Things To-Be Parrot Owners Need To Consider: Discussion:

[seagoatdeb]

I use bleach, and then really rinse for most things, but not for coconut husks, or any other porous material, It soaks right into them. Much better to use a natural soap, and then bake. Hydrogen peroxide is the best bleach to use, if you have to, on coconut husks to remove the mold, it will not leave a toxic residue inside the husks.

Here is a some info on the amount of heat needed to kill mold completely including spores. If you cant indentify the mold always use at least 30 minutes at 65ºC/149ºF.

Species Lethal Temperature Time Duration Reference
Alternaria alternata 63ºC/145ºF 25 minutes Domsch, 1993
Aspergillus fumigatus 65ºC/149ºF 30 minutes Bollen, 1969
Aspergillus niger 63ºC/145ºF 25 minutes Domsch, 1993; Page 102
Chaetomium globosum 57ºC/135ºF 10 minutes Domsch, 1993; Page 119
Cladosporium herbarum 50ºC/122ºF 10 minutes Ridley, G. unpublished data
Stachybotrys chartarum 60ºC/140ºF 30 minutes

On the summer days that are in the mid 30Cs to low 40Cs, I usually do my lilac branches, and scrub them with a scrubby in bleach water and then rinse them and let them sun dry, to make sure all bacteria and parasites are gone. Then I bring the whole branches in and use them all winter, to make things.

Most of Chantillys mold problem is from doing big batches, which it takes longer to dry, so the oven will really help speed up the drying time so mold doesnt happen. Back in Victoria, mold was a big problem, here its so dry, mold does not happen. Even if i dye big batches of things, they are dry in no time. You can actually use a space heater to help things to dry faster too. Its better to prevent the mold from ever occuring.

For paper, I buy rolls of natural paper, and i use them to line the cages and make toys, and i also use the white paper for printing, and dye it and crimp it as well. Right now my Pois can go through a toy a day. So I like to make toys that will still be here and then i just add more chewables, most of the time. I use the left over bits for the foot toys, and rescued bits become new toys. I like the hanging atom and orbit styles a lot that i make with the dog hoops from the dollar store, and dog ropes. I have made huge play areas for so little money. I can add pine slabs to the atoms and then just replace them when they chew them up.

[Pajarita]

I knew nothing about parrots before I found myself at the vet with my first one. I was way behind the curve...my bird knew more than I did about his care. I'd like to think that since then I've caught up, but some days I wonder.

#1 for me; I didn't realize how much my schedule would change and be such a strict one. Mandatory was that I was needed to get my birds up in the morning on time, get them to bed at night on time (my birds are in cages for the nighttime) and be there for 2 meals a day! I am an integral part of their flock.

EXACTLY!!!! One needs to make drastic changes to keep a parrot healthy and happy and, unfortunately, most newbies have no idea that this is required and the ones that did a lot of good research and think they do, are usually wrong about the degree of such change... I know it caught me by surprise!

[Chantilly]

While the dry heat will stop the growth of the mold and most likely kill the live mold, I am not sure that it will kill the spores., and you still need to clean the item to get rid in the mold on it. I Know that bleach will kill the mold and I think that it also kills the spores. So I would wash the items, if possible in bleach and then rinse and clean all of the surface mold off and then bake at 425 F, for one half to one hour.

Also you mentioned using butcher paper for making toys, I don't use butcher paper, but do use the white packing paper that I find at Wal Mart on occasion. I do not use the butcher paper because of the wax coating on the one side of it.

Thankyou, cool, I will do that.
My butcher paper is not waxed it is just like a newspaper, Infact I dont think I have ever seen waxed buther paper here?

I use bleach, and then really rinse for most things, but not for coconut husks, or any other porous material, It soaks right into them. Much better to use a natural soap, and then bake. Hydrogen peroxide is the best bleach to use, if you have to, on coconut husks to remove the mold, it will not leave a toxic residue inside the husks.

Here is a some info on the amount of heat needed to kill mold completely including spores. If you cant indentify the mold always use at least 30 minutes at 65ºC/149ºF.

Species Lethal Temperature Time Duration Reference
Alternaria alternata 63ºC/145ºF 25 minutes Domsch, 1993
Aspergillus fumigatus 65ºC/149ºF 30 minutes Bollen, 1969
Aspergillus niger 63ºC/145ºF 25 minutes Domsch, 1993; Page 102
Chaetomium globosum 57ºC/135ºF 10 minutes Domsch, 1993; Page 119
Cladosporium herbarum 50ºC/122ºF 10 minutes Ridley, G. unpublished data
Stachybotrys chartarum 60ºC/140ºF 30 minutes

On the summer days that are in the mid 30Cs to low 40Cs, I usually do my lilac branches, and scrub them with a scrubby in bleach water and then rinse them and let them sun dry, to make sure all bacteria and parasites are gone. Then I bring the whole branches in and use them all winter, to make things.

Most of Chantillys mold problem is from doing big batches, which it takes longer to dry, so the oven will really help speed up the drying time so mold doesnt happen. Back in Victoria, mold was a big problem, here its so dry, mold does not happen. Even if i dye big batches of things, they are dry in no time. You can actually use a space heater to help things to dry faster too. Its better to prevent the mold from ever occuring.

For paper, I buy rolls of natural paper, and i use them to line the cages and make toys, and i also use the white paper for printing, and dye it and crimp it as well. Right now my Pois can go through a toy a day. So I like to make toys that will still be here and then i just add more chewables, most of the time. I use the left over bits for the foot toys, and rescued bits become new toys. I like the hanging atom and orbit styles a lot that i make with the dog hoops from the dollar store, and dog ropes. I have made huge play areas for so little money. I can add pine slabs to the atoms and then just replace them when they chew them up.

Thankyou Seagoat
Something I have been wondering about, I have read so much about cotton, and how you have to get this certain special 'fine thread' (or something) so as it doesn't get caught in their crop if they swallow it, is dog rope ok, I have considered getting it before but read to much bad stuff, have you ever had a problem? If it is ok, Kmart sells 1m ropes real cheap so I will grab some

[Wolf]

I don't know what other people use for ropes, but I tend to use sisal rope and I still trim of the frayed areas of the rope just so that they don't inadvertently swallow any of it. With the distance that I have to go to reach the vet, I may be being overly cautious, but, that is me.

[Pajarita]

I also stay away from cotton and use only untreated sisal ropes -I was even able to get to get boodas made with sisal instead of cotton rope (see here: http://www.perchfactory.com/bird_cage_p ... erches.htm).

[InsanityShard]

At least it seems I'll be fine. I have a lot of time on my hands, am willing to put in the effort, and can be very patient. I already know my birds probably won't learn everything I want, I just figure even if they learn nothing I've got good pets. I never taught my Budgies anything and still loved them. I may have failed drastically with a turtle, but at least a parrot is much more up my ally in terms of care. My brother isn't going to ruin this pet by training it to bite! It'll practically never leave my side. I only go out 3 times a week, for 3 hours each, and plan on taking the parrots with me at least two of those times so they can go to a nice quiet bird safe park for some sun and exersize on a harness.