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Title: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Done Painting! Post by: cerulean.blue on March 09, 2008, 06:35:41 PM I've been keeping an eye out on Craigslist for quite a while, as well as looking just about everywhere else. Well, this weekend I responded to about 5 ads on CL. One wrote back. It was for a large birdcage. The guy was asking a little more than I wanted to pay, but since I haven't seen anything else I decided to go for it.
So here it is, and these are his pics: (http://images.craigslist.org/01020001030101040220080308078daf3ffb691f5fe200d484.jpg) (http://images.craigslist.org/01010801150601161220080308c0028078c229ec9e610077a3.jpg) It's going to need a couple mods. Where the tray pulls out there's a gap that I'm sure the guys can get through, but it shouldn't be too hard to fix. Plus, I need to paint a few spots. I'll also be working on adding levels and all that next week. :) Title: Re: I FINALLY found a new cage! Post by: Topaz on March 09, 2008, 07:20:19 PM Nice! Aside from the FN, my other favorite cages are bird cages w/mods. Can't wait to see it when you fix it up. What did you pay for it, if you don't mind my asking?
Title: Re: I FINALLY found a new cage! Post by: baileyjane on March 09, 2008, 10:03:05 PM Very nice! I hope you'll post pictures when you've gotten it all decorated. Lucky ratties!
Title: Re: I FINALLY found a new cage! Post by: Dearpie on March 09, 2008, 10:26:17 PM Very nice! It looks like you can have a nice mansion once all the mods are done! Lots of room!!
Title: Re: I FINALLY found a new cage! Post by: cerulean.blue on March 10, 2008, 02:04:39 PM Thanks! It's slightly bigger than a 695... though in person, I don't know if it's an optical illusion or something, but it doesn't look that big. I had to measure it about 6 times to make sure! lol... I ended up paying $100. I tried to get it for less, but the guy was firm on his price because it was his parents' cage.
Title: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: cerulean.blue on March 14, 2008, 05:16:24 PM I thought I'd document the progress of the modification of my bird cage. So...
Here it is before: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/before7.jpg) As you can see, it's completely empty. It doesn't have any levels/balconies or anything. Just a bottom tray. It's also got some rust and scratches (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/before.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/before2.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/before4.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/before3.jpg) There's nothing under the bottom tray... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/before6.jpg) ...and it has quite a large gap between the top of the tray and the bottom of the cage. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/before5.jpg) Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: cerulean.blue on March 14, 2008, 05:28:00 PM So here's what I did on Day 1. I cut the hardware cloth for the levels and ramps, and arranged them in the cage with twist ties the way they'll go when it's all finished. I had to take out the feeder doors firs though. They were getting in my way while I was putting the wire in.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/day1-5.jpg) 3/4 upper level and ramp. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/day1-6.jpg) Full Middle Level (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/day1-4.jpg) Bottom Half Floor (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/day1-1.jpg) All of it together (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/day1-7.jpg) Wire under the tray I put all the hardware cloth under some heavy boxes to flatten it out. I still have to file down the sharp edges of the hardware cloth, and it'll be painted (as will the whole cage) before it's put in. Tomorrow I'll be filing down the edges and cleaning the whole cage. My dad will be home tomorrow too, so he could help me out. I may start painting as well. Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: zombies_girl on March 14, 2008, 07:34:11 PM I had that exact cage in green and that large gap is cuz there was another piece that went there. :eek: it was a grate so they couldnt get the to bedding and such. I had three girls in it and they loved it. ill see if i cant fish up pics for you.
