FINCHforum

I bought concrete perches to add to a couple of my cages, and my birds just LOVE them! One cage had a branch and a stupid dowel perch, so I took that out and added a concrete one--- birds thank me daily. The other cage still has a dowel perch, and they don't even use it anymore. I won't replace it yet though, as I don't want to disturb my "family" to be.

Ha Ha Ha... yet another new thing that my GBs are afraid to try! I left it there for 2 hours, and they still wouldn't go have a drink of water. I was worried about leaving it while I go to work. That male is so "chicken" I'm afraid he'd die of thirst.

Ended up putting the natural perch back, and boy was he glad to go have a drink! I don't think I'll worry too much, now that I have the lady who does the mobile service and trims their nails for them.

I also got a water buddy, but have had no luck converting them to it. I try every weekend, when I can be there to watch them. This last weekend the female took a drink from it for the first time! Well actually she just drank the drop of water that was hovering on the brink. But it's a start! I put a toothpick in it to make it drip a bit. Will try again this weekend.

Boy, the things we do for our fids, eh? It's become a real passion for me, too. They are so fascinating to watch.

I certainly agree, the things we will do for our finches

I have a concrete perch in every cage, I like them better than sand perches because they dont feel as rough so I dont think they will cause sores on their feet but they still get the nail work that I think they need. I also like that the perch is wider than their other perches so it gives them a new grip size and stretches their feet.

Glad to hear yours like it Finchmommy and I hope you can get your birds on the waterbuddy Franny. I have never tried one personally but I am getting frustrated with the water bowls and trying to find decent water tubes, the ones I picked up from the petstore SUCK!

I love the plastic water tubes made by Benelux, a European company. They are hard to find in the US, but TammyS at www.justbirdstuff.com carries them. I use the 7 oz size, they don't leak (unless you don't get the base on just right), and the top of the tube is flat, so you can line up a whole bunch of them on the countertop, fill, and add the bases. You still will have messy birds that drop food in the base, no way to get around that with tube waterers. I was able to order a case of the 7 oz size from www.birdsupplynh.com, but now they don't have that size on their website.

I used the Water Buddy for a while, but I almost lost a couple of birds that weren't using it. I also found that some of my birds were drinking their bath water rather than use it, so I've gone back to the tubes for now. I'll hang on to my Water Buddies for another try some day.

Where did everyone get their concrete perches? I have some and love them, but now I can't find them. The ones I have are short, evenly waved, sort of fat, and were inexpensive, especially compared to those sandy perches.

I got a medium sized one at an independant pet store, and a small one (for my finch couple) at Petland.

Sally - can you post a picture of the water tube you use? They don't have one on the website but they have very similar tubes to what I have now and I think the 7oz is exactly the one that I want. Thanks!

My batteries are dead on my camera, so as soon as I get some fresh ones, I'll take a photo of that water tube. I did find concrete perches--had forgotten what brand mine were. The are Hagen Living World Pedi-Perches, and I found some online for just $2.79 each, for the xsmall.

Cool thanks Sally!

Keep forgetting to pick up batteries!

Finally remembered batteries! This water tube is made by Benelux, it is their 7oz size, it measures about 5" tall and about 2" across. This fits nicely on cages with 1/2" bar spacing, just snaps into place between bars. If the bar spacing is 3/8", the bars would have to flex a bit. It is my favorite water tube.