Joined Cages to make a Big Zebra Cage

[Nerien]

I bought two of the Petco 30"x18"x18" cages, flipped one end up on each, and tied them together with nylon zip ties. I left the flipped up edges on the cage in case we needed to separate them again, but my constantly quarreling zebras settled down, so I may finally take them off.

So this way, for relatively little money (about $80, buy the cages from Petco online, they're always on sale that way), I now have an 18"x18"x 5 feet long cage.


It sits on top of my budgie cage (an A&E double flight). We have since added more lights to both cages.

I used natural birch branches for perches that I collected from my back woods. At first the finches fought with each other, until I put in a LOT more greenery. This has created little private zones, and they have been happy as, well, a finch in a forest, ever since. I have three pairs in this cage.
(please excuse the dirty cage. I always seem to take pictures right before I clean it. We use low, shallow, wide food bowls, so all the hulls get wing-blown out of the bowls and into the bottom below the grate, it's really not as dirty as it looks, just very full of hulls.)

[Ginene]

Nerien...I don't see a pic posted. Would love to see your masterpiece

[mayble]

Looks great! I bet they love it.
I've been wanting to do the same thing, but I don't have a space to put a five foot cage, so I just keep stacking them up.

[cindy]

Your birds will love that extra fly space!!! I do the same with two 30 x 18 and two 30x 36 high cages. If you don't have room for the length try taking the backs off two cages and join them together to make a 36 inch deep cage.

[ranchnanny]

Nerien that looks great and I don't see any dirty cages...LOL
Good Job

[Nanajennie]

WOWZERS that is a lot length! Guess thats what the need though as they are horizontal flyers.

How did (or did you) treat the birch branches. I have them everywhere on my land... obviously the bark is gone, but did you do any other treatments to it?

Beautiful set up (and I didn't see "dirty cages" either)

[mayble]

If you don't have room for the length try taking the backs off two cages and join them together to make a 36 inch deep cage.

Good idea. I might try that.

[Lisa]

Looks great, and I bet they are loving it! They all look very happy, and pffft, that doesn't look dirty to me either!

[Nerien]

Birch branches are white birch, so they actually do have their bark still, at this size/age they are not quite fully white, and the skinny side branches are darker red-brown, so in the photos they look peeled, but are not.

I pick clean looking branches in the first place, no moss, no lichen or other ick on them, solid, not rotten, not softened or squishy branches, which usually means off a bigger fallen, broken, or hanging branch, or only freshly fallen to the ground.

I wash them to clean off any dirt or such. Then I slow-roast them in the oven at 200°-250° for an hour or so, at the end of the time I turn off the oven and just let them slowly cool inside. The slow roast gently drives out any moisture, and kills any bugs or other living yuck. It also smells SOOO good to have roasting birch in the house. (For some of my other creatures, I have roasted cherry, which also smells great, but cherry is not good for birds.)

I've also found that slow-roasted branches are much harder and more durable than unroasted branches. I have put both in my budgie cage, and my degu (little mini-chinchilla type creatures) cage, and the roasted wood lasts much much longer. Unroasted wood has gone in these cages because I used pieces that were too big for my oven. These got well washed, and then had been air-drying in the house, clean and away from bugs & such, for a while before going in the cages.

When I actually posted pictures of the cage, I only chose those that didn't show the bottom except for one, to hide the uncleaned appearance. But it really is mostly just empty hulls. And I figured the important part was to show how very leafy perches made the little featherheads much happier.

[Toddmin]

Looks wonderful! Great idea!

[skyjump100]

Hi Nerien,
They look great!!!!!! and the decor too!!! Just one question.... I had a single cage above my two single flight cages that were next to each other so it would be easy for me to do the same thing you have done (only need to buy a second cage ) and the only problem I had was when I slid the tray out to clean it the birds in the bottom cages went berserk! How are your birds ok???

[PrettyBird]

great job! you could prob also buy to more, and then take the bottom out, and then the tops off yours, and the zip tie them so it makes a big fliight

[Nerien]

when I slid the tray out to clean it the birds in the bottom cages went berserk! How are your birds ok???

My budgies in the big bottom cage are used to all kinds of commotion, what with two kids, dog, cats, etc etc in this little house.

However, what might help is what I did to solve another problem.
In order to pull out the trays and clean them, that leaves the top cage droppings falling down into the bottom cage. So I cut two pieces of cardboard box to fit inside the tray slot of the top cages, then put the trays in on top of the cardboard. So, now when I pull out the trays, the cardboard stays in place and the bottom birds are none the wiser. No poop falls through, no sliding trays bother the ones below.

The budgies, however, have taken to hanging from the top of their cage and ripping at my cardboard above. So I am evidently going to have to replace it much more frequently than I expected.

[javansparrow]

I love to see those white cages. It looked so clean. And combined with the greeneries they look so awesome!

[skyjump100]

Ah great idea !!

So I cut two pieces of cardboard box to fit inside the tray slot of the top cages, then put the trays in on top of the cardboard. So, now when I pull out the trays, the cardboard stays in place and the bottom birds are none the wiser. No poop falls through, no sliding trays bother the ones below.

So simple yet effective You really are quite inventive when it comes to these bird cages !!!!

Thanks for the idea I will have to try it out!