Buying extra stainless steel food/water bowls
If you’re like me, you may have a lot of:
- Birds
- Bird cages
- Stainless steel food/water bowls
So many bowls
Since I have so many bowls, I don’t hand wash them, I run a dedicated dishwasher load every morning. But then I need two of every kind of bowl I use every day.
So many manufacturers
You’d think this would be simple. There are typically 3 different bowl sizes: 4 inch, 5 inch, and 6 inch. But there are some complications. There are a lot of brands of bird cages. I have four:
- A&E
- HQ
- Avian Adventures
- One without any indication what brand it is
Luckily A&E and HQ are interchangeable, but Avian Adventures are frustratingly a tiny bit smaller. If you use an Avian Adventures cup in the cage of another brand, it can fall right through the middle of the cup holder. Frustrating!
Shopping
Then comes the frustrating part. Shopping for additional cups. Here are some things you’ll find.
- Sometimes bowls are specified in width
- Sometimes bowls are specified in how much liquid they contain
- Often it’s not mentioned what types of cages they work with
- Some sites have astronomically high costs and shipping costs because they drop ship rather than stock the items
Extra frustrating is even the websites for the manufacturers themselves don’t list seed cups or they list a subset of them. A&E requires you to set up an account to find information about almost anything on their site.
Recommendation
The only sites I’ve had luck with are Bastrop Cages and bird-cage.com. Their websites are not great, but if you call Bastrop Cages, the owner is knowledgeable about replacement parts for cages. He will talk your ear off, though!
