There is a lot of discussion here regarding the right size cage for your rainbow lorikeets and whether you can leave them at home alone and for how long the rainbow lorikeet can be left alone.

Let us set the record straight. Rainbow lorikeets are not your standard pet. If you have to consider a pet twice - you have to consider a rainbow lorikeet at least three times. We all know how special their dietary requirements are and we all have to be aware of the personalities rainbow lorikeets are.

So before you consider looking after a rainbow lorikeet ask yourself how many hours a day for the next decades you will happily spend with your Lorikeet.

If you will spend anything less than a signifcant number of hours every day turning your rainbow lorikeet into the friend flying around your living room and nibbling at your computer screen while you work at it - then you will need a large cage and your rainbow lorikeet needs at least a partner. My recommendation is a large outdoor aviary - you can build it yourself for the same price of a good indoor cage.

Do you see your rainbow lorikeet suddenly burst into wild wingflapping while holding on to the branch he sits on? Then you know he has not had enough opportunity to move. So - either you have not had him fly in the room with you for long enough and he did not get his excercise - or, the cage is simply too small to fly a couple of lenghts. Not good enough, not good for their health particularly the rainbow lorikeets mental health.

So - the size of the cage needed depends on your own interaction with your rainbow lorikeets. They are such social animals - if nobody is home for 8 hours a day they need a rainbow friend.

Now this part for those who may not have a rainbow lorikeet yet. CONSIDER THE CRAP. It is unbelievable just how much and how frequent a happy little rainbow lorikeet will splatter his consistently liquid wet squirts everywhere. When people write about them having a rainbow lorikeet in the living room for hours every day - I simply could not do it with the crap situation. Just having them in an indoors cage will mean you have to run a decontamination zone around the cage.

But I love rainbow lorikeets. Which is why I built an aviary and there is so many good reasons to it. I built mine using galvanised square mesh from the hardware store. I took the smallest size to keep out as many things as possible - think rats, mice and snakes. Make sure you buy the proper galvanised stuff - inferior materials will not only flake but can poison your rainbow lorikeets when they chew - and they will.

Other good reasons are you can grow grevilleas and bottlebrush in the aviary with your rainbow lorikeets. You fully control the dirt, I go in with the high pressure cleaner :-) Add some friends to your rainbow lorikeet and your crazy-house is ready.