Divided cage

[katiea]

The vet recommended I separate my lovebirds in a divided cage, I need to prevent the female from laying eggs. She is a little underweight and I know dividing it won’t 100% stop her laying but then not mating 2-3 a day will help calm her hormones. Her laying won’t be deadly if it happens, but definitely not ideal. I need the cage to be budget friendly though, I quit my job recently and I have already had 4 unexpected vet visits (I had an interview today and it went really well so fingers crossed). Any reccomendations? I can’t find one I like

 

[itzjbean]

What is your budget for a cage?

It would almost be easier to just get two cages and keep them side by side.

I have a double flight cage that divides in the middle, from Amazon it was $200 shipped. Great investment and my two cockatiels (kept separated) love the space!

Cockatiel mansion

 

[katiea]

What is your budget for a cage?

It would almost be easier to just get two cages and keep them side by side.

I have a double flight cage that divides in the middle, from Amazon it was $200 shipped. Great investment and my two cockatiels (kept separated) love the space!

Cockatiel mansion

$100-200. I don't need it to last long term, at most, a few months. I have an extra cage but I think it's too small- 18x14x20. But since I don't have a job the birds are out 8-12 hours a day

 

[ChristaNL]

In case of (financial) emergency...there is always cardboard as instant cage-divider.
It not pretty, it's not durable - but you can get it for free everywhere and easily replace it ...
so everyone can take a breather


I hope you jobintervieuw will work out for you!
(then you can sit back and go cageshoppoing)


and keep an eye on craighslist - you just might get lucky there (as well)

 

[katiea]

In case of (financial) emergency...there is always cardboard as instant cage-divider.
It not pretty, it's not durable - but you can get it for free everywhere and easily replace it ...
so everyone can take a breather


I hope you jobintervieuw will work out for you!
(then you can sit back and go cageshoppoing)


and keep an eye on craighslist - you just might get lucky there (as well)

I tried cardboard but they're both shredders so it lasted half an hour. A local pet store is selling a 30x18x18 cage, I think i'll get it. I have 3 of them already.

Thank you! I think I'll get the job but even if it doesn't work out I got 3 more interviews

 

[MonicaMc]

Short order... you could always look into used cages and disinfect them prior to using.

 

[EllenD]

I was going to say the same thing, the best place for buying large cages cheap has always been Craigslist for me, I've gotten some amazing deals and saved hundreds of dollars on Craigslist, for my Bearded Dragon viv's too. I think people just want to get the cages/tanks out of their homes to make space, and because there are so many of them for sale on Craigslist, they have to basically bail on the prices.

As far as your female goes, I'm sure you've already gotten a Cuttlebone, Mineral Block, etc. inside her cage. Egg-Food is very good for females who are chronic-layers and stressed. Once they get to the stage where they are losing weight it can be very serious, because this is when they are at the most risk for becoming Egg-Bound. So you want to get as much Calcium and fluid in her as possible every day, along with calories, protein, and yes, fat. Egg-Food is awesome just for this situation, it's full of Calcium, protein, and is high in calories. You can either buy a bag of Egg-Food at any Petco for around $10 (one bag last a long time), or you can buy a carton of eggs and make your own, including grinding the shells down and mixing them in.

Keeping them from mating is going to help quite a bit, but keep a very close eye on her, and be watching for all signs of Egg-Binding, as she's very high-risk for it right now, and it's 100% fatal without medical intervention. If she starts panting/open-mouth breathing all the time, if she becomes lethargic, starts sleeping all the time, goes to the bottom of her cage, stays fluffed-up, vomits, or if you see her trying to lay and egg for more than 24 hours without doing so, or you see her at all straining, or her droppings suddenly become very large and messy, these are all signs of her being Egg-Bound. The best thing to do in any of these situations is to get her right to her Avian Vet immediately, but if it happens at night or on the weekend, the best thing you can do is to bring her into the bathroom, along with a shallow container that she is able to sit/lay in, and some Q-tips and Olive Oil. Shut the bathroom door, turn on the shower to maximum hot to fill the room with steam. Put enough very warm water, as warm as she can stand, in the container so that her vent and the surrounding muscles are submerged in the water, and place the container with her in it right into the steam. Keep her in the water/steam for a good 15-20 minutes or as long as you can keep the hot water going. Then you want to use a Q-Tip to coat her entire Vent area, including the very inside ring/opening of her vent, with Olive Oil. It's also a very good idea to keep a heating pad inside of the bottom of her cage for her to go to immediately after the steam bath, so that you can continue to keep the muscles in her abdomen and around her Vent area relaxed at all times, as this will assist her in passing the egg. Provide her with lots and lots of fluids, you may need to assist her by using an oral syringe to do so, unflavored Pedialyte is good to give her. And just keep repeating the steam/bath, the olive oil, and then back on the heating pad until she either passes the egg, or until you can get her to her Avian Vet.

