Fully Cleaning Your Parrot's Cage

[Nokota]

Hey um for those of you with small cages? My cage is actually fairly big but still small enough to fit in the dishwasher when dismantled. Even without detergent the high pressure, super hot water gets it clean and sanitized with virtually no work... Of course, this does not happen often... It is a very big cage for such a tiny little budgie and he barely spends any time in it anyway, he does not even eat in there, so it only usually needs cleaning like this once a month or so.

His jungle gym is another matter entirely.

The jungle gym is hand-made by me. The base is two large shoe boxes bound together using lots of hot glue and attached to the wall with T-pins and a support from below. It is filled with sand for catching poop. Once a day I run a small rake through the sand to turn the poop over - it will need changing for the first time soon and I have had it for 2 months! Nice idea, yes?

The perches and structure are another matter. It is made entirely out of wooden dowels, steel wire, and hot glue (non toxic, essentially plastic with a low melting point.) and the entire thing is tightly bound with yarn wrapped tightly around and then held over a candle to melt the fibers in the yarn together creating a very rough texture that has a nice grip.

Keeping this sanitary can be a little challenging as it is soft material and thus cannot be cleaned the same way, however, the perches are positioned in such a way that it is unlikely poop will ever fall on them (It has once in the two months since I built it. Just once.) So I got a little spray bottle and have been spraying it down with a diluted lemon juice and baking soda mixture to sanitize it (I noticed others have mentioned the combo!) a couple of times a week. If anyone wants instructions on how to make one of these, send me a PM!

[HungryBird]

I fill a spray bottle with vinegar and warm water and spray the cage. Then I use wipes/rags/sponges/paper towels to clean everything. I've found that my flight cages have a tiny little space that collects all sorts of crap and it drives me crazy. The only thing that works well is a metro card. It pushes everything out. I dry the cage afterwards because I'm weird. Perches get scrubbed with a sponge in soapy water. Scrubbed and rinsed many times because, again, I'm weird.

[RedDragon1288]

I've been using a heavy duty steam cleaner to clean my cages. It gets cold in my area and very little sun light to air dry the cages.

[mresmeralda]

Thanks alot kathleen your info will be really helpful when i \get my

[EmmaH]

I have a large cage for my parrot. I change the newspaper lining every day for him because he loves to pull it uk through the bars and have a good chew on it. To do the thorough clean twice a month I take the cage into the garden, spray it with antibacterial spray and then get the jet wash on it. It's the quickest way I've found but can be a pain hauling the cage in and out of the house.

[ljeanne]

i scub with vinager and water 2x a week and if its really bad i use the steam cleaner by shark. never near the birds though . i change the paper daily.

[AuraKiwi&Jala]

What about using a BBQ cleaning brush

[Michael]

No way. That would scrape all the powder coating off and ruin the cage.

[Birdshop]

One trick I actually got from my grandmother, who used this solution to clean floors back in the depression when they couldn't afford soap and it cleans like a charm and is completely safe and natural... in a bucket make a mixture of hot water, lemon juice and baking soda. It smells really nice and cleans poop easily.

This is a very good tip I do the same with my pet birds I also learned this from my grandmother.

[GreenWing]

Poop-Off is awesome stuff; I only use it for carpet mishaps, though!

I was told by an avian vet to clean her cage with simple soap and water. I get the cheap dish scrubbers at the dollar store, scrub the cage, and rinse off with the hose.