Oh god, I share your pain. I did the same thing and when I sold my Martins I had to take out all the c-rings. Basically I twisted some off and I cut some, depending on the angles. But it was all pretty much tough work, I didn't find any easy way to do it.

Ugh, I just gave up.   I'm sure there are wire cutters you can buy that are good for getting in those small angles, but I didn't have them and bending was NOT working (well it was, but it involved lots of mangling of the cage itself).  Best of luck to you!  I hope you have more than I did...

what are c-rings?

You are so right dearpie and all my cages since have been put togther with zip ties. i wish i would have known when i put my first one togther. I am searching for this magical c-ring remover tool now!

thanks

The cages are from Martin's Cages. 
http://www.martinscages.com/

They make some of the best cages out there.  The C-rings are small rings in the shape of a C that you use to put together the cage with.  They send you a little hand tool along with your cage to clamp them closed.  They are notoriously impossible to remove, and I myself have 3 Martin cages all put together with C-rings and would love if anyone knows of that magical tool that removes the darn things.  I bought a Ruud and bought cable ties, but when I opened the package they were the wrong ones and I didn't want to wait to put my long-awaited Ruud together (too excited) that I used the C-rings. 

So you wonderful person out there in webland, pullease let us all know where this magical C-ring remover is???!!!!  I am in Canada but I will order it in if its an online store.

Shelagh

I just used wire cutters and after a bit of wrestling with it, got them all removed.  But of course there was damage to the cage and my hands were so red and sore!  But worth it to remove them and replace with cable ties.

Everyone I know says that cable ties work really well, and they are removeable which is the best part!  I used cable ties for a Ferret Superpet cage and it is working just fine.   

Twistedlittle-puppy you are awesome!!!   

I am going to order one soon and I will let you know how it goes.  If it works I have a bit of hell ahead of me (how many c-rings to hold together a Ruud? ), but it will be well worth it. 

thank you for remembering and for Dearpie for almost remembering 

I have a Ruud.  The only part of that cage with the c-rings were the levels.  The rest you have to assemble yourself.  I knew in advance about cable ties so I bought plenty and was able to assemble the cage using no c-rings, yay!  But of course I ended up assembling it incorrectly, so happy I had used cable ties!  Later on, I removed the c-rings from all the levels and replaced with cable ties.  I find that once in a while I have to replace a couple as my boys chew them off.  But no biggie, easy to fix!

Tin snips are a little bigger than wire cutters and are made for cutting sheet metal, but you can get the tips into the c rings and clip them pretty easily.  It is a lot easier to avoid the evil things altogether...

i think i used my dremel tool to get the c-rings off. it was a delicate operation, but the cage pulled thru nicely. my biggest worry was nicking the powdercoating.

it was either that or i used my hand tools. i have wire cutters and nail cutters. the difference between the two is that wire cutters cut vertically while nail cutters cut horizontally. or i may have used both. (i have a good collection of tools because i was required to get certain ones for my college classes). i actually finally got rid of all the c-rings recently except the ones that hinge the flip-top lid because i wanted to rearrange the layout of the cage.

when you get a pair of wire cutters, go for a nice heavy duty pair and not the small dinky jewelry wire cutters. you will find more uses than you could ever believe for them.

some rats will make it their life's goal to chew zip ties, but i have been fortunate not to have these kinds of rats. i even used zip ties to suspend their wodent wheel from the ceiling of the cage.

I just recieved in the mail my Klubertanz Equipment Co. c-ring remover.  I am going to try it out soon altho when I look at it I have no idea how I it is supposed to work.  I am hoping I get home and I'm able to figure it out.  I'll let y'all know how it goes.   

Shelagh

Thanks from me too. That little gadget saved my cage! Now it is put togther with zip ties. Thanks a bunch.