Newspaper and magazines

Hi everybody,

Just a quick question. Is newspaper and/or magazines safe to use for lining the bottom of the cage? Obviously right now I'm trying to conserve paper towel.

Thanks!

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Ohh Man... I never looked at newspaper like THAT.

If you have birds that play with the newspaper I recommend using a cage with a grate at the bottom to separate the paper from the beak.

My big birds don't mess with the newspaper so is safe .
My Cockatiels will tend to shred and chew newspaper so the paper is separated from them by the floor of the cage or a separate grate.

Sadly, most people follow a last in, first out use process with near everything. The proper way is to follow first in, first out. Or, in plain English what is at the bottom of the pile is what is used first. With most people that means they would be using Newspapers, which are a couple to several months old.

For whatever reason, this Virus tends to become weaker as time passes. If I recall correct it is around a week for newspaper.

Magazines can be an issue. Never use Magazines that are printed with bright shinny surfaces... The ink and surface sealer can be dangerous to Parrots.

texsize said:

Ohh Man... I never looked at newspaper like THAT.

If you have birds that play with the newspaper I recommend using a cage with a grate at the bottom to separate the paper from the beak.

My big birds don't mess with the newspaper so is safe .
My Cockatiels will tend to shred and chew newspaper so the paper is separated from them by the floor of the cage or a separate grate.

Click to expand...

I don't think he'll pick at the newspaper. He likes to forage on the bottom of the cage though, so I'm unsure if the minimal contact his treats would have with it would be harmful?

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SailBoat said:

Sadly, most people follow a last in, first out use process with near everything. The proper way is to follow first in, first out. Or, in plain English what is at the bottom of the pile is what is used first. With most people that means they would be using Newspapers, which are a couple to several months old.



For whatever reason, this Virus tends to become weaker as time passes. If I recall correct it is around a week for newspaper.



Magazines can be an issue. Never use Magazines that are printed with bright shiny surfaces... The ink and surface sealer can be dangerous to Parrots.

Click to expand...

I won't be purchasing any new newspaper/magazines. I have a backlog of old ones that have just been sitting around and are going to be thrown out at some point if I don't use them for this.

Ok, thank you! So you think him foraging on the newspaper wouldn't be an issue though? He doesn't eat his "bedding", but I like to throw nutriberries on it so he can pick at them.

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Each cage is different and what you can do is effected by your cage design.

The best cage design are those, which separate the Parrot from the paper by use of a floor grate. This assures that the Parrot is not eating or walking though its own poop.

If your cage has the separation, there is not contact with the newspaper and no concern.

It is important to remember that there are no reported cases of Birds being effected by this specific' Virus.

ok I guess I misinterpreted the OP.

I thought the idea was also to conserve the newspapers also (in case it needs to be used instead of toilet paper)

texsize said:

ok I guess I misinterpreted the OP.

I thought the idea was also to conserve the newspapers also (in case it needs to be used instead of toilet paper)

Click to expand...

You continue to provide a smile my good friend, thank you!!!

SailBoat said:

Each cage is different and what you can do is effected by your cage design.

The best cage design are those, which separate the Parrot from the paper by use of a floor grate. This assures that the Parrot is not eating or walking though its own poop.

If your cage has the separation, there is not contact with the newspaper and no concern.

It is important to remember that there are no reported cases of Birds being effected by this specific' Virus.

Click to expand...

I put the paper towel on top of the grates so that his feet don't go through. He's in probably a slightly larger cage than is recommended. Will him eating off the paper be an issue?



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Ziel said:

SailBoat said:

Each cage is different and what you can do is effected by your cage design.

The best cage design are those, which separate the Parrot from the paper by use of a floor grate. This assures that the Parrot is not eating or walking though its own poop.

If your cage has the separation, there is not contact with the newspaper and no concern.

It is important to remember that there are no reported cases of Birds being effected by this specific' Virus.

Click to expand...

I put the paper towel on top of the grates so that his feet don't go through. He's in probably a slightly larger cage than is recommended. Will him eating off the paper be an issue?

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Click to expand...

Normally, when there is no paper on the grate, they tend not to walk on it, they tend to avoid being on the bottom of the cage. Each Parrot is different, but the majority stop coming down when there is nothing to be found.

Regarding have paper down and they're eating from it. I'm not really a believer in that, as I believe that they tend to be a bit more careful when what they push off is gone. But maybe I'm too much of an optometrist. That said, why would you want them too?

Ziel said:

Hi everybody,

Just a quick question. Is newspaper and/or magazines safe to use for lining the bottom of the cage? Obviously right now I'm trying to conserve paper towel.

Thanks!

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Click to expand...

Hi, since I found out that my dear Rorro could have health issues due to mites and lice, I decided to get rid of using newspaper in his cage. I switch to using the slick paper magazines (usually real estate and furniture advertising.)
Lately due to the virus situation, we are not really receiving much mail, therefore I decided to use his plastic food bags, cut them to the same size of his cage trays and used them as liners; with the additional advantage that when I clean his cage, I just place the plastic liners inside a bucket, spray them with disinfectant, wash them really well with hot water, let them dry and they are ready to replace the liner on place.
Hope this little bit of information, helps you.
Have a great day.

