looking to light a cage I found

[carmena]

I found a GREAT deal on craigslist. A triple stack cage looks like it was gently used from a pet store going out of business. 30 bucks for the 3 cages aAND rolling stand!!!!
The cages are solid walled except for the front that has multiple spring doors for nest boxes, feed and catching. The perches attach to the front the usual way but attach to the solid back wall via a few small holes that the perch sticks into.
My question is: How can I provide supplemental lighting for this cage? Other than the front and a few small holes in the back wall, I see no way to light. Any ideas?
Also where can I find replacement perches for this type cage? I would prefer to replace all the wooden perches with the same type perch. The stuff I find at pet stores is NOTHING like these.
thanks!!!

[Sally]

What size are these cages? That is a great price. You may have to go with front lights. You can get those little under-cabinet slim-style lights at Walmart, then ziptie them to the front of the cage, at the top. I got some stack cages that are wire all around, but no room in beween cages to stick a light, so I ziptied those Walmart lights to the back--it works.

[carmena]

Each cage is 24 x 14 x 14. It even has the space to place a divider in the middle of the cages that I did not notice until today. (Perfect for breeding canaries)
I plan on using it for my societies to foster my goulds.
It is a bit small for the goulds I think????any thoughts on that?

Can you tell me more about these lights?
any place I can get the perches or the dividers? Or will I have to make it out of sheet metal???

thanks sooooo much!

[Sally]

It looks like there is a bar on the front of the stand just above each cage; that might be where you could fasten a light. The under-cabinet lights are from Walmart, I think they were less than $10 each and very slim--they are the 18" one.

Personally, I would say the cages are a bit small for Societies fostering Gouldians. You will start with 2 Societies, but they they will be fostering 4-6 Gouldians--that's a lot of birds in that cage. I would prefer them to be in nothing smaller than 30x18x18. My fosters are set up 3 Society males to a cage (turned out I have 2 hens in the group, but that's another story) in cages that are 36x18x18.

I think a lot of canary breeders use this size cage.

[cindy]

Sally, you and I are thinking along the same lines...Wal-Mart. I just picked up another light today. They also have the daylight bulbs.

[carmena]

I will get those lights from walmart.
Any idea on where to get more perches? I would rather not clutter the front with the wing nut fastening type.

Or any way to disinfect wood without ruining the wood? Or worse, dont want any cleaner to soak into the wood and poison anyone.
yes, I think it is a bit small for goulds too. But for 30 bucks I could not pass it up.

[Hilary]

Those are Abba cages - you got a WONDERFUL deal on them! Four cages plus the stand runs about $285. I have a set of four that I bought used for about $150 or so. Check with Abba for more perches. The twist-on plastic perches would probably work great. My goulds really like these since they're so private (I only use them for breeding - never as "permanent" homes). I use external nests with little peek-a-boo hinged flaps in the top so I can check nests without the birds knowing what I'm up to. I bought a tree torchiere lamp and aimed a bulb toward each cage, but am not really happy with it. Let me know how you decide to light yours! My perches were added by the last owner, but basically they're just wooden dowels cut to size with a small nail inserted in one and and the other end is taped so it can be fit between the bars and not spin. I have one of these in each cage and one small manzanita branch (fastened to the back through one of those little holes so the washer is not visible) for variety. These are so incredibly easy to clean - I really like them!

[carmena]

Hilary!!!!
Thanks SOOOO much for the name! Now I can look for the replacement seed cups.
I used the lights that Sally and Cindy talked about from Walmart (THANK YOU!!!!)
The lights cost about 7 bucks a piece. I zip tied them and it looks so nice. The lights were in the light bulb section in hardware.

[Hilary]

I lay the 18" undercounter lights on top of my other cages - I'll have to check out Walmarts - thanks!