Hey bird fans! Love is in the air a little earlier than Valentine's Day for us in our bird department. Two of our peach faced love birds have fallen for one another and started breeding behavior in the store! This definitely isn't the first time Pet World has been home to birds in love (we don't intentionally mate them but occasionally love birds breed and we raise their babies ourselves) but it's always interesting to watch these guys as they turn into little parents to be. Next time you're in the store stop by and see them and feel free to ask a Pet World employee about them.
BB Avian LightsKansas winters can be a bear of a thing to deal with for your pet birds (and for us)! Birds are stuck inside so they're not getting any access to healthy UVB/UVA rays. If your house is drafty it can get too cold for your feathered friend; plus, they can get a bit of cabin fever, too, if they're getting out and about from their cage less. And nobody wants a bird to get bored!
Luckily, there are definitely ways to combat these seasonal challenges. We sell avian UVB/UVA lights at Pet World. These lights are designed to output about the same amounts of UVB/UVA that your birds would naturally be getting if they were standing in the shade outdoors. Why is that important? As we know, staying directly in the sun can be harmful so the levels in these lights are adjusted so they're safe to keep on for 8-10 hours a day to create a nice, healthy photoperiod for your bird without too much UVB exposure. UVB rays help your bird to naturally produce vitamin D3 that allows your bird to absorb valuable calcium to keep bones strong and improve metabolic functions. UVA can help reduce stress related feather picking as well as some other descructive behaviors. UV lighting is important for birds. Lacking in UVA can essentially render your bird colorblind, very similar to the colorblindness in humans.
Snuggle huts are another awesome cold weather product for your pet bird. Even when we cover a bird's cage to keep it cozy and draft free, birds don't produce enough body heat to warm up their entire cage. For a way to easily help keep them warm, these cute, cozy hanging sacks really do the job! Your bird can cuddle up inside the warm, soft, fleece blanket nest where it can easily produce enough body heat to keep warm on cool winter evenings. We also have organic materal huts for smaller birds like finches that can help keep your smaller pet birds warm as well as enriching their enviroment with a little hay house for them to pick at, naturally satisfying their need to forage. Adding something new to your pet bird's cage can also help with the dangerous cabin fever effect of boredom!
Stay warm out there and we'll see you soon!
