From Pocket Change to a Bird Cage

Digby and Lenore finally got a cage this week. I had had a cage picked out for them, one I really liked (the Marvelous Veranda cage), but I ended up having to use the money I had set aside for a cage to pay my horse's board this month. I went back to searching on Craigslist for a cage.

I found one last Thursday. It was $30, but not as long as I wanted. It has the same footprint as Sydney's cage. It's actually very similar to Sydney's cage--both cages are roughly 24"x22"x27", but with different tops. Sydney's cage is flat on top, Digby and Lenore's cage has a rounded top, but both cages open on the top. I decided that a cage that was a little narrower than I wanted was better than none (I really want a cage at least 30" wide).

As silly as it sounds, I used pocket change to pay for this cage. I had a jar that was filled with change. After a trip to a CoinStar machine, I ended up with $37. Enough to pay for the cage without taking any cash from my bank account.

The cage definitely shows some signs of wear, including a couple of rust spots. The rust came off easily with a little scrubbing with steel wool, but I'll have to watch to watch for new rust developing. I thought about getting it re-powdercoated, and found a place locally that can do it for $75. For now, though, I'll just keep a close eye on it. The cage was used for a budgie, but the family had to move to a smaller house, and so the budgie got a smaller cage. I felt kind of bad for taking such a nice sized cage away from the little guy, but it sounds like he gets a ton of time out of his cage.

Digby and Lenore spent two days in the cage together before I let them be in it without supervision. They've now spent four nights in the cage together and have been doing great. I was a little worried that they'd want to spend less time with me if I put them in a cage together, but that hasn't shown to be the case. If anything, Digby is actually happier to spend time with me and is less grouchy. Lenore's attitude has also gotten better and he isn't biting me as much as usual. I hope this continues.

The two of them have been acting nice to each other too. Well, mostly. Lenore sometimes annoys Digby and she gets after him, but besides that they've been acting very good.