Joined Cages to make a Big Zebra Cage

[Ginene]

Looks Great!!! Your birds must be sooo happy!

[nelloyello11]

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.

What about buying a single piece of plexiglass, large enough to fit underneath the long flight on top? It would be much more durable than cardboard, and you could take it down to wipe it off when it gets too dirty.

Or you could cut two separate pieces of plexi, to slide in under the tray, where you have the cardboard now

[Toddmin]

how about a long piece of vinyl flooring from Home Depot? It would be easy to cut it to fit your cage. Heck, you could make two, so you have one to trade out right away.

[Ginene]

I have a piece of plexi on top of my large flight to prevent debris from falling from a stacked cage too. It works well. But plexi can be costly. They sell corregated plastic boards in lowes /home depot. They are lightweight and inexpensive. They are solid white and can be easily cut and cleaned. I think people use them to make signs because they're waterproof. Might be worth a look...

[Nerien]

Oh yeah, the plastic corrugated stuff is known as Coroplast.

However, it seems to be giving the budgies great joy to hang upside down in their cage ripping away my cardboard. They aren't ripping all the way through, just the first layer and the corrugation layer. At least not yet. And since hubby piles up boxes in the basement and garage, never throwing them out, I have a free, fairly unlimited supply of cardboard.

[Nanajennie]

Nerien Mine finally arrived Monday and it is huge!!! They were a little shocked in the beginning with all the space, and Charlie LOVES that he got moved to his old cage. I can't imagine having two of them LOL

I need to put something around the bottom though, that's the only thing I don't like about it, messy messy messy

[Nerien]

Isn't it amazing how much room is in a plain ol' box shaped cage?

It's hard to see in the pictures, but if you look at the first and the last or second to last, whichever shows part of the bottom of the cage, you can see what I did.

I got some stiff plastic, mine is "Banister Guard", a tough clear plastic sold to cover stair and upper landing rails so toddlers and their toys can't fall through, but it's like the stuff that covers the windows in toy packaging boxes. I cut strips the width of the lowest section on the cage, then wove it through the bars, running it on the inside for about 5 bars, then looping out and back in around 1 bar, then inside for about 5, then looping out and in around one....all the way around the cage.It does a pretty good job of containing the mess, and is nearly invisible so it doesn't interfere with your view. Also, instead of using the seed cups that come with the cage, I have a low bowl in the middle of one half, and a higher one in the other. In fact, the second feeder is actually a candle stand for a chunky candle--it raises the food up about 5-6 inches, provides a wide, shallow bowl for seed, they love it. But by putting the food in the middle of the cage, the hulls mostly fall into the bottom tray, not out the sides.

[Nanajennie]

Great ideas! so creative! thanks for the tips. I am going to look into that Banister Guard. Where did you get it?

I bit the bullet and purchased two 'Tidy Seed' feeders on the internet the other day,, expensive but sounds like they work very well from the reviews and from the comments here at the forum

Thanks soooo much for all your fabulous creative ideas!

[Nerien]

The banister guard is available on Amazon and other places as well, any place that sells kidproofing & kid safety stuff. The one I got is "Kidkusion Kid Safe Banister Guard". You end up with a whole roll of the stuff, but it comes in handy in all kinds of ways--cover the table or shelf you have the cages on, for my budgies I wrapped it completely around the cage 15" high since they really toss their food, to block a drafty corner of a cage, alongside the running wheel in my degu cage since they tend to pee while they run and therefore the wheel flings it everywhere (good thing they're so cute!)...

[cindy]

Nerien, I noticed you have A&E flight cages. I even took the sides off those and joined them, it makes a great decorative flight also!!!

[Nerien]

My A&E is the double flight. I love it. If I had the room and the $$, making it a 10 foot long double-double would be so much fun!!!

Since we don't have that much room, we've talked about lowering it on its stand, and then stacking another one on top. And if using it for finches, then splitting it in half horizontally, to make two 5 foot long finch cages. We are nuts. Doorwise, it would be better to buy the HQ flight that has two smaller doors instead of the one big one A&E has, if going to split it horizontally, but you can't beat the price for the double flight.

Just saw an HQ flight on Craigslist within reasonable driving distance, but the person wants $150 for it, and didn't believe me when I said it sells for $168 brand new, delivered, she insisted it was a $250 cage, tho she got it free when she got her sugargliders. Oh well. Will keep a watch, if she sets a reasonable price, I want it!

[Finnie]

This is a really great idea! I have two double wide flights, and I have been trying to think of ways to use the space above them and also below them. I was thinking of putting single 30" cages above them, but now I like the idea of attaching two together better.

I'm also working on a plan to cut up a 30" cage to make it about 13" high, instead of 18. Then it would fit in the space underneath the double wides. There is a "utility" shelf down there, but I can't imagine storing stuff on it, so it is wasted space.

And your use of birch branches- how timely! I just came in from pruning all of my birch trees. Now I am going to go back out and harvest all the usable branches!

[Corkysgirl]

I bought a piece of white paneling and cut it to size. I put it under the flight cage, on top of the large cages so it's between. When I pull out the trap to clean the flight cage, nothing drops down and the birds now can't see below, or up and they don't get frightened any more. The paneling is very thin. You know...the paneling that goes on walls...the ugly stuff that you used to find in tv rooms of homes all the time. Well Home Depot had it in the sale department, one sheet, so it was discounted. Something like that or thin press board, etc. would work. I was happy it was white as the cages and bottoms are also.

[ROOKIEBREEDER]

very nice

[Lacybug]

How lovely!