Bands on Ebay

[zhavener]

I found a few sellers of Bands and would like some opinions on what I should buy.

I have a few zebras getting ready for fledging and possibly some gouldians hatching soon.

http://cgi.ebay.com/200-Finch-leg-bands ... 2c50fd42df

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Numbered-Canary- ... 5883a976c6

[Sally]

I can't say for the canary bands, but I have used ones like the 200 for finches. These are the soft 'perler bead' bands that are often sold on eBay, and they may work fine on some of the larger finches. However, the site lists Owls and Stars among the species that can use these bands, and I would caution against that. I used these on Stars before, and the band slid down on the foot of a Star hen, cutting off circulation and causing her toes to die and fall off. They are just a bit too large. Owls take an even smaller band--I just closed banded two Owl babies at day of fledging with size B NFSS bands, so these 'perler bead' bands would be way too large for Owls.

[nixity]

In most circumstances they are okay for the "XF" size NFSS split bands (Cordon blue, Fire finch, Lavender finch, Owl finch, Blue capped waxbill, Cherry finch, Green & Grey Singers, Painted finch, Shaftails, Masked Grassfinch, Gouldian finch, most parrot finches, Zebra finch)

But they ARE perler beads (I sell them too) and they do vary in size. Some are larger than others, so in order to use them on a smaller bird you'd need to make sure the one you use is a smaller one.

I also do not think they would fit most canaries (too small for canaries!)

[Sally]

Tiffany, do you sell them sorted by size, or is it sort of random where some are bigger or smaller than others? The one thing I have against the split plastic bands is that if you aren't careful, they get spread too open and then you can't get them closed back up again, and then they can come off.

[nixity]

Well - because I'm advertising them for XF finches, if I get one that is overly large, or really tiny, I throw it out.
Some of them are also thicker/bulky or way longer than others, too, and I throw those away also.
So I try to make sure I weed out the ones that vary greatly, the majority of them are all similar in size, the variation would be too slight to even really notice.

I also like how these always snap right back in place.
It makes them really easy to get off later too if you need to for some reason.

[DVBourassa]

You can also order split plastic bands from NFSS and you don't have to be a member.

http://www.nfss.org/bands/index.html

[Sally]

I've been ordering my split plastic bands from NFSS, they are the only ones that I found the bands were truly small enough for some of the waxbills, but sometimes it is hard to pinch those bands back closed enough to stay on a Goldbreast. Tiffany, if you have any that are really tiny, I'd like to try those on my Goldbreasts!

[nixity]

I have some that are SO TINY.. when I find them, I usually just throw them away.
If you PM me your address, I can just mail them to you instead of tossing them to see if they'll work for you (you can just have them! they would ordinarily go in the garbage anyways!).

[ikhom]

I agree with Sally.
I’ve bought bands from this seller ojaigouldians.
I was hoping to use them on my Orange Cheeked Waxbills, but there are too big for them. They can toss them out.

Below are the pictures of the bands.

[pattiej]

I have a question.... If these ARE "perler beads" can I just go to the craft store and buy some perler beads and cut a slit with my embroidery scissors??? or are they different?? Sorry if this sounds dumb but I'm new to all this.

[nixity]

I have a question.... If these ARE "perler beads" can I just go to the craft store and buy some perler beads and cut a slit with my embroidery scissors??? or are they different?? Sorry if this sounds dumb but I'm new to all this.

Sure can
An X-acto knife might work better, though

I think people are willing to buy them from others so that they do not have to go through the trouble of cutting them themselves - particularly if they want a large number.

This coming from the woman who just cut 8,000 for a customer in CA...
Hence why I do not have them listed presently.. needed a break after that!!!

[pattiej]

Thanks Tiffany ! Boy I learn so many things from this forum! I have an X-acto knife somewhere around here!