My Grey Rules the Roost!

[Journeyman]

You have to hammer the end of the bolt so that it kind of mushrooms out and does not allow the nut to be undone. Or get a lock nut..I can think of many things that would work. In the end, you are looking for something that requires strength, not wits to open.

 

That's something I haven't tried. Now if I can figure out how to keep him from opening the food station doors (there's 5 of them) from the inside (He wedges the very tip of his beak through a very narrow separation, and catches the swing latch and swings it open). I tried to tighten the screws on the latches, but they're as tight as they can go. This is how Cosmo usually gets out. The bolts on his cage door are a last resort. I don't mind so much when I'm home, it can be inconvenient at times. He's pretty well behaved when I'm home, it's just that I've caught him out of his cage, just hanging out on one of his outside perches a couple of times when I came back home after being out a couple of hours and my heart just sunk! He was OK, but this is not good. I have to be able to lock him down before I leave the apartment. Can you imagine me asking someone to "baby-sit" Cosmo, if I were to be gone for a couple of days, and saying, "Oh, and on top of making sure he has fresh food and water, Cosmo may decide to come out for a little R&R outside the cage..."! Yeah, I have my work cut out for me. Did you see the attachment in my reply to Talon entitled "Cosmo helps Rick show Talon the hinges.jpg"? Talon asked me what type of hinges I had on Cosmo's cage. So I went to take a quick picture of the bottom bolt when Cosmo jumped into the view-finder and said "Rick...whattcha doin?" He's a character!

[Journeyman]

I've attached a picture I took earlier today when Talon asked me about the bolts. Please see attached JPG.

[Journeyman]

Okay so now we all know you want to keep your present cage. Rick how much do the nuts on the hinges stick out? How about some heavy duty magnets. I have some that I use on my refrigerator that stick firmly. Perhaps Cosmo wouldn't be able to remove these or something like them from over the nuts. I, of course, am only guessing at solutions because I have no idea what these hinges look like.

 

These pictures are top and bottom of a single magnet.

 

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18134[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]18135[/ATTACH]

 

They might be too big, there's not much screw length that sticks out. As a matter of fact, I can't figure out how he gets a grip on the nut as to un-tighten it. I can hardly get a wrench in between the bars myself. But that's a good idea. I'm sure I can find some very strong magnets of that type after measuring the space they'd need to fit into.

[Journeyman]

You really do have a safety dilemma.......There has to be some kind of lock that will deter him. Just wish I knew what it is.

 

I replied to luvparrots (this gets so confusing..but I appretiate the help) and thought you asked about what the hinges looked like, so I went to take a quick picture of the bottom nut and bolt on the cage door, when Cosmo jumped into the view-finder and said "Rick...whattcha doin?" I thought I'd share that with you. See attached.

[Elvenking]

That's something I haven't tried. Now if I can figure out how to keep him from opening the food station doors (there's 5 of them) from the inside (He wedges the very tip of his beak through a very narrow separation, and catches the swing latch and swings it open). I tried to tighten the screws on the latches, but they're as tight as they can go. This is how Cosmo usually gets out. The bolts on his cage door are a last resort. I don't mind so much when I'm home, it can be inconvenient at times. He's pretty well behaved when I'm home, it's just that I've caught him out of his cage, just hanging out on one of his outside perches a couple of times when I came back home after being out a couple of hours and my heart just sunk! He was OK, but this is not good. I have to be able to lock him down before I leave the apartment. Can you imagine me asking someone to "baby-sit" Cosmo, if I were to be gone for a couple of days, and saying, "Oh, and on top of making sure he has fresh food and water, Cosmo may decide to come out for a little R&R outside the cage..."! Yeah, I have my work cut out for me. Did you see the attachment in my reply to Talon entitled "Cosmo helps Rick show Talon the hinges.jpg"? Talon asked me what type of hinges I had on Cosmo's cage. So I went to take a quick picture of the bottom bolt when Cosmo jumped into the view-finder and said "Rick...whattcha doin?" He's a character!

 

Just one thing that comes to mind for the food doors...you could get the screwable radiator hose clamps and wrap em around the bars. He could never ever defeat that.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hose_clamp

Edited May 8, 2010 by Elvenking

[JJsHoney]

I Don't know how much it can help as I already suggested it but on my cage for Rene I have the food doors that open like yours, we had to drill a hole into the doors to be able to put a cage lock on them so Rene will not escape, it takes me FOREVER just to feed him, but it prevents my dogs from trying to "play" with him and whatever other mischief he will/can get into.

On a side note my camera is refusing to put pictures on my computer.. I really am trying to show you what I have done to keep him in..