A shameful question...

sweetpeamusic

Member
Mar 4, 2018
123
23
Washington State
Parrots
Nico - male Turquoise GCC
Iā€™m ashamed to say that Iā€™ve had Nico for a good few months now and still donā€™t know the answer to this question: how should I be keeping the bottom of his cage clean?
Several components here- first off, our breeder told us to keep the grate that goes on the bottom of his cage removed. She said she had seen way too many birds get their beaks caught between the grate bars after dropping food and trying to get it.
2. Nico likes to eat off of the floor- which I assume is a safety concern. I have caught him with his dried poop in his mouth, as if heā€™s checking if itā€™s edible.
3. Nico also loves to play at the bottom of his cage- especially with the paper towels that line it. This is super frustrating because I will put new paper down and within a couple of hours heā€™s pushed it around and it wonā€™t cover the bottom of the cage anymore.
4. Iā€™ve gotten conflicting information on how diligently I should be cleaning the bottom of the cage. The vet gave me a paper that told me to change the paper once a day. Some friends who own birds say they do it once a week, some even only a couple of times a month, and some do it twice a day. I donā€™t know what would be a realistic range that people have for how often they clean. And of course the internet offers a variety of results.

I guess my questions are, should I have the grate at the bottom of the cage? How often should I be replacing the paper, and how often should I be scrubbing the bottom of the cage?
 

Sunnyclover

New member
Jan 11, 2017
1,646
43
New Jersey
Parrots
Sun Conure - Ollie- Hatched 08/18/16*

Nanday Conure -Finley- Hatched 10/07/17*

Turquoise Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure -Paris- Hatched 03/03/18*

Black Capped Conure -North- Hatched 10/10/18
If I were you... I'd put the bottom grate back on. 11/10 times if I left it off, all three of my birds would go down there and have a hayday and be covered in poop head to toe trying to recover tid bits of treats ect. I'm not sure why your vet said that.. are they a CAV? The vet might be talking about those cheep cages some people use to house budgies but not like a well built cage that has a powder coating and something to hold the bottom grate in place. It is far more dangerous for you bird to be constantly rooting around and eating it's own poop than having the cage grate on.

I clean the bottom of the cage twice a week and give the whole cage a good scrub down once a week. However, if my bird didn't have a grate (not sure why that would happen) and was walking around down there and eating it's own poop I would clean the bottom...2 times a day or so because I would be scared for my bird to get sick if I didn't. Nothing against you, I realize that you said you truly didn't know...

If you do put the grate back on I would definitely not tell your vet because they may shame you into letting your bird walk around it it;s poop all day and get sick and hormonal by taking the grate off again. Or perhaps..get a new vet...so far the advise you have received has been not that grate (ha...a pun).
 
Last edited:

Aerski

New member
Oct 24, 2018
19
0
Florida, Miami
Parrots
M2 - Crystal (RIP) GCC - Birbo
Please put back on the bottom grate! If you are concerned about your GCC getting his beak stuck between the bars, you could buy a bottom grate that has a smaller width than your birdā€™s beak. Obviously those are hard to find and not that efficient as wider bars for conures, but it might be worth a shot.

If your bird manages to get itā€™s beak stuck most of the time it can just pull back out itā€™s beak, and almost 97.994% of the time, itā€™s not life-threatening. Whatā€™s more life-threatening is your conure walking on, and (probably eating) his own poop.. You do have to clean the bottom grateā€™s bars because sometimes the poop will get stuck to it and build up, but there will still generally be less poop everywhere. Never in my life has any of my birds gotten their beak stuck between the bottom grate. Just go ahead and put it back on.

As for your question with how often you need to replace the paper and clean the poop on the bars; itā€™s up to you. My personal preference is every 3 days, that way the poop doesnā€™t build up too much. My Too poops less often, but way bigger.. If the cage ever seems like the poop is building up, or itā€™s giving off a foul odor, go ahead and clean it immediately.
 

ChristaNL

Banned
Banned
May 23, 2018
3,559
157
NL= the Netherlands, Europe
Parrots
Sunny a female B&G macaw;
Japie (m) & Appie (f), both are congo african grey;
All are rescues- had to leave their previous homes for 'reasons', are still in contact with them :)
Just remove poop daily - then you will not be scrubbing, just whiping.so...

