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Painting Cages

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Painting Cages

Postby ripberan » Sun May 05, 2019 9:19 am

Hello,
I have a cage that I need to refinish due to rust. I need to know the safest way to go about this. Selecting a paint is my biggest concern. I don't want take any risks when it comes to safety. To be honest, I'd rather pay someone to do the work, but the only place I can think of going is a body shop.
I live in Michigan.

Any advice would be helpful.
ripberan
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Re: Painting Cages

Postby Michael » Sun May 05, 2019 9:28 am

It is much simpler to just buy another cage. It isn’t worth repainting considering how inexpensive powder coat cages are in the first place and because you can’t do it the same yourself. The reason cages are powder coated rather than painted is because parrots have strong beaks and tend to chip and chew off the paint.

Many paints are toxic and your risk harming your bird. Repainting won’t last long. Getting the cage professionally re-powder costed will likely cost about half the price of the original cage or more. And finally, even re-powder coated the cage will still continue to rust from inside because inside the tubes is not coated! These cages are intended to be inexpensive and last 5-10 years and then be thrown away and replaced with a new one. The only truly long term cage is stainless steel.
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Michael
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Re: Painting Cages

Postby ripberan » Sun May 05, 2019 10:06 am

Thank you! I was just looking up stainless steel cages. Any recommendations for a black capped conure? A cage that I can take apart is best. The cage part of her current enclosure fully separates from the plastic tray, and I love this as it is so easy to clean.

Also...how much rust is "too much?" There are only a couple very small spots on the grate and where the cage sits on the plastic tray.
ripberan
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Black capped conure
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Re: Painting Cages

Postby Michael » Sun May 05, 2019 10:55 am

A little rust or first signs of rust is probably ok. When the cage is a hideous mess and rust water runs down the cage after you clean it, it's definitely time to replace. Rust is inevitable with powder coat cages because they rust from inside even if the powder coat is pristine.

My suggestion is to give it a little more time (maybe 1-3 more years by the way you described it) and save up for a bigger stainless steel cage so that you are getting an upgrade both on material and size. Just be really careful not to exceed 5/8" bar spacing because many stainless cages have much bigger bar spacing to save on cost but that will be dangerous for a smaller bird.
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Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Painting Cages

Postby Pajarita » Mon May 06, 2019 9:41 am

I agree completely with Michael. In my personal opinion, recoating cages is not cost-efficient. I can get large, good cages for less than what they sell them on the stores because I go to a wholesaler that I happen to know personally BUT I have also found wonderful cages in CL. If you go this route, don't go for the newer ones because those have bad coating jobs and do not last, go for the old ones, those are practically indestructible!

But, if the rust spots are in a place where the bird doesn't usually reach, simply scrub the spots daily with a good, fine steelwool pad and wait a couple more years to replace it (and, in the meantime, you can look in CL and EBay all the time to see if you can find a bargain).
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