What's at the bottom of YOUR cage?

[KimberlyAnn]

Oh wow, most cages...not much space between the grate and the pan. With a "bedding," the distance is much shorter.

I use paper towel because I don't get the paper and don't know anyone who does really...or they live further from my neighborhood store. Plus, with the white towels, I can see what's going on and spot an issue quickly. I can find it quickly...no pet store visit. It also fits better in my pan in strips. News paper is a touch too small.

[Nokota]

Pajarita, not a single one of those sources refers to the product that I use for my birds, which is made for reptiles, not birds, and has a far, far smaller grain, like sand. Even if they were to swallow it, it wouldn't get stuck, which is why it is so safe. It would be the equivalent of a bird swallowing a little bit of gravel, which many people feed their parrots on purpose. 20+ years use with birds in 3 well reputed pet stores, I think, makes a pretty good case for it, that and the fact that many parrot species are known to consume clay and sand in the wild.

[KimberlyAnn]

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be rude. Yes, you are right...parrots eat clay in the wild to detoxify with some of the foods they eat. Pet parrots may need some of this clay for nutrition, it does have healthy minerals, but they do not need grit. Grit is for birds who eat their seeds whole. Parrots can get impaction with sand and grit and substances that are not digestible or cannot pass through their crop. If eaten in excess by a bored bird, this can be a danger, especially if you can't tell if they are eating it. I would not be able to tell if my parrot was eating it because she's out when I'm home. If she was eating the paper towel on the bottom of her cage, I would see the missing bits right away.

In reptiles, I would not use this bedding either. It would cause an impaction with my snake. This is why I use a non-pine wood bedding and do not feed in my snake's tank.

I stay away from this type of bedding for both my animals because of the impaction issue. It's just too risky. Plus, I would not be able to see if there is a problem with droppings. On the light wood bedding my snake is on and the paper towel my bird has lining her cage, I can tell if there is an issue right away. This is more important for my parrot because they don't show signs of sickness until they are very sick.

Yes, the walnut granules might look nice in a pet shop, but there are safer and cheaper alternatives.

[Pajarita]

KimberlyAnn is correct, nobody feeds grit or sand to parrots any longer -at least, nobody who knows how to care for them properly. It's a thing of the past and thank goodness for that!

We all have choices to make when it comes to our companion animals' care. Personally, I always choose the proven safe route and never take risks so, even if 100,000 people said to me that a certain product did not harm their animals, if there was one single person who says it did, that is good enough for me not to use it. But, even if it this bedding was 100% safe, I still would not use it because it would not allow me to judge their poop. With bedding, you know they poop, but you can't tell anything much about it (diarrhea, loose or normal? too much or too little urine? clear or cloudy? Ureates color? Ratio to urine and poop?) and that's dangerous.

[CSLFiero]

What's at the bottom of my cage? I'm not sure entirely.. But after about a week it looks like an upside down shepards pie of pure nastiness.

I don't like to use bedding. Think it's wasteful and easily conceals what i believe to be unethical hygiene levels. A plain paper towel shows everything and make for a good daily monitor of how much bird filth is actually there.

It's gross as heck.. But it's important to know.

[Pajarita]

LOL - It's not gross. Herbivores feces are not gross, they don't even smell and they dry up into a completely solid form... now, carnivore poop is another story - really yucky!

[ludite]

Hi There. I'me very new to the forum, so hope I don't offend any one
My parrots live in a second hand cage - it came with no grate at the bottom. I line the bottom of the cage with a thick layer of newspaper sheets. My old boy Buzz, likes to spend a lot of time at the bottom of the cage, happily shredding this paper into a 'nest'. It fills up with seed and mess over a couple of days, then I remove it all and replace it with another thick layer of paper and he gets right back to work and shreds it all up again I have no idea if this is right or wrong, but he seems very happy.

[Tikki]

the local rag!

[GreenWing]

Uhhhh, bird poop!

But yeah, I have a grate/grill at the bottom with a pan underneath. I wash these everyday. Paper of some form is placed on top of the grate/grill, usually newspaper but sometimes all white paper placed on top so I can monitor her poo/dander/whatever. I change the papers daily, sometimes more than once a day, depending.

[Pajarita]

Well, the tiels and the budgies cages do have paper on top of the grid instead of under it, on the tray, but that's because I have handicapped birds: a budgie with legs so splayed that they actually go upwards, forming a V so he ends up eating laying on his abdomen and chest and a cockatiel that has advanced liver and kidney malfunction as well as missing toes so, although he now perches quite a bit, he still spends a lot of time at the bottom (I guess because it's more comfortable for his feet) but the paper is supposed to go under the grid so the bird doesn't end up foraging in his own poop.