sweetpeamusic
Member
Iām ashamed to say that Iāve had Nico for a good few months now and still donāt 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 heās checking if itās 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 heās pushed it around and it wonāt cover the bottom of the cage anymore.
4. Iāve 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 donāt 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?
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 heās checking if itās 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 heās pushed it around and it wonāt cover the bottom of the cage anymore.
4. Iāve 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 donāt 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?