Cleaning up post bug bomb?

[IndySE]

I have a bit of a conundrum... we had a flea infestation so we lit a bug bomb in the house to knock em off. They were eating my mom alive . We used a “residue free” bomb for whatever it’s worth.

Parrot and dog were obviously safely evacuated and will be kept out of the house 2 hours after humans can safely enter. But sadly my family did not follow my instructions to place the cage outside. It was pretty near to one of the bombs... I assume even “residue free” will have residues ? I’m a little... overwhelmed at the level of cleaning required to make the cage parrot safe again. I assume a general wash down and soaking of porous wood toys is in order ? Her food and water is in a sealed container and anything in her dish will be discarded.

Anyways thoughts appreciated

 

[noodles123]

Rightfully so. You should be paranoid because parrots are crazy...and everything is worse on them than it is on us.

I am not sure what I would do. Maybe call the vet (assuming they are a CAV)? I would be afraid to mix chemicals on top of chemicals, so I am guessing cleaning agents are out....Then again, it may be necessary. I wonder what neutralizes it. Have you tried Googling? Maybe even calling the company to see if there is a chemical antidote to what was, presumably, a neuro toxin?
Last resort, buy a new cage and make your family mow enough lawns to buy it lol. Why didn't they listen?

 

[IndySE]

I don’t know and I had to apologize for getting upset about it. X__x; non parrot people don’t understand the paranoia.

I’m less likely to play chemistry and more likely just to remove. I do have a chemical engineering degree and had to take enough organic chemistry classes to know it’s pretty dang complicated stuff. I think my best bet is to clean the surfaces as thoroughly as I can with soap and water and to soak the porous materials in a few successive baths of clean water to leach it out. The metal bars of the cage should probably clean ok? Everything else I’m worried about. I’ll look into the type of bomb used more thoroughly when I get homr. But despite the fact that “the box says residue free” and “it should be fine”, this was a can of worms I didn’t want to particularly open

 

[Laurasea]

Years and years ago I had to fkes bomb but I did move the cage outside first, sorry those dang non bird people! I waited 24 hours to be safe and all was well. I'm a grown woman and I had to kick my grown up dad out of my house when they visited once because he was going to use a bunch of chemicals , and use a Teflon pot he brought to make a special dish! He said nothing gonna happen, abd I said yep cuz you ate going to a hotel!!! They did and we got past it, I own my house and that's that,! They think I'm paranoid about the birds but respect my commitment. Dang I went on a rant lol! I hope all are safe, nit sure what I would do with soft wood and toys......

 

[IndySE]

Alas, I live in the house rent-free so I can't complain. Next time I'll just need to submit my requests in writing I suppose so no one claims confusion X);

I'm trying to look more into the specific bomb used. I know it's active ingredient is 12.5% permethrin but I have no idea how it can advertise itself as "residue free" based on what I'm finding. I can believe LESS residue, but free?

 

[Flboy]

Alas, I live in the house rent-free so I can't complain. Next time I'll just need to submit my requests in writing I suppose so no one claims confusion X);

I'm trying to look more into the specific bomb used. I know it's active ingredient is 12.5% permethrin but I have no idea how it can advertise itself as "residue free" based on what I'm finding. I can believe LESS residue, but free?

That is a ‘natural’ insecticide that is supposed to break down rapidly! You still have a flea problem! Sorry!
Pick up agricultural grade DE and sprinkle on the carpet. It MUST be agricultural! Pool grade = lung cancer!

 

[noodles123]

DE is not safe in trafficked areas!! Not even for people..They say sprinkle along walls where you don't tread. It can embed itself in your lungs..Diatomaceous Earth =DE btw..It is natural, but so is Radon..as is asbestos.. not saying that you can't use it, but research first and don't kick up the dust.

 

[IndySE]

That is a ‘natural’ insecticide that is supposed to break down rapidly! You still have a flea problem! Sorry!
Pick up agricultural grade DE and sprinkle on the carpet. It MUST be agricultural! Pool grade = lung cancer!

The packaging said "kills fleas"... the packaging wouldn't lie to us, right? Just in the same way that dish soap "requires no prewash" ... okay that was sarcasm in case text didn't show, haha.

Good news is I guess my parrot isn't in mortal danger (but my arms are from scubbing so much !)... I guess that explains the "no residue" (and my research did show a relatively short halflife for this stuff on accounting of it breaking down... couldn't find the mechanism, but I'll assume either water or oxygen does it). It's also used commonly in shampoo for lice. I'll guess it has an affect on adult fleas and does nothing about the eggs P; The fleas don't bite ME, so I might just let the folks hold onto hope lest they bring out the radon...

We have a dog, anyways. We'll always have some form of fleas :X Hopefully the vacuuming and cleaning we just did (and hardwood floors!) will just keep it all nice and manageable.

