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How often do you clean your parrot's cage?

Bird rooms, aviaries, cages, foraging trees, play gyms, and stands. Discuss your parrot's locations and perches.

How often do you change newspapers in cage bottom?

Daily
24
41%
Every Other Day
7
12%
Several Times a Week
7
12%
Once a Week
16
28%
Once a Month
3
5%
Rarely
1
2%
 
Total votes : 58

Re: How often do you clean your parrot's cage?

Postby Kenny » Sat Jan 07, 2012 9:19 pm

Puppy, my Senegal is almost never in his cage, except to drink water so I rarely have to clean it.
Seriously, there is no poop at the bottom and Puppy eats outside the cage too.

So I voted, Rarely - but I'll bet it is cleaner than most.
Kenny
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 22
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
Flight: No

Re: How often do you clean your parrot's cage?

Postby Avialae » Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:03 am

As a zookeeper i know the importance of cleaning a little every day. Since i assume my cages are large, i clean it the way i clean the rest of the house. If i notice food or poo on a branch, i clean it off. If i notice poo or food on the ground (i don't use newspapers, dust-free wood chips is amongst other things; the cage floor can be an enriching place if it's large enough!) i just pick/sweep it up and replace what i took with some new wood chips. Same thing with cage bars etc. The days my birds has food bowls, which is not often, i clean them once a day.
I change all of the material at the bottom, in foraging trays etc about once every other week. Also try to change one or two branches/other "furniture" such as boings etc every week or so. New toys/enrichment every day, any part that can be saved gets wiped down and used again.
User avatar
Avialae
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 47
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Types of Birds Owned: Jardines, Senegals
Flight: Yes

Re: How often do you clean your parrot's cage?

Postby HungryBird » Mon Jan 09, 2012 8:28 am

Food and water bowls get washed with soap daily. Twice a day, sometimes more if they are extra messy.

Newspapers changed daily. Sometimes only one but often twice, depending on what they ate and how messy it was.

On the weekends I like to clean their perches and the cages. Perches get scrubbed with soap and water. Cages get sprayed down with vinegar and hot water and then I actually get down and scrape all the gunk off. With sponges, a metrocard, q-tips, and some paper towels or something like that at the end to dry everything so the cage doesn't develop any rust. I'm not sure how necessary the drying part is but I want the cages to last for a long time. I bought a wonderful spray bottle that has a strong stream so it just blasts everything out of the way. I cover the floor beneath with newspaper and then just pick it up afterwards.

Toys that can be safely cleaned are cleaned. Toys that can't and are disgusting are tossed. I usually cut off usable parts first though. Almost anything can be a foot toy.

I've been trying to arrange the cages in ways so the perches stay clean for much longer and no poop falls in their water or food bowls. And of course there has to be plenty of room for them to fly too.

All this sounds nice but on the mornings when I wake up with a migraine there is no way I am doing any type of deep cleaning. Those days they get water and food bowls washed and newspapers changed. No more scrubbing and definitely no metrocard scraping.
HungryBird
Conure
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 177
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiels, Parakeets, Meyer's
Flight: Yes

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