Spotcleaning daily and a deepclean (everything) once a week is always a good thing- you can *really* get in al the nooks and crannies.



Personally I despise grates - they hamper a birds natural behaviour (just my humble opinion), so they lose more than they gain from being poopfree all the time.
Grates are there for people, not birds.
Grates are really not good for a birds feet and my parrots generally avoid the poop-places when they are on the bottom.
(so the covered in poop...maybe your cage is too small when that happens?)



Having the paper all over the place is no fun, some birds will use the paper as a nesting-excuse, so it can be a bit of a dilemma ...


If your bird is out a lot his feet will be able to stretch outside the cage, so it will not be such a terrible thing- and a lot of cages malfunction without that grate present anyway...


(The 'do not let the birds come in contact with feaces' stems from the time we had no real meds and getting parasites that way was a real concern. Most parrots these days are completely intestinal-parasitefree, so we can stop worrying about that. I have *never* seen a normal, healthy bird eat poop anyway.)
 
Last edited:

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
10,702
USA
Parrots
Full house
I use dilute vinegar and water to clean. I change the papers under the grate daily (usually) and clean the grate weekly, wipe down whole cage weakly, perches too. You can put a shallow box in the cage with shredded paper and foraging goodies and treats to play with. My fids are playing in a soda box tunnel right now having a blast with plastic bottles tops I put inside. When it gets dirty I just toss it.
 

EllenD

New member
Aug 20, 2016
3,979
65
State College, PA
Parrots
Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
I agree, put the grate back in! Not only will this stop him from eating poop and messing with the paper, but it will prevent any unwanted hormonal behavior being caused from "nesting" in the paper...

You should be changing out the paper in the bottom of the cage, underneath the grate, at least once a week. More often is better, obviously, and it's best if you just remove the bottom, dump the days paper/poop, and put new paper in, then just put the grate back in and you're done, then clean/scrub the grate once a week.

You don't need to buy special liners or paper, newspaper is great, and I pick-up a ton of the free newspapers at the convenience store a couple of times a week, like all the ad-bargains/bargain-sheets/auto-trader papers that you can just grab for free and take as many as you want. Solves a lot of problems, and with the grate in he can't get down into the poop or the paper...
 

AmyMyBlueFront

Well-known member
Apr 14, 2015
6,315
Media
4
3,034
Connecticut
Parrots
Amy a Blue Front 'Zon
Jonesy a Goffins 'Too who had to be rehomed :-(

And a Normal Grey Cockatiel named BB who came home with me on 5/20/2016.
Instead of paper towels try news paper...that's what I put on top of Amy and BB's grate. At times I will scotch tape the news papers together so only the corners can get ripped/torn. Amy will do that on occasion. I change them out every other day.


Jim
 

Sandy19

Member
Mar 22, 2017
449
8
I put the paper towels over the grate and just change them daily. This is what works for us and what she's used to. She's not in the cage much, however. I work from home so I let her out in the morning and she's out all day most days. So the cage doesn't get pooped on heavily, it's the rest of my house that gets the poop bombs.
 
Last edited:

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
Instead of paper towels try news paper...that's what I put on top of Amy and BB's grate. At times I will scotch tape the news papers together so only the corners can get ripped/torn


Did you mean under the grate, or do you really put paper on top of it? If so, I'm just confused as to the purpose of paper over a grate.
Also, to OP, if you do newspaper, I would stick with black and white ink (I have read that that is safer, on the off-chance that the bird fishes it out from under there). Also to OP, if using tape, be very careful, as some contain toxins that would be unsafe for birds.
 
Last edited:

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
I put the paper towels over the grate and just change them daily. This is what works for us and what she's used to. She's not in the cage much, however. I work from home so I let her out in the morning and she's out all day most days. So the cage doesn't get pooped on heavily, it's the rest of my house that gets the poop bombs.


I see that you said you put paper towels on top of the grate too. I put mine under the grate (to catch poop out of reach) or my bird would just mess with the poop covered paper towel. I am just wondering if I am missing something.
 

Sunnyclover

New member
Jan 11, 2017
1,646
43
New Jersey
Parrots
Sun Conure - Ollie- Hatched 08/18/16*

Nanday Conure -Finley- Hatched 10/07/17*

Turquoise Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure -Paris- Hatched 03/03/18*

Black Capped Conure -North- Hatched 10/10/18
I used to put paper towels on top of the grate too to save washing up but Ollie started eating them after a few months when I went away from the house while in his cage. So I had to stop that because I'm pretty sure he can get intestinal blocking or something if he would continue to eat the paper towels.
 

