Cleaning Cloth

[healthyaddict]

So still being a parrot n00b, I've only had to fully scrub down Doctor's cage twice now, but am wondering about how to clean cloth/rope toys.

Right now when I clean his cage I use a water vinegar mix & scrub down & rinse everything in the bathtub. Toys, natural/unnatural branches, etc. THe only thing I haven't done this to are the cloth toys. I'll scrub off droppings, and I've sprayed GSE on it, but I'm not sure that's enough. I don't want to soak them in vinegar, because I'm worried that the smell will bother him if it sticks.

What do you use to clean your bird's cloth toys?

[Utoomom]

I have found that steaming hot water, baking soda and white vinegar work very well and dysinfect as well. Fortunately all the many toys, towels and roap perches I soak never leave the scent of vinegar because I rinse them all in steaming hot water after. As for the cage, also! If its a sunny day, I'll let everything dry in the sun.

[marie83]

Soak in disinfectant then boil them. Unless they have platic bits which may melt.

Its a good idea not to leave small bird with rope toys anyway, always supervise them.

[healthyaddict]

I'll try and steam rinse some of them post-vinegar/disinfectant. There is one bungee I have that has plastic on the ends... I might just have to let that one soak/air dry.

Thanks all!

[Andromeda]

Both my birds have some rope perches that have plastic end caps. I remove any droppings, food, or debris and then put them in the top rack in the dishwasher. I run a cycle without using any soap and I also don't use the heated drying feature just because I'm unsure if the plastic could withstand those temperatures. After they come out of the dishwasher I spray them with GSE as a disinfectant.

I have two of each kind because they take a day or two to dry from the dishwasher so I need spares. When I take out the perches to clean them I just put in the other (clean) set.

If they have any metal parts (bells, chains, etc.) make sure to dry the metal by hand because if you leave the metal to air dry it will rust eventually.

[Navre]

I soaked my rope perch (actually, it's the bird's rope perch. I'm too fat for it to support me) in the sink with some hot water and some poop-off. After a half hour, or so, I scrubbed it with the brush I use to scrub cage parts.

It came out pretty good. I put it in the oven at 150 to dry it out. I figure that there is a wire in there that holds the shape and I wanted to try to keep it from rusting.

I'm sure the bird can't wait to "re-christen" it.

[liz]

I put them in the washer on hot with detergent but set it for a second rinse.

[kanwal]

Hello everyone!

Im very new here but not new to owning birds. All Ive hand trained myself. This little girl has me very stumped! We bought her from the pet store, as a x-mas present. Well, my fiances daughter got a little excited - without our knowledge till recently... when we caught her - was sticking her hand in the cage chasing my poor ocean around trying to get her to sit in her hand .. Its now been explained to her that this is NOT okay and she was actually scaring the little thing.

[Wolf]

Hello everyone!

Im very new here but not new to owning birds. All Ive hand trained myself. This little girl has me very stumped! We bought her from the pet store, as a x-mas present. Well, my fiances daughter got a little excited - without our knowledge till recently... when we caught her - was sticking her hand in the cage chasing my poor ocean around trying to get her to sit in her hand .. Its now been explained to her that this is NOT okay and she was actually scaring the little thing.

I must say that I don't know what you need as you have not said and this is probably not the right place to post this at. Both of these things I can help with but I will need to know what the problem is.

[hunt85]

interesting post, found a lot of useful information!