Hagen "Vision" cages.

dinosaur party · Post by **dinosaur party** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 5:06 pm

Hi all!

I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with the Hagen "Vision" line of cages. My mum saw one in a store the other day and seems pretty keen on the idea... I've searched around on Google a bit and found a few reviews - most of them good. However, I have also found a handful of *terrible* reviews: people saying that the cage/stand tips over easily, that their birds often fly into the clear plastic parts of the cage, etc.

For your reference, this is the cage we are considering:

I figure if I find the birds are flying into the "towers" I could put some stickers or something on there, much like we've got decals on our sliding glass doors to discourage wild birds from flying into them. But if the cage is really unstable or if anyone knows of any other serious issue, I most definitely won't be purchasing it.

I appreciate any and all responses,
Thanks

Post by **Sally** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 5:23 pm

I don't know anyone who has these cages, so can't help you with that. As far as birds flying into the clear acrylic, some people have done cage fronts or even large parts of indoor aviaries with acrylic panels. Stickers would probably help to start with, and then you could remove them once the birds are used to the cage. The base seems wider than the cage, so you would think it would be stable. If you have cats or dogs, then it might be a problem. My cats would fly at it with tremendous speed, so would probably knock it over. Of course, I don't let my cats in the same room with any birds anyway--can't trust them at all.

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:50 am

I use these types of vision cages (I have two of them)

It's a little different than the one you are looking at, but as the plexi at the bottom. I take the bottom grate out so I don't have the extra cleaning, but I actally love these cages as it keeps my bird room cleaner.

You can buy these from this site:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=16471

I'm sure you can also find them other places. They have a smaller version of this same cage at petsmart.

tursiopschic · Post by **tursiopschic** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:35 pm

I had one of those and i liked it a lot. It really did keep the seeds inside and the placement of the cage's perches worked well. I didn't use the stand because I have cats and it just wasn't high enough to keep them away. I can't remember if it clicked on to the stand or if was just set there.

Unfortunately my cats found a way up on top of the fridge, past my cacti barrier, the acrylic curtain/barrier I had velcro'd to the wall, up into the built in shelf set in the wall, and somehow flung the cage across the room cracking the plastic. It was very traumatic. One bird died in this incident

My only complaint about the cage itself is that it was small. My finches loved the bathtub that came with it though. It was easy to clean (i removed the bottom grate).

dinosaur party · Post by **dinosaur party** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:15 pm

Thank you all for your input. I think we are going to go ahead and get this cage on Wednesday - the pet store said if we take it home and set it up and then decide that it's too unstable or just, unsuitable in any way then we can return it.

The size of the cage is a bit bigger than what I've currently got them in, and much bigger than the cage they were kept in at the pet store, so I figure they'll be happy. Also, I like the placement of the perches... It looks like they'll have a lot more room to fly about inside.

tursiopschic, I'm so sorry to hear about the incident with your cat. I have a cat right now, but she has absolutely no interest in the finches unless I'm cleaning the cage, then she sits beside me and watches. I think she's more interested in what I'm doing than the actual birds themselves! She's a weird little thing...

I'll be sure to let you all know how it works out! And I'll hopefully get some more pictures of my little guys... They haven't been properly introduced yet

Thanks!

tursiopschic · Post by **tursiopschic** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 12:19 pm

Yes, let me know how you like it. I definitely liked it's ingenuity and cleanliness.

I feel bad about the bird too, a pretty spice finch named Hazel. But, I do know that there was nothing else I could have done to protect the finches except for getting rid of my cats...which is not an option. I just underestimated their canniness.

Post by **Hilary** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 1:43 pm

My only suggestion would be to make sure that the door is something you can work with - it kind of looks like a hookbill "landing strip" kind of door in the picture, which would be more likely to let birds out when you had to get inside.

dinosaur party · Post by **dinosaur party** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 6:04 pm

Well, we got it, and I moved my finches in on Thursday morning... So far, there's been pretty much no mess outside of the cage. I'm actually kind of shocked at how well it's containing seed husks and feathers and random bird related mess.

It seems a little wobbly, but I think it'll be okay. We've got it in a corner, beside a couch, and there's pretty much no way for it to tip over. So far my only concern is how much my birds are freaking out getting used to the new cage. They seem a little wary of the perches that came with the cage, so I'm looking to get them some sort of branches or something. They also occasionally seem to forget that they can't get through the plastic... They do seem to be figuring it out though.

Hilary, the doors (there are 3) can be used as a "landing pad" type of door, but they open the traditional way too. I don't anticipate that I'll have any trouble with it. Thank you for your suggestion though

I'll post some pictures once I can get my hands on some batteries.

Thank you all

Anneka · Post by **Anneka** » Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:35 am

Nice cage. I want one too

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:08 am

Yes, they are good cages...

You don't have to use the green perches that the cage comes with though. I use one green perch per cage and then buy a couple manz. type branches of different sizes and all my birdcages have one calcium cuttlebone type perch.

tursiopschic · Post by **tursiopschic** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:28 pm

How's it working out Dinosaur? Are they getting used to the plexiglass?

Anneka · Post by **Anneka** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:22 pm

I did the same thing with our cage. Used only one original perch and then added one shorter manzanita perch of a slightly larger diameter.

At first they were very confused with that plexiglass on the bottom. They thought there was nothing there, but now they learned.

Regarding the seed hulls. Much better than with a reg cage. I am happy.

Shadowfax · Post by **Shadowfax** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:15 am

I looked at that cage and really had my heart set on it but then discovered the one Emily has. I also had heard about the instability issues and since I had a cat at the time I wanted soemething stable.

I bought that cage, in the mid size. I love love love this cage. It is beautiful, roomy and easy to take care of. My only dislike on this cage is that sometimes it is hard to remove the base for cleaning without loosing a bird out the bottom.

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:06 am

The cleaning of those cages gets easier over time... in fact, I think they are easier to clean than some of the other cages.

All you have to do is unlatch the bottom, make sure all birds are near the top, quickly switch them over to some newspaper, and take the bottom and clean it out. I always scrubbed it in hot water to make sure it was really clean.

I am actually getting rid of all my small cages, and am ending up with just giant flights/aviaries. Easier mainenance and my finches love it better!

Shadowfax · Post by **Shadowfax** » Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:27 am

I may in time have a flight cage. My LR is pretty small though so a large indoor cage is not really an option. One reason I chose finches. You can give them room to fly without giving them the whole room to fly in.

I am getting better at keeping the birds at the top of the cage while I take the base off. You are right it takes practice.