Here is my report on 3D printing safely for animal welfare: https://awionline.org/3d-printing-animal-welfare Please read if you intend to use 3D printing with your pet.
This is a twist in perch for "Chinese breeder cage" style collapsible wire cages (named so as they are usually Chinese manufactured.) As you can see in the photo, the perch was also successful with 0.5 x 1.0 12-14 gauge mesh, though it won't work for all half inch welded mesh.
I printed it in two colors, using a light tan for the "branch" that holds the chain away from the bars, and a light green for the vine toy. The color choice is because this toy is used in outdoor caging, printed in ABS. I wanted to be sure the places the birds would set their feet would not get too hot to touch in the sun. A deep mahogany brown could lead to toasty toes, as dark colors absorb light from the sun and get hot.
This can be printed single color, too, if you don't have a dual extruder. The leaf-shaped charms make plastic chain fun again for birds that are bored of normal chains.
This design will print without any support material. I used a "brim" and a glue stick on my heated bed, then peeled the brim layers off when I was done, instead of a raft.
Make sure to run a lighter over the chain when done to burn out fine filament fuzz and adhere any surface layers of filament. It is important that no loose strange catch toes or become entanglement hazards.
If you have clips you'd prefer to use, instead of the built in mount, ungroup the shells/models in your slicer and just delete the perchy part! The chain will print a lot faster on its own. If you have a dual nozzle or multi-color printer, you can assign the different links different colors for more visual interest.
I have this built the way it is, so when feeding breeding birds in outdoor flights, I can untwist and rotate toys and perches done in this style between cages, to maximize novelty, and limit any stress for birds who may not prefer to hang out with humans. The faster I can swap toys and goodies for non-human socialized birds, the more I'm like Santa, some awesome weirdo bringing cool gifts, as opposed to a creepy home invader.
toy_vine_twist_in.stl | 593.9KB |