I usually just leave the old cage nuts in place when removing equipment, but they do occasionally get in the way and have to be removed. Until recently, I just used a flat blade screwdriver to press the clip off one side, which caused the nut to spring off into the bowels of the cabinet with the dust bunnies.
More recently, I discovered a tool I've dubbed "the toenail clipper of death" that makes removing the nuts much easier. As you can see from the photo, it slips over the back of the cage nut and squeezes the tabs on the nut closed just enough that you can lever it out of its hole pretty easily. You do have to fiddle a little with the adjustment screw to get the jaws to close enough to get a nut out of your rack.
Some folks pitch the toenail clipper of death as an insertion tool, too, but I find the hook type lets me get the batch of cage nuts for a given device in faster. I highly recommend the $19 cage nut removal tool at stayonline.com.
While the wand chooses the wizard, the wise geek spends a few extra minutes to choose his cage nuts -- and the tools he uses to install them -- carefully.
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