Squeekmouse

Well-known member
May 31, 2017
840
337
Illinois
Parrots
Yoda, Green Cheek Conure - Trigger, Congo African Grey
I highly recommend putting the grate back in there also. Two main reasons:
1. I would be scared of my bird eating poop. Can't possibly be a good thing. I'd rather he waste food than eat waste... (See what I did there? Ain't I funny? ;) )
2.I'd feel a lot better about cuddling my bird knowing he isn't covered in poop. Also, it can't be good for his feathers to have poop that hardens into concrete all over him.

Any kind of paper works best as the lining in the tray. I prefer the nice pre-cut Cage Liner paper because it's easy and time is precious to me. Newspaper is super cheap and works just as well. Some say birds enjoy the changing patterns of text and pictures to look at also. I'd recommend changing the paper daily, but at least a few times a week. Wiping the cage/perches daily takes only a few minutes and keeps things in better condition to last longer. You can certainly do it just every few days or once a week, but then it's a lot harder to get the stuff off and you risk damaging the perch/finish doing so.

Use a bird safe cleaner, F10 is the greatest thing ever, Poop-Off works also but not as well and smells funky. Vinegar and water is also a good option and quite cheap.

Good luck!
 

Sandy19

Member
Mar 22, 2017
449
8
I put the paper towels over the grate and just change them daily. This is what works for us and what she's used to. She's not in the cage much, however. I work from home so I let her out in the morning and she's out all day most days. So the cage doesn't get pooped on heavily, it's the rest of my house that gets the poop bombs.


I see that you said you put paper towels on top of the grate too. I put mine under the grate (to catch poop out of reach) or my bird would just mess with the poop covered paper towel. I am just wondering if I am missing something.
No, you're not missing anything. I've been putting the paper towels over the grate since she was a baby so she's used to them being there and does not mess with them. If I run out of paper towels she looks down at the grate with her head cocked like where are my paper towels. I line the bottom too with butcher paper to catch anything that goes through. I very rarely have to scrub the grates or the bottom. Obviously this wouldnt work for most birds, shes just used to it and expects her cage to be lined.
 

GaleriaGila

Well-known member
Parrot of the Month šŸ†
May 14, 2016
15,045
8,742
Cleveland area
Parrots
The Rickeybird, 38-year-old Patagonian Conure
Well, the Rickeybird weighs in...
We use a grate, and newspapers underneath, changed just about daily (we sometimes have mice/ants, so I'm super-paranoid!). I put the grate in the shower a couple of times a week. The only cleaner I usually use is water. With just one bird and lots of time (I'm retiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired!!!!!!) it's easy to wipe a lot.
 

Sunnyclover

New member
Jan 11, 2017
1,646
43
New Jersey
Parrots
Sun Conure - Ollie- Hatched 08/18/16*

Nanday Conure -Finley- Hatched 10/07/17*

Turquoise Yellow Sided Green Cheek Conure -Paris- Hatched 03/03/18*

Black Capped Conure -North- Hatched 10/10/18
I also spot clean the cage constantly because I'm home a lot and do a mini cleaning each night before bed. I only use Poop-Off or water to clean the cage. Water during the week and Poop-Off for the weekly scrubbing. I like my babies to live extremely clealy as I prefer a clean house and I think they do also.
 

noodles123

Well-known member
Jul 11, 2018
8,145
472
Parrots
Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
White vinegar. Apple cider is okay, but white is the standard in cleaning. Not vinegar with any salt, sugar, herbs or wine.
 

clark_conure

Well-known member
Jul 14, 2017
3,923
Media
21
2,223
Minnesota
Parrots
A crossover Quaker Scuti (F), A Sun conure named AC, A Cinnamon Green Cheek conure Kent, and 6 budgies, Scuti Jr. (f), yellow (m), clark Jr. (m), Dot (f), Zebra(f), Machine (m).
I agree with all the "grate" people. No self respecting bird is going to get it's beak caught in the bottom grate, and if it did...unless you only check on your bird once every couple days you'd be able to reach in and simply bend the bars apart.

The breeder is wrong.
 

Most Reactions

Latest posts

Top