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: zombies_girl on March 14, 2008, 07:36:44 PM i guess i just have one (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v476/Miss_Sun_Song/ratties/DSCF6784.jpg)
you can get the corner shelves at petsmart and such and the dome top is great for hammocks. Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: cerulean.blue on March 14, 2008, 08:25:01 PM I had that exact cage in green and that large gap is cuz there was another piece that went there. :eek: it was a grate so they couldnt get the to bedding and such. I had three girls in it and they loved it. ill see if i cant fish up pics for you. I figured it used to have something like that. I'm going to put hardware cloth over the gap, so no one can squeeze out. :) I have one of those corner shelfs, but it's currently being used by the girls in my QT cage. I'll find a place for it in the bird cage when I'm done. Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: zombies_girl on March 15, 2008, 11:20:27 AM that cage new was more than the feret nation ::)
sigh. Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: MiniMuffin on March 15, 2008, 02:45:57 PM that cage new was more than the feret nation ::) sigh. It's a lot of money for a cage with so much rust too... I bet you could've gotten the same cage for about the same price new off of ebay... Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: cerulean.blue on March 15, 2008, 07:24:38 PM that cage new was more than the feret nation ::) sigh. It's a lot of money for a cage with so much rust too... I bet you could've gotten the same cage for about the same price new off of ebay... I know, and I wish I hadn't paid so much for it (the guy was really firm in his price)... but I couldn't find any other cages I liked that would work for me. I checked ebay and watched CL for a while. I went to Martin's and the other cage sites and couldn't find anything. Plus it was starting to get dark when I went to look at it and I didn't see all of the rust then. :-\ All that got done today was filing down the sharp edges on the hardware cloth. We started late and it was too windy to paint anyways. Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: zombies_girl on March 16, 2008, 11:39:45 AM crazy to me that i waited so long to get a fn but i really didnt plan on getting more rats after my three. but.... ggmr got me.
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: cerulean.blue on March 16, 2008, 04:55:24 PM crazy to me that i waited so long to get a fn but i really didnt plan on getting more rats after my three. but.... ggmr got me. I'd LOVE an FN, but they're too expensive for me, and I'd have to mod it anyways because my boys will get out. I'm hoping that the Rat Nation will be available before Christmas... and my parents will let me get it. lol Anyways, today I gave the whole cage a scrub-down. I also started painting. It wasn't as windy today as it was yesterday. I painted (most) of the tray, and I painted part of the wire that was going under the tray. Hopefully, tomorrow will be nice too, and I can get the rest done. :) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/day3-1.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/day3-2.jpg) The color I picked is called Jade, and it's in the Painter's Touch line by Rustoleum. Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: baileyjane on March 16, 2008, 08:40:54 PM Pretty color! And just to add my 2 cents worth, I think you got a good cage for your $100. :thumbsup2: Once you are finished, you'll have a nice heavy duty cage with a lot of good features. As an added bonus, you will have the satisfaction that comes from modifying and creating the features you want! Keep posting pictures, as I look forward to seeing it when it is all finished and set up for your ratties! :BlueDumboSmile:
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: chiropteragirl on March 19, 2008, 06:06:50 PM Great cage, and nice colour. It should be fun to decorate the cage!
Did you make sure that the paint is non-toxic? I'm worried your rats might nibble on the paint a bit. Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: cerulean.blue on March 22, 2008, 01:27:50 PM Great cage, and nice colour. It should be fun to decorate the cage! Did you make sure that the paint is non-toxic? I'm worried your rats might nibble on the paint a bit. Yes, the paint has been okayed by other GMers in previous threads. :) I haven't posted anything these last few days because it's been so windy that I couldn't paint. Today we finally got all of the levels and ramps finished, but we're almost out of paint, so we have to buy more before we can start the cage. :D Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: Happy-RAT on March 22, 2008, 10:43:05 PM I have a flight cage somewhat like yours and the modification that I did for the gap was to find a piece of wood about 1/2 in. thick and cut it the length of the cage...I drilled 3 holes of each end and used pipe cleaners through the man-made holes and up around the cage wires and it holds the strip in place. Although there is a little gnawing...not much...both my boys and girls leave the strip alone and the wood doesn't look bad at all...it's almost like it's not there. I'm going to try put up pictures of my cage and put it up tonight if I can...look for it under happy rat if your interested.
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress Post by: cerulean.blue on March 23, 2008, 02:06:50 PM My dad cut a piece of metal for that strip, and we're going to put a slot in it so that it slides up and down on the screws. I'll post a picture of how we did it once it's finished. The primer wasn't dry last night so we couldn't cut the slots, but we shoudl have that done soon. I wanted to have the whole cage finished by today, since it's the last day of spring break for me, but the weather wasn't cooperating so I'll have to keep working on it when I'm done with school for the day.
