Thanks for the complements too!

Hi Chirs,

It is Kim, we met last night at Tina's.

Love what you did with the cage! I wish we had room for that cage. We are going to take some of your idea's for the cage modification.

Our babies had a successfull night. I took them out and showed them where their food was so they did eat. They had been exploring the cage a little last night. This morning, they found their way back to there sleeping pouch and have been resting nicely. I am happy to say they handled the dog barking with out a fuss.

Good luck with your babies. It looks like both our females will need alot of love and persistance.

Kim

Hey Cris, I was actually in the middle of the "cages" thread & at the point of shopping for another cage when I remembered your thread! I have the cage pictured but the doors just aren't big enough,...can't even get my Wodent wheel in & out without taking it apart from INSIDE the cage, which is a big PAIN!!!! I would absolutely love it if when you have the time, you added the instructions on how you built this door/frame/poly used,... I know you mentioned the wood in the thread but you didn't name the protectant you used. I would be afraid of using something that would hurt my babies so I would really like your guidence on that,...and now that you've got your babies, can you give us any insight as to how the wood is holding up as far as odor & ease of cleaning & such.

Thanks, it's appreicated

I have the same cage as the OP and it's taking forevvvvvver to get here. Is it easy to clean?

Nice job with the alterations. You seem pretty handy with your hands. I wish I had even a fraction of your talent.

Thanks guys...

As far as the wood... It's holding up great! No smell. I used a maxwell spray poly. I researched a lot before I put a poly on it. I couldn't find anything that said that it was safe for gliders specifically, however, I read that it was not harmful for reptiles or rabbits. The most important thing to remember when putting any kind of sealant or poly on a cage for any animal, is to apply it outside and away from the location of your gliders or animals and you give it several days to cure. I applied the poly 2 weeks before we brought our babies home just to make sure it was completely cured. More humid temperatures call for longer curing times.

Also, the harder the wood the better. The harder the wood, the tighter the grain, the more water repellant. I tried to use as much stainless steel as possible. Just safer and no so susceptible to rust.

I will do my best to post instructions without specific detentions soon.

- Cristi

Thanks so much! I mentioned getting a different cage to the hubby tonight,....HE WASN'T THRILLED so I think he's gonna modify the existing one. He does construction for a living & was very impressed with your talents.

@ccralleo Is the cage itself easy to clean? And before modifying it were the doors fairly large?

Thanks!... JazzNZoeysmom I'm sure your hubby will have no problem with the modifications!

The cage is very easy to clean. There is a tray on the bottom that slides out and the floor that sits above the tray comes out easily as well. Originally the wire floor was meant to come out by shifting it slightly off the ledges that support it and then you would slide out the slot where the tray comes out but because of the modified door I put in all I have to do is lift it up and out the door. I will post some better pics of the assembly so everyone will have a better idea of how it was constructed.

The cage had what I like to call geateen doors on it. Like bird cage doors that slide up. No locking mechanism either. One was on the top and one on the bottom. Maybe a 1'x1'. I don't like these doors because when operating them you only have the use of one hand and not two (one to hold it up and one for nothing...lol). If you were to let it go by accident while taking your glider out it could fall on them and hurt them. They are good for most birds because birds tend to sit on your hand or finger motionless and usually require the use of only one hand to handel, unlike gliders wich have a tendency to crawl around and require two hands to control sometimes.

If you look at my before and after pics you will see these doors I'm describing.

The only down side to the large door is there is less control when attempting to only take one glider out at a time but the perks far out weigh the bad! It makes adjusting things in the cage and cleaning the cage POSSIBLE. It was hardly possible before to utilize any of the back and top because its so HUGE. With the little doors I couldn't reach the majority of the cage especially the top and I had to switch constantly between the bottom door and the top door for everything. Also incase of an emergency I know I can capture my gliders anywhere in the cage. I don't know too many people that can reach over 3 feet and grab something without leaning and you cant lean through either door.

To solve the control problem I will be constructing a second door simular to the modified one but it will only have an opening about 10"x10". I'll use this door only when I'm taking them out or hand feeding them a treat. The door will be located on one of the sides.

If anyone has this cage or is thinking of getting this cage I will be adding a new topic by the end of the week with ALL the modifications and how I did them.

Thanks for looking! =)

Found a good use for those curtains... a lot of folks went sure that I should use the curtains I made and after I thought about it, I wasn't sure I should either... until last night.

