Customer Reviews

Penn-Plax® Large Activity Center for Cockatiels & Medium Birds

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really love the Bird Activity Center. I bought it for my cockatiel, Sydney. This activity center has so much more for your bird to do, than others like this.

The colors are wonderful too. Bright and colorful.

It's also very easy to put together. It comes with glue to make sure the wooden parts stay together. It's mainly putting wooden dowels though holes or slits on others to fit over the sides. I put it together in less than 10 minutes.

This Bird Activity Center is perfect for moving from place to place, and for the top of a cage. It is ideal for one cockatiel, and would probably be suitable for two. It is easy to assemble and stays together without the glue, but I will reassemble it, using the glue, so it will be more stable when I move it. The rungs on the ladders are tiny, but Sterling (cockatiel) has no problem navigating them. He ignores the bell and swing, but he enjoys the plastic toy that hangs near the bell. He also ignores the toy attached to the rope, and I can't figure out how to remove it. That's the only negative aspect to this activity center. Overall this is a very good playpen for a small bird. I am happy with the purchase.

First off, I would not get this for a bird any bigger than a cockatiel. Even then it might be a bit small for that size. It was perfect for my little Budgie, though. She liked climbing the ladder and the pegs, and she really enjoyed the rope.
The only bad thing about this product is it requires you to glue some of the pieces. About a month after I put it together with the glue it included, parts of it started to come unglued. And when I washed it, the dye came off.
So just to warn those needing to clean their bird's play gym: try not to use water!

First off, this is a really great product, and I got it for a great deal. My cockatiel loves it, but the size (I got the large) seems to be much more suited to a parakeet. Had I paid attention to the dimensions (that is of course totally on me as the dimensions in the description are accurate) I likely would've realized before buying it that it would be pretty small. There is no way my cockatiel would fit on the swing for anything. The rungs of the ladder are pretty skinny, but she still uses it. All of the perches vary in size, which is good. The rope perch is great and she likes walking across it now that she is used to it. It is not stiff at all, so it took some getting used to for her, especially when she was trying to figure out how to move across it because she would step on the plastic toy, it would spin, and she would get a little nervous. That is not a negative though because cockatiels need challenges like that as they are smart birds and need "puzzles" so to speak in order to keep their mind stimulated. It says the dyes for the wood are bird-safe, and they are definitely very colorful. She loves to chew on the wood, as all cockatiels do, but it seems to be holding up pretty well so far. The glue works well and holds everything in place. The shorter wood piece at the end of the rope perch is not glued down, which I like because you can slide it up or down the side and make the rope either semi-taut and at a diagonal across the activity center or make the rope very loose and straight across the front of the activity center, so it changes it up.

PROS:
- Rope perch is a good size for a cockatiel or parakeet and is soft for their feet. It's a nice break from wood perches.
- Rope perch is not stiff, so it provides extra exercise for their legs. An added bonus!
- Sturdy.
- Mixed perch sizes, though most of the wood perches are more suited to a parakeet but still work okay for a cockatiel.
- Entertaining for pet birds.
- A good way to keep your bird near you and entertained outside their cage.
- Easy to assemble. Easy directions to understand.
- Cockatiel LOVES it and will stay on it all day.

CONS:
- Swing is way too small for a cockatiel. Not a problem if you have a parakeet though.
- Ladder rungs are too small for a cockatiel, but they can still use them so it isn't a huge deal.
- The end piece of wood holding the rope perch sometimes tips a little, but it hasn't fallen over completely (at least not yet) so again not a huge deal. It's just annoying to have to straighten it a lot.

One piece of advice, which I would say for any item you are assembling, especially ones requiring glue, is to put this together WITHOUT glue first, make sure everything fits and slides into place and you know exactly how it goes, then take it apart and glue it together.

This is a great piece if your bird is new and still getting used to you. My cockatiel will sit on it for hours. I put it on my desk while I'm working and she will sit on it for 7 to 8 hours at a time. She would probably stay on it longer if I let her and even gets upset at me when I take her away from it! I consider that a good thing because it assures me she loves it. I would recommend getting a couple of plastic food dishes (they're usually pretty cheap) or taking the ones from their cage while they're on the activity center to set on the floor of it so that they have access to food and water. That's what I do, and it encourages her to move around more on it so that she doesn't stay in just one place the whole time, and I don't have to worry whether she's hungry or thirsty.

I recommend this activity center, especially for a parakeet. I recommend moving up to the extra large for a cockatiel if you can afford it, but if you're like me and tight on money (huge price jump between the large and extra large sizes), this size does still work well for a cockatiel. It's mainly just the swing that's an issue since it's too small for a cockatiel, but that isn't the end of the world and doesn't take away from the other great features. Plus my bird doesn't seem to care about the swing. She just plays with everything else and is quite content with it. It was a great and well worth it purchase!

THis is a nice item, and a lot of times it was helpful, but it is far too small for a parakeet's playpen. The plastic orange toy attached to the rope perch scares my parakeets and the wood is dyed, so when my birds were perching on it their feet got reddish.
Nice thing to have around, but kind of... you know, nothing amazing.

I read the reviews and purchased the medium. We have a canary winged Parakeet. It is too small for him and he does not want to stay on it. The construction is fine for a small bird. Cheap but certainly strong enough. It looks like it should be fun... not for our bird.

Was easy to put together, I did use wood glue rather than what was sent in the kit. Our cockatiel likes to chew on it & its fun to watch him use the ladder.

Very good playground. Good quality, wooden and very colorful . I like to release my parrots out of the cell for a walk, and they love to play on such play centres.

I purchased the LARGE activity center, and it is too small for my lovebird! It's listed as "for Cockatiels and Medium Birds," but I imagine even a parakeet would feel cramped.

The rungs on the ladders are so tiny my lovebird avoids using them completely. The glue helps hold perches in place, but I had to duct tape one of them so the whole set wouldn't collapse. The swing is much too small, and the base needs to be 5" wider so the ladders aren't so cramped.

I give it two stars because my bird likes the rope, upper two perches, it's a good surface for shredding bird kabobs and paper without much cleanup, and it's relatively cheap compared to other playsets. Having a playset is a must if you have your bird out a lot, but if you can afford it get the extra large or, even better, pick another brand!

Very well made. My lovebird plays on it everyday. I keep it on my desk while I work and he jumps around on it while I work.