Help on a future play gym? :D

[Broomer]

Polycord is to wrap the Sphere in, for grip and to keep him away from the tube itself. far better grip then vetwrap. B)

[Broomer]

Not sure if i've seen Mika's playstand, got a link?

[Broomer]

Wait, nevermind, found it.

 

Yeah, I found that one. I wanted to go for a variation of the Hoopball/Atom/Orbitz, all of which are wrapped in Polycord .. since I've seen many-a-Grey hanging upside-down, I thought it better for more grip :lol:

 

I can just picture Loki running around the sphere like the carnival morotcycle drivers in the Globe-o-DOOM, or whatever they're called.

 

I'd just have to teach him to "Woo-woo-woo-woo" Like Curley from the three stooges when he does hehehe.

[n2fisher]

Ahhh .. so basically you wrap it around the flex PVC in the sphere. Sounds reasonable -- how do you attach it so it doesn't come off?

 

Gandalf LOVES pulling off the vetrap on the stands that I made him. I have to replace it periodically, but clearly rope wrapped around it would work better. Not sure how to attach it in a way that won't hurt his feet.

[n2fisher]

I found elsewhere that you drill a hole near the end of the PVC large enough to put the cord in, then use hotglue to seal it.

 

Sounds like some kind of crimp-on would work as well, if you can crimp it inside a 3/4 pipe. Probably not reasonable. Guess I'll be buying a glue gun. This looks interesting!! So where do you fine "polycord" that won't hurt greys?

 

Reading over on birdboard .. may find answers there.

[zooman]

my one attempt of a pvc stand was a great look but failure in that my TAG is scared to death of it!!..I made one mistake and i think hes stuck on it. When i brought the pvc pipe it was 10ft in length. When i brought it into the house he saw just pipe and not me and freaked and flew. Sooo i even pick it up and he flies. He saw me put it together and mistake number 2 he know knows scaey pipe is new stand = death haha. Its my hypthesis anyways he'll try anythign new go anywhere and not be scared for some reason this stand is the devil to him and thats my only guess. Any suggestions?

[lovemyGreys]

Broomer here is the link for Mika's stand..

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/african-grey/86094-mikas-new-playstand.html

[n2fisher]

Re: scared of playstand.

 

It took me a while to get Gandalf used to it. At first he was scared of it and wouldn't touch it.

 

I changed the color of the vetrap on the stand, and placed it by his cage for a couple of days (not sure if the change of color helped, it made me feel like I did something)

 

I took a spare piece of pvc wrapped in the new color, and had him step up on it several times .. it was about 6 inches long and my hand covered most of it, so he only saw a little piece of it.

 

I uncovered more and more of that piece, and got him comfortable with the pvc with vetrap around it. He eventually would do it with a longer piece.

 

I then tried him with the stand again, placing the stand right next to my chair, and getting him closer and closer to it -- eventually he just went right over to it and had a good time on it.

 

As with any toy with a grey, it just takes him seeing it and getting used to it in his environment. Some of the toys that I bring home from the pet shop he won't go near the first few times I try it in his cage; I have to put it in his field of view for a while.

 

At least that's what worked with mine ... perhaps your has a more deep seated fear of pvc than mine did.

 

Oh -- I had him step up onto bare pvc after he was comfortable with the vetrapped one, so he got used to the feel of the bare pvc as well. Now he loves just sliding down the bare pvc vertical support (of course, his goal there is to get me to pick him up ...)<br><br>Post edited by: n2fisher, at: 2008/07/29 19:13

[n2fisher]

Hey Broomer -- found a site that has VERY cheap pvc connectors!

 

http://www.dripworksusa.com/store/pvc.php

 

40 cents for a 3/4" T

32 cents for a 3/4" elbow

 

Doesn't seem to have the "slip T"s that you've found elsewhere. I'm having a hard time locating them because most sites refer to the normal PVC as "slip" connector; wish they had called that T something other than slip!

 

Don't know what shipping to Canada would be; but it might be worthwhile for you to check them out.

 

NOTE: I obviously haven't purchased anything from them; might be best to call them.

 

Norm

[Broomer]

Hmm, I'll keep them in mind.

 

Also, if it says slip, shouldn't that work too? The other forms are threaded. The pictures don't exactly show if it goes all the way through straight, but if it does, that would work exactly the same as the ones I showed. slide it on, and 1 screw to hold it on.

 

Again, I haven't looked at them in person yet, so I haven't a clue if you can do that hehe.:unsure:

[n2fisher]

No, they look like standard PVC T fittings, where the pipe won't go all the way through.

 

Found another site, slip T fitting for $1.04 each. Provides for shipping to Canada. Other items are a bit more expensive, but it might be worth paying $10 or so in shipping to avoid making so many cuts in the pipes.

 

http://www.creativeshelters.com/Fittings/PVC-Structure-Fitting.aspx

 

 

Most of the fittings that I've found say "slip", meaning you SLIP the pipe into the fitting, attaching it with glue as needed. I.e., not threaded.<br><br>Post edited by: n2fisher, at: 2008/07/30 07:34

[zooman]

Thanks for the advice ive left it in open view so he sees it daily. Funny when i pass by it with him on me he grabs hard on my arm with his nails and or trys to crawl up my arm to hide. poor guy..i thought of putting it in his room by the cage but didnt want him to fear his home you know? I'll give the big suck some time and try again. If it didnt take me 4 hrs to put it all together i wouldnt be mad and just give it away and if this was normal for him to be scared hes like fearless just this though. So you gave me a good idea i think im goign to wrap it more in sisal so maybe that'l make the scary death stand more friendly. heres a pic of it not scary is it? haha

[n2fisher]

Wow -- that looks great! What's the second bar up -- it looks like wood, the brown one? The um poop catcher doesn't look large enough -- my Gandalf will probably miss it a lot. Don't give up on it -- your bird will love it once he gets acclimated to it. Just give him time to get used to it being in his environment. I would suggest putting vetrap on the topmost vertical and horizontal bars, as Gandalf tends to like high things, so he'll probably be up on top of the toy hangers that you have a lot of the time.

