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"The Hamster House inspired this hack. We had an abundance of Gorm shelving units and were tired of the look of our traditional bird cage - Blue and Cheesy. Although the original cage was large, it was not the ideal amount of room. Our birds, Hamilton and Edith, fly around our apartment on a daily basis when ever we are home (supervised of course) but spend the working hours cooped up. We wanted to give them a chance to spread their wings when they could and have more diverse perches
and toys
to play with.We modded the Gorm Unit by putting 2 of the five shelves upright on the back to maintain support and cut the cost on the amount of hardware cloth
we would need. Both sides open up entirely and were built out of spare wood from other projects. We attached Green Hardware Cloth (10 Bucks a Roll from Home Depot) via staple gun to the interior and made a smaller bird access door. The Hardware Cloth on the face is attached with open Eye Screws so the entire face can be removed for an easy move. The entire habitat is relatively light and birds love it so much it is difficult to coax them out (adjustment period I suppose).
We also place linoleum tile
on the bottom that can easily be removed and cleans much easier then dealing with the bird cage tray."Other pet hacks:
- Rats chill at the Kullen
- Turtle terrarium
- Guinea pig palace
- Besta bunny hutch
- Ivar cage for degus
- Antonius chicken coop
This came out really nicely! I am sure your birds are loving it. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, this is smart! x
ReplyDeleteHeh, I did this back in the day when you could buy those $20 bookcases before they were replaced with the (beefier and more flexible) Gorm. My door wasn't nearly as nice, though! Nice work.
ReplyDeleteThat's lovely, my budgie would be envious. I was wondering if your budgies actually used all the vertical space? Budgies tend to prefer to stay at the top of their cage, so a wider rather than tall structure gives them more room and the bottom half ends up going to waste. From your pics it looks like most of their toys and perches are at the top, so have you managed to entice them down? If so how?
ReplyDelete(My budgie is out of his cage whenever I'm home too. Some people think that's weird, but he's happy, so I'm glad to see someone else does that too ;-)
Thanks for all the comments! Actually NOT MY MOTHER, they do come down for food and snacks. Hamilton loves to fly back and forth from the door perch to the lower mid perch, however Edith fits the budgie type you've described. You are right, there is alot of open space below them that we have not utilized yet but as of now this is mostly due to a need for a bit of poop-logic. In otherwords, we didn't want them crapping all over their favorite stuff - especially not their food. We thought it also beneficial to keep the floor a good distance from them as this is where the poop gathers. We've also learned that if you want to entice your budgie to go anywhere, assuming they are socialized, try beatboxing. They love it and will actually start throwing down and mixing it up after awhile.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! How did you do the door?
ReplyDeleteBirds do need full spectrum lighting.I know I have had parrots for 40+yrs.That was a cool cage but look into lighting they will really be in great new home
ReplyDelete