Hopefully you never have to go through this, but being someone who lost a breeder-Budgie years ago to Egg-Binding (and she was taken right to her Avian Vet immediately), I'd rather provide this info than not.

 

[katiea]

I was going to say the same thing, the best place for buying large cages cheap has always been Craigslist for me, I've gotten some amazing deals and saved hundreds of dollars on Craigslist, for my Bearded Dragon viv's too. I think people just want to get the cages/tanks out of their homes to make space, and because there are so many of them for sale on Craigslist, they have to basically bail on the prices.

As far as your female goes, I'm sure you've already gotten a Cuttlebone, Mineral Block, etc. inside her cage. Egg-Food is very good for females who are chronic-layers and stressed. Once they get to the stage where they are losing weight it can be very serious, because this is when they are at the most risk for becoming Egg-Bound. So you want to get as much Calcium and fluid in her as possible every day, along with calories, protein, and yes, fat. Egg-Food is awesome just for this situation, it's full of Calcium, protein, and is high in calories. You can either buy a bag of Egg-Food at any Petco for around $10 (one bag last a long time), or you can buy a carton of eggs and make your own, including grinding the shells down and mixing them in.

Keeping them from mating is going to help quite a bit, but keep a very close eye on her, and be watching for all signs of Egg-Binding, as she's very high-risk for it right now, and it's 100% fatal without medical intervention. If she starts panting/open-mouth breathing all the time, if she becomes lethargic, starts sleeping all the time, goes to the bottom of her cage, stays fluffed-up, vomits, or if you see her trying to lay and egg for more than 24 hours without doing so, or you see her at all straining, or her droppings suddenly become very large and messy, these are all signs of her being Egg-Bound. The best thing to do in any of these situations is to get her right to her Avian Vet immediately, but if it happens at night or on the weekend, the best thing you can do is to bring her into the bathroom, along with a shallow container that she is able to sit/lay in, and some Q-tips and Olive Oil. Shut the bathroom door, turn on the shower to maximum hot to fill the room with steam. Put enough very warm water, as warm as she can stand, in the container so that her vent and the surrounding muscles are submerged in the water, and place the container with her in it right into the steam. Keep her in the water/steam for a good 15-20 minutes or as long as you can keep the hot water going. Then you want to use a Q-Tip to coat her entire Vent area, including the very inside ring/opening of her vent, with Olive Oil. It's also a very good idea to keep a heating pad inside of the bottom of her cage for her to go to immediately after the steam bath, so that you can continue to keep the muscles in her abdomen and around her Vent area relaxed at all times, as this will assist her in passing the egg. Provide her with lots and lots of fluids, you may need to assist her by using an oral syringe to do so, unflavored Pedialyte is good to give her. And just keep repeating the steam/bath, the olive oil, and then back on the heating pad until she either passes the egg, or until you can get her to her Avian Vet.

Hopefully you never have to go through this, but being someone who lost a breeder-Budgie years ago to Egg-Binding (and she was taken right to her Avian Vet immediately), I'd rather provide this info than not.

I have her in her travel cage for now, since I'm home most days it's essentially just a sleep cage. I am going to be gone all day a couple days this week so I'm going to get something before then. I've been checking craigslist but everything is an hour or more drive away since I live in a rural area.

She isn't losing weight, she's just gaining very slowly. Her and the male lovebirds fight over food bowls, they have multiple now, but before I got them they had 1. They were 30 and 35 grams, now 42 and 48 (the female is the lighter one). They had a burst of weight gain for a couple months but the gaining now is very slow, 1 or 2 grams a month. She has never laid an egg before, she's only 2 or 3 though (they've only let me read their bands once and I can't remember which is 2 and which is 3). She gets egg food, cuttlebone, etc.. She eats primarily tops pellets though, that's her favorite, even over seeds.

Thank you for the advice! I have my vets home phone number in case of emergency so I hope I wouldn't need to do that but it is very helpful