Hi,

I'm planning on buying a 32"x23"x40" HQ dometop for my quaker. Does that sound like a good size, good choice? I found the cheapest price at Queen City Pets (which has free shipping), but I'm tempted to pay $70 more and buy it from the same place that I'm getting my quaker and pick it up at the store. My last experience buying a cage and having it shipped wasn't good. The box arrived in terrible condition. After I opened it and lugged the thing upstairs, I discovered that they had shipped me a cage that had been rejected by someone else because some parts were so bent, they wouldn't go together. The bag of bolts was torn open and hardware was all over the box. They shipped another cage and it was fine, but it was all a hassle. Anyone used Queen City Pets? How well was the item packed? Did it arrive in good condition?

Thanks for your help,

--Susan

Hi there ..

I haven't ordered there myself .. but if I recall correctly ... many members of this forum have and are very happy. I'm looking at ordering from them should I ever need another cage.

I think the most important issue with cage size is not so much the dimensions, but the spacing between the bars. I believe that for Quakers, no more than 3/4" inch spacing, any larger and they could get their heads in between the bars and get stuck. I'm no expert, so perhaps someone with a little more experience will come along shortly and correct/fill in the gaps.

Good luck with your new FID and new cage!

I haven't used Queen City Pets either but I know many have so I will let them share their experiences... if it were me I would definitley be tempted to buy it directly from the store since you are lucky enough to have that option and then you'll know it will come in one piece. lol

I myself prefer the flat top to the dometop just because Casey spends the majority of her day on top of the cage so we have a whole little set up with ladders, perches, boings, food, water etc. and that wouldn't be possible with the dome top. I think it's a personal preference/lifestyle kind of thing as many people have dometops and love them!

I'm not sure about the bar spacing on that particular cage, like Xcali said you should go no bigger than 3/4" bar spacing, I myself wouldn't go that big, I'd go no bigger than 5/8" but again it depends on the Quaker etc. Casey is an extremely small Quaker so 3/4" is too big for her... I've been looking for a good sized cage with 1/2" bar spacing for a long time now and I can't seem to find one! ... my search continues!

Good luck! Others should have some more ideas/experiences!

Thanks for the advice. The bar spacing is 5/8", so that should be OK. I've been debating with myself between dometop and playtop. I've heard that sometimes it can be a problem to have the bird higher than your shoulder. Since my pets tend to take over and train me, I thought I wouldn't give it the height advantage. I will probably buy or make a separate play stand.

--Susan

This is where we bought our last cage and had a good experience. http://www.mybirdcage.com/dometop_parakeet_cage.html
The bar spacing actually ended up being 5/8 even though it says 3/4

Thanks for the info!

MyBirdCage and QueenCity both sell HQ brand cages ... so I'd compare prices between the two. I've been doing some extensive cage hunting .. looking for what I consider to be the perfect cage .. so far, for price, QueenCity has the lowest prices on HQ brand cages that I can find.

Seems like all the companies that make really great cages are no longer in the cage business .. i.e. .. California Cage and Island Cage. Just about every single cage I've been looking at are made in China, the few I found that weren't, cost a small fortune.

Right now I've got two Avian Adventure cages, and one California Cage, all bought second hand from Craigslist. I really love both brands, but would hands down buy more Cal. cages if they were still made. They're tough to find even used.

I ordered a new cage from Queen City Pets on Monday November 3rd and the cage was delivered on Saturday the 8th. The boxes were still intact with no damage and the cage was perfect.

Thanks, that's encouraging to hear! I would hate having to send another one back. Cage-wrestling is one of my least favorite sports.