 

[Flboy]

That is a ‘natural’ insecticide that is supposed to break down rapidly! You still have a flea problem! Sorry!
Pick up agricultural grade DE and sprinkle on the carpet. It MUST be agricultural! Pool grade = lung cancer!

The packaging said "kills fleas"... the packaging wouldn't lie to us, right? Just in the same way that dish soap "requires no prewash" ... okay that was sarcasm in case text didn't show, haha.

Good news is I guess my parrot isn't in mortal danger (but my arms are from scubbing so much !)... I guess that explains the "no residue" (and my research did show a relatively short halflife for this stuff on accounting of it breaking down... couldn't find the mechanism, but I'll assume either water or oxygen does it). It's also used commonly in shampoo for lice. I'll guess it has an affect on adult fleas and does nothing about the eggs P; The fleas don't bite ME, so I might just let the folks hold onto hope lest they bring out the radon...

We have a dog, anyways. We'll always have some form of fleas :X Hopefully the vacuuming and cleaning we just did (and hardwood floors!) will just keep it all nice and manageable.

The fleas are dead, but the eggs will soon hatch!

 

[Flboy]

DE is not safe in trafficked areas!! Not even for people..They say sprinkle along walls where you don't tread. It can embed itself in your lungs..Diatomaceous Earth =DE btw..It is natural, but so is Radon..as is asbestos.. not saying that you can't use it, but research first and don't kick up the dust.

The danger with DE is silica! Deadly! Agricultural grade DE is a different creature!

 

[Flboy]

That is a ‘natural’ insecticide that is supposed to break down rapidly! You still have a flea problem! Sorry!
Pick up agricultural grade DE and sprinkle on the carpet. It MUST be agricultural! Pool grade = lung cancer!

The packaging said "kills fleas"... the packaging wouldn't lie to us, right? Just in the same way that dish soap "requires no prewash" ... okay that was sarcasm in case text didn't show, haha.

Good news is I guess my parrot isn't in mortal danger (but my arms are from scubbing so much !)... I guess that explains the "no residue" (and my research did show a relatively short halflife for this stuff on accounting of it breaking down... couldn't find the mechanism, but I'll assume either water or oxygen does it). It's also used commonly in shampoo for lice. I'll guess it has an affect on adult fleas and does nothing about the eggs P; The fleas don't bite ME, so I might just let the folks hold onto hope lest they bring out the radon...

We have a dog, anyways. We'll always have some form of fleas :X Hopefully the vacuuming and cleaning we just did (and hardwood floors!) will just keep it all nice and manageable.

Flea drops work wonders!

 

[IndySE]

That is a ‘natural’ insecticide that is supposed to break down rapidly! You still have a flea problem! Sorry!
Pick up agricultural grade DE and sprinkle on the carpet. It MUST be agricultural! Pool grade = lung cancer!

The packaging said "kills fleas"... the packaging wouldn't lie to us, right? Just in the same way that dish soap "requires no prewash" ... okay that was sarcasm in case text didn't show, haha.

Good news is I guess my parrot isn't in mortal danger (but my arms are from scubbing so much !)... I guess that explains the "no residue" (and my research did show a relatively short halflife for this stuff on accounting of it breaking down... couldn't find the mechanism, but I'll assume either water or oxygen does it). It's also used commonly in shampoo for lice. I'll guess it has an affect on adult fleas and does nothing about the eggs P; The fleas don't bite ME, so I might just let the folks hold onto hope lest they bring out the radon...

We have a dog, anyways. We'll always have some form of fleas :X Hopefully the vacuuming and cleaning we just did (and hardwood floors!) will just keep it all nice and manageable.

Flea drops work wonders!

We have the dog on a pretty good system; we just had about a window of a week between doses of the flea meds. We've actually found the flea drops pretty useless lately, and a system of using these chewable vet-prescribed meds and medicated flea baths will usually take care of it. I have no doubt the fleas will return, but assuming we vacuum/clean the sofa often (as we have no carpet and only hardwood), I'm hopeful we'll keep on top of it. I hate dealing with any kind of insectisides.

Every square inch of the parrot cage is almost cleaned... oof, a deep-clean of every parrot-item is a full day affair. I'm glad it's almost over x__x; but it was overdue, so I guess this wasn't a complete loss -- it just moved up my cleaning plans.

 

[EllenD]

It's too early to get into the "flea treatment" argument, thought I would be watching for an entirely new group of fleas based on what you used, as it will not kill flea eggs at all...

The important thing I wanted to say is that you absolutely should not put anything "porous" back into your bird's cage, whether you soaked it or not. You have to throw it away!!! Any wood toys, cement perches or cement toys, any mineral blocks or cuttlebones, anything porous at all. You cannot allow your bird to continue to chew on and ingest things that were "bombed" with anything at all like this, as you'll not have any way of knowing whether it still contains it or not, and these are things that your bird is going to be putting directly into his mouth and chewing on/eating...