Mess

animalfriend · May 18, 2010

Hi
I'm relatively new to the world of parrots, however I have done tonnes of research and I'm currently interested in getting an IRN parrot.
However since I still live at home I require permission to be allowed to have it in the household. So far my mum's issue with the proposed idea is the mess factor mostly with droppings on the carpet outside the cage. I realise there is methods to toilet train parrots however this does take a period of time to accomplish. Is there any good ideas to prevent mess getting outside the cage, that anyone has successfully done?

Note: the mess factor would not be too much of an issue if there was no carpet flooring involved, however the majority of the house flooring is carpet.

HRH Di · May 18, 2010

Baby wipes are your friend - they're inexpensive, safe for people and fabrics, and not too smelly.

Actually, potty training doesn't take very long if you're consistent. It only took about 2 weeks of really working with my Alexandrine to get him trained.

Birds poop about every 15-20 minutes so watch carefully and find out what his body language is before he goes...it's usually pretty obvious. They also often go just before they take off. I've noticed that our birds find their favorite place to poop. Observe very closely and you'll see a pattern.

But until then - baby wipes.

Spiritbird · May 18, 2010

Parrots = a mess to clean up. It is just part of parrot guardianship. What you do not want is to get a bird and you mom say bird has to go. It is not only droppings it is food, seed, nutshells and feathers/dust. You can get cages with seed catchers and put the hard plastilc protectors on the carpet such as the ones that go under desks. Good luck and it is a very good thing that you are asking questions first.

Ratzy · May 18, 2010

I have my budgies outside so I got them a plastic sheet ( see-through ) to keep out the cold. It is useful for keeping the mess inside too. I leave some of the front open of course for air but it is really useful.

cnyguy · May 18, 2010

I have an old parrot book that includes the phrase "parrots are inclined to be messy," and have always thought that's a bit of an understatement. My old Amazon parrot learned the unflattering phrase, "What a slob!" from hearing me tell him that so much. The idea of using a plastic carpet protector is a good one, or you might buy some inexpensive throw rugs to cover the carpet in the area around the cage and playstand. Sometimes carpet stores have small scraps of carpet that they'll sell cheaply or even give away. And be prepared to do a lot of vacuuming!

Doing a lot of research before getting any kind of bird is a smart idea. Good luck!

animalfriend · May 19, 2010

Thanks for the replies guys and for the useful ideas, the plastic carpet protector is a good idea or I suppose I could just use newspaper so it can be easily replaced and thrown out when dirty.
The vacuuming won't be a problem for me since I'm used to vacuuming the house regularly.

cnyguy · May 20, 2010

You're welcome! Glad to be helpful. Newspaper would certainly work and is easy to dispose of, but probably wouldn't be considered the best-looking choice. But as long as your mum doesn't object to it, it should be fine as a mess-catcher/carpet protector.

After everything I've said about how messy parrots can be (even small ones), I want to add that, given the choice of a spotlessly clean house without a parrot, and a messy house with one, I'd pick the mess and the parrot without question.

Mess

animalfriend

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Cognitive speech

Bonding before buying

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