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Painted (err... mostly)! Post by: cerulean.blue on April 30, 2008, 05:44:14 PM Today was really nice, so I got out there and painted! I'm now covered in Jade. It took a lot more paint than I thought it would (probably because I kept finding little spots I missed and had to go back and touch up), but I'm mostly done. I ran out right when I had only one little section to go. Guess I'm going back for paint again tomorrow. Anyways... will post some pics in a minute. :)
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Painted (err... mostly)! Post by: cerulean.blue on April 30, 2008, 05:54:47 PM Here are the pics:
Whole Cage (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/whole.jpg) Top (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/top.jpg) Bottom (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/bottom.jpg) And the one seciton that didn't get painted (besides the stand) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/unpainted.jpg) Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Painted (err... mostly)! Post by: Carolyn on April 30, 2008, 06:01:54 PM Cool color. It's looking nice :thumbsup2:
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Painted (err... mostly)! Post by: baileyjane on April 30, 2008, 11:33:34 PM :thumbsup2: Looking good! I can't wait to see this cage all decorated. Great job! :thumbsup2:
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Painted (err... mostly)! Post by: Mookieberry on May 01, 2008, 04:28:52 PM What a cool color choice! Keep us updated on how the paint holds up, will you?
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Painted (err... mostly)! Post by: cerulean.blue on May 01, 2008, 06:16:53 PM What a cool color choice! Keep us updated on how the paint holds up, will you? Sure! I bought more paint and hopefully tomorrow will be nice enough for me to finish up! If it all goes really well, hopefully the guys (and girls) will be in their new cage by next cage cleaning day! Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Painted (err... mostly)! Post by: JustJenna on May 01, 2008, 07:59:10 PM Wow! It looks great! Can't wait to see the next set of pix! I think it's pretty cool that you'll have a very personalized cage when you're done.
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Painted (err... mostly)! Post by: Maddeebear on May 04, 2008, 03:48:49 PM I love the color!!! You make me want to go take spray paint to my FN.
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Done Painting! Post by: cerulean.blue on May 09, 2008, 10:50:41 PM Yesterday I got back out there with the spray paint (even though it was a little windy) and finished touching up the spots that needed it. I'm finally done painting (or at least I really hope I am! :sleepy3: )! I put the feeder doors back on. Tomorrow I'll try to take some pics of it with the feeder doors, tray, and the metal piece my dad made to go over the gap on the front, so you can see what he did. Soon I'll be putting levels in it! I don't think they're going to work out exactly the way I planned though. I got a bigger wheel for the girlies (that I wasn't originally planning on when I started work on the cage), so I may have to change the layout of the top level so that the wheel fits.
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Done Painting! Post by: sugar beet on May 11, 2008, 08:44:13 AM That is an awesome looking cage. Bird cages are just so pretty, especially when they're blue! Plus you get DIY cred...good work!
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Done Painting! Post by: Ratman55 on May 11, 2008, 10:07:35 PM NICE!. :poke: hey do you think you could get me dimensions on those corner shelves? i think i have an idea for them when i get my ratties.
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Done Painting! Post by: cerulean.blue on May 12, 2008, 05:53:35 PM Here's the pics of it all painted:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/painted.jpg) The metal piece my dad made to cover the gap: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/metalpiece.jpg) It slides up to open, so you can pull the tray out: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/metalpiece-up.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v250/ratdog423/Cages/Bird%20Cage/trayout.jpg) NICE!. :poke: hey do you think you could get me dimensions on those corner shelves? i think i have an idea for them when i get my ratties. My corner shelf is approximately 9"x9"x13". :) Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Done Painting! Post by: JustJenna on May 12, 2008, 07:05:40 PM It really looks great! You and your dad did some nice work, there. It looks like a brand new - and rather pricey :cheeky: - cage!
Title: Re: Bird Cage Modification Progress- Done Painting! Post by: Maddeebear on May 12, 2008, 07:37:27 PM That looks great. I can't wait to see it decorated. I think the paint makes it look brand new. =]
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