Room to Spread Out

After three months of waiting I was able to pick up our new (assembled) cage December 10th. I started assembling it that weekend and finished it up this past weekend. On the fist day I assembled the main cage, which meant connecting two 30 inch wide panels each for the front and back to make a 60 inch wide by 60 inch high panel, and then connect the sides, top, and bottom to them. Apparently on the first Saturday I must have been still a little strung out from trip the day before. When I finished assembling the cage, M noticed that I had attached one of the front panels upside down, which was obvious because the doors were upside down. Then, I noticed that I had installed the end panels opposite to where they should have been, and the doors on both opened the wrong way. So, last Saturday I spent more than an hour removing a few dozen "c" rings from around the upside down front panel, removed it, an installed it correctly. For the ends, I just swapped the doors. Once that all was done, the rest of the assembly went quickly. The new cage measures 60 inches wide by 60 inches high by 24 inches deep, exactly twice as wide as their previous cage.

That afternoon we rolled out the old cage, which was going to our son for his glider, Molly, and wheeled in the new one. M had new cage stuff all ready to go, including a neat "Santa Pants" sleeping pouch. That night we passed on tent time in order to let them come out and check out their new home. Virga was the first out that night, and she checked out the whole cage, sniffing everything. The others eventually came out, all a little wary at first.  They have since settled in and seem to be enjoying the extra space. We haven't really had the chance to see them playing around in it as we are in bed before they really get going . Most nights they take a post tent time nap after they are returned to their cage and don't going until later after we are in bed.

The gliders' new cage, complete with holiday decorations.