ideas needed for a play gym

[chester's mom]

hello again everyone,

I have decided to make Chester a play gym for his cage. I really want to attach it to the top of his cage but it has a rounded top. I will be taking the ladders off of course. I want the base for the gym to be about as long and wide as the inside of the cage. I plan on getting another budgie for christmas and I want it big enough for both birds. I am making the base from a piece of a white shelf we dont need. Its heavy pressed wood from the furniture you take home and assemble, about an inch thick and fairly heavy.

Any ideas how I can attach a flat base to a round cage safely? any ideas are appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Amanda

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w60/married_chick26/Picture028.jpg

[LMKT_budgies]

Hmmmm not quite sure about that...but I am sure somone else will have an idea...just be patiant till they get on!!!!!!

[PolyPill]

Building some legs on the base (like a table) and attaching those should be good enough. That's all they ever do on real buildings so it should work find for your play gym. Just build the legs to the hight of the top of the curve so the center rests on the cage.

[Violetblue]

Here's what I did: I have a round top cage, which is pretty useless for adding stuff.

I went to the dollar store and got one of those wicker wreaths. I zip tied it, and they like hanging out on it.
I then got the Penn Plax bird ladders that fit in between the cage wires. It's available as "link-a-ladder" if you google it. There is a person on ebay who sells these, too.
I put it on and they enjoyed it. No one got crushed, hurt or anything. In fact they love to chew on the wicker (like mad women!)

I have a photo from before I added the link-a-ladder (to the top, you can see it inside):
http://talkbudgies.com/photoplog/images/1561/medium/1_cagefront.jpg

My cage is about 21 by 25, it's from Petco online. Not a bad cage, lots of room, they are outside a bulk of the time.

I've since moved it off the cage and found a cage at a thrift store for $6 that I cleaned up and use as the top of their gym. Imagine the old cage to the left, then I've linked it up to TRY to keep them clean, ha ha ha, with the set up on the cage.

Here's that photo:
http://talkbudgies.com/photoplog/images/1561/medium/1_playstation.jpg

Here's the cage combo:
http://talkbudgies.com/photoplog/images/1561/medium/1_playstation2.jpg

I've hooked the wicker into the window so they can stand up there and hang out or chew. They love it I will be outside doing yardwork and they will be in the window watching what is up. I've set up a bird feeder for the wild finches, they will chatter with them, I don't have the window open, so it's like "budgie TV".

They spend a lot of time on the "link-a-ladder", as it's got holes to put a perch through. Kind of a genius idea.

Here's a close up of them and the perches through the ladder system:
http://talkbudgies.com/photoplog/images/1561/medium/1_playstation1.jpg

You can also goof around with bamboo. Some places might sell untreated bamboo. I've thought about that and have a piece in the corner waiting for me to figure something out for them.

I've just cut a few large branches off an old apple tree that will eventually be added. You can see the one branch is denuded in certain parts. They love this, so I will be making more for them.

I need to vacuum (I just took the photos) and tidy up. I try to use some old dishtowels as catchers of seed and poop, and to keep their feet warm on their little landings.

Man, sorry these photos are so big, I should learn how to do thumbnails! Apologies.

Hope the photos help you with some ideas.