Found mold on our GCC's water bowl in her sleeping cage - please take care!

UPDATE: Hi everyone! Thank you for your comments, I put this in the description of the video but I don't think it was clear... So we clean our water bowls and food bowls daily. We went on a trip for a few days and during the trip, this water bowl was not used by anyone. Our pet sitter used SS bowls. However, we gave this particular bowl a thorough cleaning before we left and when we came back, it had mold on it! Our vet let us know that we should put our bowls in ziplock bags if they are not going to be in use to reduce the chance of mold growth, so now we know!

We changed the description on the video so hopefully that is a little more clear, thank you for the feedback!
We found mold on our parrot's water bowl in her sleeping cage! Please learn from our mistake. Summer is a dangerous time for our fids - with increased humidity, the danger for acquiring fungal infections also increase! We decided to post this video to raise awareness.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRCfv4SfupE&t=8s"]MOLD ON OUR PARROT'S WATER BOWL! - YouTube[/ame]

Common sense approaches and regular washing will stop this from re-occuring IMO.

I found it good to do a full soak clean with the cage each month to help prevent this. Just filling the sink with warm soapy water and letting toys and stuff soak for a while followed by a good scrub then dried off with a towel. I also prefer to keep away from stuff with little nooks and corners that are hard to get into just as that's where you'll find mold growing

I steam cages, toys, bowls etc thoroughly once a week and wash bowls every day, oh and of course renew paper etc daily.

Regular washing with soap and water (a few times a week) would eliminate this problem. How often do you wash these out?? My bird's bowls are stainless steel and if I don't wash their water bowl every day it gets nasty. But they need it, they like to dunk their food in their water... lol

itzjbean said:

Regular washing with soap and water (a few times a week) would eliminate this problem. How often do you wash these out?? My bird's bowls are stainless steel and if I don't wash their water bowl every day it gets nasty. But they need it, they like to dunk their food in their water... lol

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I have to wish mine each day too. More so because of limescale than mess caused by the bird

That kind of dish holder could be washed daily and still get some mold growing in those tiny crevices because nothing reaches tiny nooks and crannies like that and they don't dry out well either. Very difficult to get anything into little spaces like that to clean them out!

This kind of situation is an ideal task for a steam cleaner. That will get in the tight areas no sponge or dish scrubby can, kill and actually remove the mold.

Kiwibird said:

That kind of dish holder could be washed daily and still get some mold growing in those tiny crevices because nothing reaches tiny nooks and crannies like that and they don't dry out well either. Very difficult to get anything into little spaces like that to clean them out!

This kind of situation is an ideal task for a steam cleaner. That will get in the tight areas no sponge or dish scrubby can, kill and actually remove the mold.

Click to expand...

Would you mind linking the type of steam cleaner you use? I was wondering about them, but wasn't sure if they would get hot enough steam to work. Thanks.

Katu said:

Kiwibird said:

That kind of dish holder could be washed daily and still get some mold growing in those tiny crevices because nothing reaches tiny nooks and crannies like that and they don't dry out well either. Very difficult to get anything into little spaces like that to clean them out!

This kind of situation is an ideal task for a steam cleaner. That will get in the tight areas no sponge or dish scrubby can, kill and actually remove the mold.

Click to expand...

Would you mind linking the type of steam cleaner you use? I was wondering about them, but wasn't sure if they would get hot enough steam to work. Thanks.

Click to expand...

https://www.amazon.com/Sienna-SSC-0...02982929&sr=1-2&keywords=Sienna+steam+cleaner

This is ours. It will burn you if you come in contact with the steam, VERY HOT! Just be sure you only use distilled water in it. I didn't and ruined our first one quickly using filtered "spring water". Apparently not pure enough. Our second one is a couple years old now and still working great only having ever used distilled in it.

Ah, thanks! I was thinking handheld steamers, but they don't have great reviews. I'll look for that one in Canada.

Hi everyone! Thank you for your comments, I put this in the description of the video but I don't think it was clear... So we clean our water bowls and food bowls daily. We went on a trip for a few days and during the trip, this water bowl was not used by anyone. Our vet used SS bowls. However, we gave this particular bowl a thorough cleaning before we left and when we came back, it had mold on it! Our pet sitter let us know that we should put our bowls in ziplock bags if they are not going to be in use to reduce the chance of mold growth, so now we know!

We changed the description on the video so hopefully that is a little more clear, thank you for the feedback!

This is the steamer I have and it works great. Small size but doesn't hold a ton of liquid, it works well for what I need it for and heats up quick. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005SI8YZC/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1