choice isn't as sturdy as she expected. On top of that the layout is likely to change a little bit. She does fly to her play top every day and seems to do it just fine but those occasional crashes are enough to make me worry! The rug is a great idea, though I still worry about the harder floorings near the walls...though most of my walls are covered with tables and things.

The garage is around 77 degrees. No animals can get in from outdoors, though our dogs bed is in there. It's a kennel made into a little cave, so it could be shut. She's usually in the living room and my bedroom (the only carpeted area that was ruined) is right by it. We could move her further across the room but I can't think of anywhere else. She'd just be there until the paint (or whatever we end up using) was dried and she'd be safe in her current spot.

[rivx]

((Also, since I've read about some broken keels and am properly spooked now -- what would cover the whole room and be more appropriate? Is there anything that would be both more sanitary and safe? I know vinyl/linoleum/similar aren't necessarily 'soft' materials but I hear it's softer than wood or tile...maybe that'd work? I'm also looking into cork and foam, lol. Whatever works for my clutz.))

[Dragonlady2]

Do you have a playstation for her? Maybe if you have something that can be wheeled to the center of the room, she would learn to fly to it?

[rivx]

She has a playstation. I wheel her cage into the middle of my room for her to come out as the living room is not a bird safe area. Her playstand is not on wheels but she does go to it if she wants.

I wonder if her weight would affect it at all, since she's such a little bird? If we go with anything hard we'd go for the softer side of it but ah, I worry. It's a fairly small room so she does sometimes have trouble getting to her destination.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

These may be just UK names but what about Cushionfloor, a sort of padded lino? Or Flotex, a short bristle, scrubbable carpet for kitchens?
We did get one of those washable cotton doormats for under Casper's cage. He liked that, spent hours chewing it to pieces.
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Casper the destroyer ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]) by Jean-Pierre Declemy ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]), on Flickr

[rivx]

Thanks!!

We're likely going to end up with a sort of floating cork flooring -- I know it's still a hard flooring (or, between hard and soft, really) but I'm reading that it's shock absorbent so I'm hoping her light weight will make any falls she has safe for her. I'm having to work with other members of the household as they want the flooring to match in all the rooms, so that's currently my best bet. I'll probably get an outdoor rug for the center area of the room but the walls (her favorite panic crash spot, it seems) wouldn't be covered. Any thoughts on that? That shouldn't cause any injuries, correct?

She is fully flighted so I'm thinking that in her panic flies she does at least do some sort of slowing herself down, flapping or gliding. Still totally unsure if I'm being paranoid or not, lol.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

They are pretty resilient and learn quickly. We have several large cacti on the window sill in our living room. Casper overshot his landing on the back of the sofa and crashed into Spiny Norman our fiftyish year old barrel cactus. He just stayed put, not moving until I peeled him off the long spines and gave him a cuddle. He has treated the cacti with due respect ever since.
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From Left to right: The Cactus with no Name, Bam-Bam and Casper doing his Cactus impression. Spiny Norman and his younger, smaller relative Baby Norman are out of picture on the left.

[rivx]

Oh I love their names! I was gifted a grafted cactus named Mercury about four years ago. Still going strong, shocker...I've never been good with plants. Getting better, though! We used to have another cactus, but a little dog my mom had ate a portion of it while we weren't looking.

Surprisingly, she was very much fine! I can't say the same for the little cactus.