One of my few talents is that I am pretty good at solving physical
problems. I have replaced all my cages with Quality Cages which I love
except for the spring latches. When the weather gets dry here (often)
my finger skin gets cracks and really hurts. With thirty or so latches
to open several times a day it puts a lot of wear on my thumbs, so
I have been trying to figure out a way to improve on this. I have
purchased regular rounded latches from Klubertanz and am using them to
improve the closures on other cages, but how to get some padding on
them? Eureka! Aquarium air hose; fits just right. It must be put on
the lower end first, before fastening it to the cage. It won't go over
the little hook at the end. But the tubing was very hard to slide on.
Then I remembered some slippery goo that electricians use to pull wire,
so..... squirt the inside of the tube with WD-40, the all-purpose
silicone oil. Using a 4" piece of tubing, it will easily be pushed
and pulled up to the rounded push part, stopping before the hook.

Now that I have that figured out I need to get the machine-wrapped
ribbon off the original latches of the Quality Cages. They are really
tightly fastened. I've only gotten one off so far.

I have been improving the black Ware cages by removing the spring
closures and replacing them with two latches on each door. The J clips
are also good for repairing the cages wherever the wire fasteners have
come off. After I am done rebuilding the cage it is better than new. A
good clip plier and a bunch of J clips can save a lot of cages.

Carol Owens
Tucson

[Posted in FML 5731]