Building a Playgym

[miissemilyx33]

Hey guys, I'm back! I was thinking about building a playgym for Riley and Nikki because the ones in the pet stores are very basic. I know alot of you use wooden serving trays for bases and I was wondering where you got them.

What other great ideas have you guys done? What do you use for perches and for glue to hold things together when you can't always drill them? Anything I should look out for?

[atvchick95]

i used dowel rods for the actual play gym the only part i had to glue was the Ladder, and I used Elmers School glue (but it was NOT easy to get it to stay together at all )

for the base we bought a big piece of wood and cut it in half and attached everythign to it, and then Put shower board on top of it for easier clean up (shower board is what is up around most showers instead of Plain wood, wallpaper, paint etc)

[miissemilyx33]

Thanks! I'll have a look at Home Depot or Lowes for the dowels. Or did you get them some place special? Would the wood be safe at home improvement stores if they say untreated?

Hmm...would a hot-glue gun be safe for the birds? I think it might be easier than Elmers but I'm not sure if it would be safe.

[atvchick95]

i'm not sure about hot glue

but we got our dowel rods at lowes, we bought differnt sizes and shapes we even have square ones ,they love thier play gym, they're all on it pretty much all day long

[chompie_puppy]

My boyfriend and I built our playgym with natural branches. In total it only cost us about $20. This included the base (which we built ourselves as well), toys, plastic chains and screws. Much cheaper than buying a playgym!

The birds also love to chew on the natural branches. :D

http://a42.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/109/l_5b3624799a4a21a6c680c12552d7e019.jpg

[Anjie]

wow that is a lovely play gym....will have to show my husband :)

[Budgietom]

I myself haven't made a playgym yet. Perhaps people can post some pictures of their self-made play gyms. I'll look out for some ideas missemiley. Good luck!

[miissemilyx33]

Wow, lovely play-gym! I wasn't too sure about using natural branches, I didn't want them to snap when one of them landed on it - Nikki's quite overweight and she's been known to chew through perches while she's sitting on them.

Thanks for all your help so far, I'll let you all know if I come up with anything.

[linalinddk]

Here's one of the playgyms I've made for my budgies. It's not completely done yet as I'm considering making it bigger.

I've used natural branches which have been bound together with raffia, and it works fine. However, the raffia will need to be replaced after some time since budgies love biting it.