The cage is in the opposing conner of our TV in my living room. Its the only place it would fit in our apartment. Its big and bright. Not a problem usually but throw in 4 or five NE Patriots fans and the season opener on the TV screen featuring Wes Welker returning a pass for a 99 yard touchdown... *BLAM*... you get glider freak out! Thats when a little lightbulb turned on in my head telling me "you didn't waste a ton of time and money on these cool blinds!!! lol They worked like a charm. After the game I put them back up and there were two happy gliders looking at me as if to say can you put the blinds down every Monday night! LOL I know they need natural light and it would be unhealthy to use them all the time but I think Yoda and Jazz were grateful for them last night and will be for the football nights to come.

I'm wondering..... I posted a pic of my cage, basically very much like yours except it's a hexagon, 1 exta panel & I don't have the cross bar around the middle, but I have the same doors you describe. They are 8.5 X 10 one above the other on the SAME panel! Doesn't make sense but that's what it is.

I was thinking about leaving the door panel, but making your modification to the OPPOSITE panel, so I have the large door that you made but still have the other 2 doors...they are fine for most things, just a pain for attempting to clean the wheel or for me (5'2") trying to hang things from one end of the cage to the other...I just don't have the arm length! All that would be fixed if I can do what I described above.

Any thought on this Cris,...I figure you've done it so can warn of any hazzards I may be over looking.

I think you'll be fine. There shouldn't be any problem creating a door frame to fit your cage. I removed the "cross bar" from that panel when I made the modification. When you make the frame, be sure to make it just a bit larger than the opening you cut in the wire. This is to prevent any stress on the hinges and stop the dor from closing into the cage. I believe I posted a pic of this from inside the cage. I'm working on a directions thread and should have it by the end of the week.

A few things to keep in mind...

Use as much stainless steel hardware as possible. On some things are hard to find in stainless. if you run into this Zink is you next best bet. Zink and galvanized hardware can cause UTI's in gliders. Zink is better than galvanized! Stainless is better than both.

When you cut the opening grind down all the edges and be sure there is nothing sharp for them to cut themselves on.

Whatever you use to coat the wood be sure to let it cure for SEVERAL days! I left mine for 2 weeks. I also considered using some kind of compost decking (trex) This would solve any odor problems or moisture concerns and there would be no need for a poly. I havent had any odor problems as of yet. If this is something you were going to use be sure to do your research on the material. I don't believe it would be harmful for your gliders but I'm not sure and I could be wrong.

Also you may find that you won't have much use for those other "bird cage" doors and it will be more efficient to use them for the base hole you cut into the cage. But at this point it's all preference. The only reason you would need another door in your cage is for control as I described above. Other than that you should have access to all areas of the cage through the new door you construct.

Hope this helps... look out for that thread. I'm gonna post it by Friday in the "General Chat" section.

- Cristi

Can you come over and do the same exact thing to mine :)

Did you get your cage from Petco too?

Wish I could... lol... I bought mine from my breeder.

I got mine like forever ago and they haven't even gotten it out of the warehouse yet :(

They are shoved in some *ty little cage in the meantime.

quote:

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Originally posted by ccralleo

Wish I could... lol... I bought mine from my breeder.

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Dang. Your breeder sells niiice cages (even before the modifications)

Yea we got it as part of a "package" I think she sells them on-line as well at granitestategliders.com

Thanks for talking me down to a medium :) The only way i'd take on more gliders then 2 is if my sister gives hers up.

Im sure even the medium will be plenty big enough if you wanted to have more...

Here is some pics of Amanda next to the cage... she's 5'3"

WOWWWWWWW

Right! Its a Glider Mansion... not much in it at the moment of the pic... washing everything... But I just wanted everyone to get an idea for how huge it is.

I just want to know I can get it out on the deck to spray wash. Thanks for being so awesome.

Thats a good question I know I can't get mine out our door but it is just as well... I live in an apartment and it would be a pain to bring it out and up some stairs to hose it off with our non existant hose... lol I clean the whole thing from top to bottom every three days or so and its been working out good so far.

Thanks! I'll definately be watching out for that new thread!

So is that a medium or a large ccralleo?

Large

After reading this thread I cancelled my order on the large and got a medium. Thank you for that. I also saved about 175 dollars doing so because they didn't charge me tax or shipping.


How tall are you ccralleo?

5'1" and 1/4" lol gotta get that 1/4 in! (= Amanda, the girl in the pic, is 5'3"

Oh sugar, thats not you in the picture :P

Hey Cris, on my search for info. on sewing windows into bonding pouches I found this & thought of you. I'm still looking, (hoping to find a "how 2 video) but this may work for you.

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Found this also,...I'm thinking of doing this instead of the pet mesh. When I was searching I came across a site that makes/sells pouches & she uses the grommet system, says the gliders like it better because she found that hers would get nervous when they would look out of the mesh, wouldn't settle down & the mesh allowed too much light in...(in her experience)


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