Pretty good deterrent for hulls/seeds/cage mess on floor

[finchandlovebird]

For my Gouldians, I have 3 Prevue F040 41H 31W 20D cages; each split into 2 apartments. I recently made something that I thought I'd share. Seems to eliminate much of the cage mess falling into the floor.

I measured a piece of vinyl, marking off the INSIDE width (19.5) & INSIDE length (29.5) & added 4.5" to each of the four sides to allow this to come up to the first vertical bar on the cage.

29.5 + 4.5 + 4.5 = 38.5
19.5 + 4.5 + 4.5 = 28.5
In each corner I cut a slit to the marks (see photo)

Then (see photo) I pulled the triangle shape corners together & hole punched them, to allow a wire to go thru when in the cage to attach to the 4 corner posts of the cage.

Roll it up by the shorter end (width) & put in cage; it will bend nicely to get in the door.
I will have to reply to my post & add some more photos.

[finchandlovebird]

Basically, this forms a vinyl box inside the cage which should keep everything clean. Still put newspaper in this "vinyl box" & remove newspaper when cleaning. Should be easy to vacuum out any debris that falls from the newspaper into the "vinyl box".
I used a roll of heavy vinyl with grids on one side which I picked up (cheap) at a thrift store. You could use a lighter vinyl, but may have to use paper clips to hold it to the sides of the cage. (see photo with various sizes of paper clips for ideas). You could also probably use a clear vinyl shower curtain also.
I have to resize some photos & will add them in another reply.

[finchandlovebird]

Here are the other photos:

IMG_0187 (640x480) (256x192).jpg (75.59 KiB) Viewed 1776 times

IMG_0188 (640x480) (256x192).jpg (73.46 KiB) Viewed 1776 times

IMG_0192 (256x192).jpg (69.42 KiB) Viewed 1776 times

[Ginene]

great idea!!! thanks I have the same cage. How did you separate the cage into 2 apartments??? I have thought of doing this myself. Ginene

[finchandlovebird]

Ginene: in the search box above, put in the title
Splitting a cage horizontally
That's the subject for my post on when I did apartments with the cages. On that topic, I'm sure there are posters who maybe gave references to other posts on this topic.
I don't know how to put the url for a post in another post for reference.

[debbie276]

Very clever!

[Ginene]

Thanks Dolly...I will check it out now. You are very creative

[Finnie]

I think you can just copy and paste the url address like this:

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... rizontally

[Lisa]

That's actually a great idea! I have been struggling with trying to attach things to the outside via velco... but hadn't even thought of a bendable surface I could put inside the cage. I think I may have to give this a shot.

Thanks for posting this

[finchandlovebird]

Just an update to tell you HOW VERY WELL these "vinyl boxes" inside my cages are working. Hardly any mess at all; don't have to vacuum twice a week anymore, & the trays underneath the grates don't even have to be cleaned out.
I just roll up the newspaper & vacuum the hulls out of the "vinyl box", once in a while a poop will get thru; just paper towel it off w/water&vinegar. Put an attachment on the end of vacuum hose if you're worried about sucking up a bird. I suggest using a heavy clear vinyl so the sides of it stand up nice against the cage insides. Here's a photo w/paper attachment=0]vinyl box with paper (640x480).jpg[/attachment]

[finchandlovebird]

and here's a photo without

vinyl box without paper (640x480) (640x480) (256x192).jpg (71.18 KiB) Viewed 1616 times

newspaper inside the "vinyl box".

[cindy]

I've done the same thing on the inside of my flight cages, made an extra one to replace while the dirty one was cleaned and dried. Works well in keeping the mess down. I also made one for the outside that went up the back and part way up the sides, leaving the front open, it was to protect my walls.

[nelloyello11]

Wow! Great idea-thanks for sharing!!

[Lisa]

I recently got some clear plastic shower curtains that I wanted to try to use. The only thing that worries me is they have that strong plastic smell to them. I wonder if it would be ok for the birds... maybe I should run them through a washer cycle first.

[cindy]

Lisa, look for the PVC free ones, less odor (WalMart is less expensive than Target). You can try filling a bucket of water, adding white vinegar to it and letting it soak for a bit then hanging it out in the sin to air dry.