Rorro and Nora

colored ink can be toxic--so you want to avoid that. DK if it was said, but have to post and run at the moment lol.

paper towels (just the basic ones...not the ones with special scrubbers or added soap) are also really good as long as he/she doesn't go down there and shred the poopy material by pulling them up through the grate (my liked to try this). I know those are in short supply with covid-19, but something to consider. White packing paper from office depot (the kind in rolls) also works...as does banner paper (non coated).

If you have a way to clean up poop, you technically don't need a liner....it just makes cleaning easier...over years, a lack of liner could probably rust the cage, but I took away liners at least 2 years ago because my bird was messing with them too much....

noodles123 said:

paper towels (just the basic ones...not the ones with special scrubbers or added soap) are also really good as long as he/she doesn't go down there and shred the poopy material by pulling them up through the grate (my liked to try this). I know those are in short supply with covid-19, but something to consider. White packing paper from office depot (the kind in rolls) also works...as does banner paper (non coated).

If you have a way to clean up poop, you technically don't need a liner....it just makes cleaning easier...over years, a lack of liner could probably rust the cage, but I took away liners at least 2 years ago because my bird was messing with them too much....

Click to expand...

That's what I currently use. My issue is I'm just worried I'll run out and not be able to get more. My issue is also I leave the paper on top of the grate so that he can go and play with his wiffle ball and forage the food I hide.



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I would get a bigger ball (if it falls through the grate w/o paper) and hide food elsewhere if I were you. I know that might annoy him, but he could still play with a ball if there were no paper on the grate....he's not that big...I can't imagine how small a ball would have to be to fall through a grate. You can hide food in paper handing from the falls of the cage (they sell skewers that work well, but you can also rig your own or just shove them into the bars firmly).

Worst-case-scenario, plain printer paper (non-glossy) could work and I bet you could order it on Amazon...people aren't after that sort of thing during Covid-19 (just towels etc lol)--but I don't think paper on grates is sanitary it can sometimes make birds hormonal (hence my suggestions).

noodles123 said:

I would get a bigger ball (if it falls through the grate w/o paper) and hide food elsewhere if I were you. I know that might annoy him, but he could still play with a ball if there were no paper on the grate....he's not that big...I can't imagine how small a ball would have to be to fall through a grate. You can hide food in paper handing from the falls of the cage (they sell skewers that work well, but you can also rig your own or just shove them into the bars firmly).

Click to expand...

If it comes down to it I will. But he really likes walking on the bottom of the cage and I can't imagine the bare grate is super comfortable lol

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noodles123 said:

Worst-case-scenario, plain printer paper (non-glossy) could work and I bet you could order it on Amazon...people aren't after that sort of thing during Covid-19 (just towels etc lol)--but I don't think paper on grates is sanitary it can sometimes make birds hormonal (hence my suggestions).

Click to expand...

So that would be safe below the grate??? I'll use that if I need to.

Really? I've always used it that way, but I change it quite frequently. He's (actually a female) never gotten hormonal. Even when I first got him and was super inexperienced and he had a hut, he never got that way. He's a good boy and doesn't get into things lmao.

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I'm not telling you what to use on the grate--personally, I think it poses risk to health (but some people do do it). I was just trying to suggest what you could use as a liner if you ran out of options. I don't like the idea of them chewing on paper that may have been splattered with poop and covered in dust etc. My bird has chewed on clean printer paper (non glossy) without issue thus far...I am of the opinion that it is safe for chewing (at least as far as I know) but I am not a fan of paper on grates.

My budgies like to chew everything and they never eat the paper that I use to line the grate. Budgies will walk on the floor since they naturally spend time on the ground in the wild, hence they are called grass parakeets. They do seem to like it better if there is some paper there. As long as you change it out frequently (ie daily preferably), they don't really want to eat their own droppings and will avoid them whilst checking for dropped seeds.

About a year ago, I was using clothing catalogs for cage liners. But, I don't like these Other people (aka clothing models) looking at My birdies, so I had to pick & choose which pages to use. As I wished I had catalogs with pretty colors but NO people in them it occurred to me --- SEED CATALOGS!! I went online and signed up my birdies for seed catalogs. Now they usually only send them once or twice a year but I am reminded because I just got several of them again this past month. Take out the staples so you can use full pages, and then both you and your birdies will get the enjoyment of their cage lined with perfect gardens of perfect plants.

Of course, the seed catalogs run out eventually. When not using Other catalogs instead, I also use the grocery-store flyers that get delivered weekly for free. They actually fit the cages quite well when spread out flat. (Or you can pick up a few grocery flyers when you're there. IF they haven't removed them due to virus-related-lines-in-store, that is...)

(There has only been one time when my chew-happy budgies thought about eating the liners, that was a windy day with windows open & paper not laid down correctly so it was blowing upward & basically begging to be chewed. The rest of the time they seem to consider it the floor, and they don't chew it.)