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Cost Effective Cage Liner Material?

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Cost Effective Cage Liner Material?

Postby Cockatude » Sun May 05, 2019 1:22 pm

I no longer have newspaper subscriptions, and my supply of newspaper is running out. I have been looking into better solutions for the bottoms of my birds' cages.

Newsprint rolls will cost about 19 cents per day, as compared to $1.87 for newspapers. Newsprint isn't that great, because anything wet soaks through it.

I saw someone suggesting wax paper on the web. That will cost 42 cents per day. You use less square footage, because you only need one layer.

It occurred to me that I don't need paper at all. Plastic wrap will do exactly what wax paper will do. Unlike newsprint, it will not let liquid pass through. The cost for that would be 20 cents per day. It would also take up WAY less room in the trash and at the dump. I could use magnets to anchor it at the corners.

Wondering what other solutions there are.
Cockatude
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Re: Cost Effective Cage Liner Material?

Postby Michael » Sun May 05, 2019 2:00 pm

The plastic wrap could be a mess to deal with in that kind of size because of how it likes to stick back to itself. I can hardly get a 12x12 square of plastic wrap without it crumpling on itself and in the size required for a cage it would be nuts. Unless it's thicker/stiffer plastic but then it will also end up being way more money.

Moving paper tends to be pretty cheap and work well but you usually have to double or triple it up because anything wet soaks right through.

We usually use the precut expensive wax sheets on the bottom but then put some cheaper sheets in strategic locations and change those daily but the wax sheets every few days.
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Michael
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Re: Cost Effective Cage Liner Material?

Postby Pajarita » Mon May 06, 2019 9:37 am

I agree with Michael on the difficulty of using plastic wrap as a cage liner but, even if it wasn't, the cost to the environment would be HUGE -all that plastic! Personally, there is nothing easier and more practical than paper. And there are lots of paper publications that are free. I suscribe to a newspaper both because I like to read it instead of the internet news (I read those, too) and because I use them for the cages but, because I have a lot of large cages and I change the paper every day (and, this time of the year, sometimes twice a day because they love to pull it and chew on it), I need a lot of paper so I always 'steal' a small pile of the free ones at the supermarket. There are small ones (the ones that are half the size of the NYT) that are local but there is a Chinese one that has the BEST paper -large, white, thick) and there are always the circulars with coupons from the supermarket itself.

I also use the packing paper that comes in boxes (like from Amazon or similar -it's crumpled but you can iron it easily) and, in a bind, I cut open supermarket paper bags.
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Re: Cost Effective Cage Liner Material?

Postby Cockatude » Mon May 06, 2019 9:50 am

Paper doesn't actually degrade in landfills. In the absence of oxygen, it sits there forever, taking up much more room than plastic. It's also dirty to produce, and it costs much more to ship because it weighs more and takes up more space. Plastic is probably better for the environment, by a wide margin.

Stretching it on the pans may be difficult, though.
Cockatude
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Cost Effective Cage Liner Material?

Postby Pajarita » Mon May 06, 2019 10:06 am

Uuuuh, nope. Paper decomposes in a matter of weeks while plastic can take up to 1,000 YEARS!!!!
See this: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-long- ... se-2878033

Also, most newspaper is made out of recycled paper (not the whole thing but a portion of it).
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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