[n2fisher]

Another thought -- is he comfortable with the toys that are on the stand? Perhaps if not you should introduce those to him in his cage or however you do it before trying to introduce the whole thing.

 

Or take the toys off and let him get used to it bare first.

 

Curious why you added food/water bowls to it .. I know a lot of stands have these, but .. playstands are playstands, not things that the bird is going to be on for hours on end, aren't they? Gandalf will let me know if he needs food or water by being "uppity" .. I'll take him back to his cage and he'll go over to the waterbowl. It seems like an unnecessary addition to me. Am I missing something?

[zooman]

Thanks i thought it looked nice. Zuri not so much.lol.

 

Yes the wood is hardwood dowel as the top perch thought it wouldnt be soo foreign to him. and the toys are old toys he loves so it shouldnt be a big deal. I actually tried to take one of the towers off to limit his feeling of being overshadowed still nope. The food and water well the last protable stand i had i leave here in my room because when im in here my computer room hes on his real big day ong play stand and wont be quiet..but not annoying type talking whistling to me saying coe get me and ill be quiet. So sometimes im here for extended periods so he'd eat all the time and in my eyes in the wild they forage in different areas in the wild so this is a forage area. Thats my thought anyways. As for the pooping area well for the limited time he spent on it it worked well learned that i shouldve put paper down first as when he let one go the sound of it hitting scared him and he flew to me.

[judygram]

Zooman that looks pretty good, maybe with a little more time Zuri will come to accept it and enjoy it, just be patient.

[Broomer]

Ok, 10+ hours of searching online for a local store that has a catalog online that has what I need, it's just not happening ...

 

 

{Feel-bad-00020066}

 

 

Now to start phoning the local places and harrassing them!

 

 

{Feel-good-0002006E}

 

 

Phoning is far more fun...

[n2fisher]

Yeah -- the online directoories for most of the stores appear to be very poorly organized for things such as pvc connectors. Phone may not even help; it may take an actual trip to the stores to check out what they have and prices.

 

I know when I walked through lowes/menards/etc the last time I was doing this I was completely lost -- they had all kinds of pvc piping, of different makes and models. I just looked around until I found the cheapest ones they had. Didn't need no high pressure or anything like that....

 

Good luck on your search!

[Broomer]

Hmm, ok, found a place online (finally)

 

http://www.usphome.com/catalog/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=29917&Page=1

 

They classify it as "Dog Agility/Furniture" pipe fittings. Price is cheaper then anything I've seen by almost half.

 

I've added everything I need to a cart, plus 2 extra of each fitting (I know myself a wee bit too well. :lol: ), and it's $51.50, the rope I've figured will cost 40$, The Flexible piping: $11, and the 70' of PVC piping will cost about 60$ ... not including the screws and Vetwrap, my total is down from $300, to $165 ... MUCH more managable.

 

That and we visited a few more of the pet stores in the area, the pre-made stnads were so BORING, and were $180+ each.

 

Looks like I'm building it afterall! :laugh:

 

 

I wonder if I can convince the hospital to hold a room open for me ... hehe :silly:

[Broomer]

That 51.50 of course does not including shipping, but I don't see it being more then $15 for shipping, which would still make this stand cheaper. B)

[n2fisher]

Sounds great! Look forwards to pics and stories of how well your bird does with it!

[Lyric]

Thanks Broomer- I'll check it out! Good luck with your project and let us know how it all turns out.

[Broomer]

Ok, did some more math (if you haven't figured out, this is like a second hard copy on here lol, incase something happens :silly: )

 

I figured out how many cuts I have to do total, and how many of each length.

 

PVC lengths: 22

 

28": 15 (these are all the horizontal bars)

37 7/16": 4

15 1/2": 2

39 5/8": 1 (across the top)

 

The good thing is, my total length estimation went from 67 feet, to 54. I figured a couple bars that I just don't need on there.

 

Now I can cut the PVC up in the Home Depot parking lot, and not have to do it in here... and avoid the dust hehe. I just love the fact that I have 36 connectors, but only 22 cuts hehe. Thank god for those Slip-Tee fittings hehe.

 

Going to order the parts soon, should start assembly in a few weeks. I want to have it done before Loki comes home on Sept 9th (or 15th depending), so that way it's here, and it will be part of the environment.<br><br>Post edited by: Broomer, at: 2008/08/01 05:27

[KimmieB]

Broomer wrote:

Now I can cut the PVC up in the Home Depot parking lot, and not have to do it in here

 

 

Remind me to have the cell phone on me that day.. just incase ... better yet a first aid kit! :whistle: B)<br><br>Post edited by: KimmieB, at: 2008/08/01 05:54

[Carolyn]

Mika and I had so much fun building his playstand, I wish you all the luck building. I used 3/4" I found it was best on his feet and then wraped it in Vet wrap. If you are unable to find the connectors (5 Way) they are available at our local plumbing store here.

 

Best of luck building

Carolyn