I was cleaning Birdie's cage Wednesday evening when this happened.
I can't be too upset. It was Birdies original cage; I have had him since 2003 and he was about 10 years old when I got him. That cage came with Birdie, so I assume it is around 20 years old or so. Additionally, the center part had cracked a couple of years ago, so it was only a matter of time. Fortunately, Birdie isn't a big wanderer, the biggest issues the break caused would be more mess outside the cage and the wire being less securely balanced on the base. Heck, that portion that is still attached was very floppy even with the cage wire settled on top of it, and I was afraid it would break too.
I was originally going to go to a pet store to get a replacement cage - I could run out during lunch and pick one up. I got online to see what was available in-store, and couldn't believe what they were charging for a small cage (smaller than the 18 x 18 x 22T cage I had). I did find a somewhat larger cage that would be good for Birdie, but I wasn't liking the cost (really - it should have come with a bird or two already). People on CL also must have coated their cages in gold.
So, off on an internet search I went. At Overstock I found what I was looking for with the additional bonus of being able to buy a stand (total cost was for what the cage cost at where the pets go). A stand would be good because even wwith birdie's broken cage, it was all I dould do to fit the cage and the cat food on the table. With a stand for the even larger cage, I wouldn't have to worry about that. However, the cage wouldn't arrive until next week if I got it from Overstock. Although not a catastrophe, I had issues with that for my own reasons.
Since Overstock gave me a good skew number (the pet place used its own numbers), I was able to track one down on Amazon, where my Prime membership would get me 2-day delivery for the cage (the stand will be here sometime in the coming week - but that is not so urgent a need). So, Friday evening FedEx delivered the cage and I got it all set up.
The cool thing about this cage is that I can take it completely down to flat if needed (the other cage I couldn't).
Birdie is still getting used to his new place. The more vertical bars, versus his old cage having more horizontal bars, are not as easy for him to maneuver around with. He was never that good at climbing cage wires to begin with. The perch dowels supplied with the cage were for slightly larger birds (O'hara-size), so I bought a dowel yesterday and fashioned a new main perch for him - he seems more comfortable now.
As I suspected, the new cage takes up almost all the width of the table so I have moved the cat food to the living room bay window until the stand arrives.
Hopefully Birdie settles in quickly and enjoys his new cage for a long time to come.
Not that Birdie cares what I think; but, that looks like a great home for him.
Posted by: Cop Car | March 30, 2015 at 11:53 AM
Please send snow. It's been in the mid-80s for the past few days, here. The stream of days would have been longer, but we had an over-night dip to 28 degrees the other night that kept us in the 70s during the day.
Posted by: Cop Car | April 07, 2015 at 12:56 PM
Sorry - we kept all the snow to ourselves :)
Posted by: bogie | April 11, 2015 at 04:18 PM
This was an epic FAIL. I'll have to write about it.
Posted by: bogie | April 11, 2015 at 04:21 PM
I'm eager to hear the rest of the story.
Posted by: Cop Car | April 12, 2015 at 11:42 AM