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What to use to disinfect bird toys..?

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What to use to disinfect bird toys..?

Postby Teabird » Thu Jul 31, 2014 6:45 pm

I'm new to the forum so I'm not sure if this is the proper place to post this. I know how to clean my birds cage, but I'm not sure how to clean his toys safely. Can I soak them in vinegar and water? What's the best way to clean bird toys. I've looked everywhere on the internet but I can't seem to find a way. Just a way to clean bird cages and perches. I want to go to a bird fair where I live and pick up some toys. I want them to be safe for him. Thank you.
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Re: What to use to disinfect bird toys..?

Postby Pajarita » Fri Aug 01, 2014 12:06 pm

My birds don't have that many toys because they have each other and hardly ever use them so I do wash them when I do the thorough cleaning and I use soap and water.
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Re: What to use to disinfect bird toys..?

Postby Lady » Sat Aug 02, 2014 11:22 am

Hi Teabird,
Welcome to the forum. I use a vinegar and water solution because that is what I use to clean her cage. Just make sure you rinse them thoroughly. I have also read other places that say it is good if you can steam clean them. I do own a steam cleaner and use it as well once a month or on anything that doesn't seem to be as clean as I would like since they do put them in their mouth. Some folks that have a dishwasher say they use that but with no soap and it has to be rinsed before you use it for the toys as residue may be in the dishwasher as well. How about the shower, I have heard that one as well. Surely like everything else it must be cleaned itself first.
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Re: What to use to disinfect bird toys..?

Postby Teabird » Sat Aug 02, 2014 1:59 pm

Lady wrote:Hi Teabird,
Welcome to the forum. I use a vinegar and water solution because that is what I use to clean her cage. Just make sure you rinse them thoroughly. I have also read other places that say it is good if you can steam clean them. I do own a steam cleaner and use it as well once a month or on anything that doesn't seem to be as clean as I would like since they do put them in their mouth. Some folks that have a dishwasher say they use that but with no soap and it has to be rinsed before you use it for the toys as residue may be in the dishwasher as well. How about the shower, I have heard that one as well. Surely like everything else it must be cleaned itself first.

Thank you so much! I really wasn't sure what the safest way to clean my cockatiels toys. I will try out the methods you listed. I greatly appreciate it. I love my cockatiel so much and I just want him to stay happy and healthy.
:greycockatiel: :D
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Re: What to use to disinfect bird toys..?

Postby DanaandPod » Sat Jan 03, 2015 10:26 pm

Vinegar and water are awesome! Since, I've been giving my parrot blueberries....some of his poop can leave a dark blue stain. After using the poop off spray, I clean up with vinegar and works on carpet like a charm. Plus, I have an aging rabbit...who occasionally pees on the carpet now... and vinegar and water have made the stains disappear and the carpet look brand new.
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Re: What to use to disinfect bird toys..?

Postby Seth » Thu Jan 08, 2015 3:03 pm

Please see my post on this subject in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=24&t=11578&p=78494&sid=b989a1f580da53c8ce995c3fd2d2eb77#p78494

For general cleansing I usually use water, poop off, or stabilized chlorine dioxide (Oxyfresh) solution. My primary method of sanitation (following cleansing) is stabilized chlorine dioxide. Please read the post for more detail concerning chemicals and methodology.

I think I did not address it in the abovementioned post - my method for perch cleaning is that I have an iron shaped scrub brush with a handle that is ONLY used for perch cleaning and sanitation. I run the perches under hot water for initial treatment. Then I spray the brush with Oxyfresh solution (described in my other post) and foam it with a quick pass under the running water. Then I scrub the perches to clean debris from them. I rinse the perches and set them aside. Then I rinse clean the scrub brush and reapply the Oxyfresh solution. Then I do another scrubbing and rinsing session with each perch to sanitize it. The perches are placed on a table on fresh paper towels to air dry.

For toys I either soak them in oxyfresh and then scrub clean as described above or I spray with poop off, rinse clean, and then disinfect/sanitize with oxyfresh and rinse as described above.

My canary and parrots have separate brushes that I replace regularly JUST for their usage. This is to ensure that germs and food particles that are toxic to birds but not humans do not transfer themselves from my dish sponges. The canary and conures have separate brushes to ensure that they do not risk infecting each other as the different families of avians do have different kinds of bacterium et al that are harmful and helpful to them.

For very small toys or items with nooks and crannies like boxes, I buy soft bristle toothbrushes (the softest bristles will not scratch the plastic - leaving places for bacteria to hide). In my area Target sells boxes of soft bristle toothbrushes with pictures of Snoopy on them for under a dollar so I just keep a supply of those and change them once a month or so.
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Re: What to use to disinfect bird toys..?

Postby RiffRaff » Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:07 pm

I clean my whole house, including bird cage and bird toys with vinegar and water. I try to keep my bird away from the vinegar fumes by moving either my bird or the cleaning to another room, but only because my birds don't like the smell.

If I really need to disinfect, I use a 3-5% Hydrogen Peroxide solution after the vinegar and then let the item dry completely. Most Hydrogen Peroxide you would buy in a store is 3-5% (usually comes in a small brown bottle), so just use it as is.

If you are cleaning something that bird will eat or drink from, or is likely to chew up, rinse well after the Hydrogen Peroxide cleaning before handing it back over to your bird. Note you should avoid spraying Hydrogen Peroxide around your bird because you don't want to get it in their eyes.

You can use either a spray bottle or a soak, for both vinegar and Hydrogen Peroxide.
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