Just Brought Home Timneh the Timneh Cleaning cage

[Billdore]

Timneh Just came home and as you can guess shes a beautiful african grey. Now that shes home cleaning the cage seems daunting. I dont want to use anything that can hurt her but I wan to disinfect everything. Got a gallon of Poop off on the way from amazon. What is everyone method for cleaning their large cages. Timneh is doing great so far. She did not want to leave her cage in the store so that was a little stressful for the both of us. But shes been eating and whistling getting some good love and walking around on my hand to check out the new pad. I think she digs it so far.

 

[Flboy]

A steam cleaner seems to be very popular!

 

[chris-md]

I use a mixture of of water and vinegar - 50/50 ratio. Works just fine. I will be getting a car cleaning mit soon though. The cage is a bit rough on rags and takes longer. A mit should speed it up a bit.

 

[wrench13]

Steam cleaner, second vote. And dont wait long between cleanings, as food tends to turn into rock hard food deposits in the darnest places , requiring a bristle brush to get it clean. We feed Salty all his "wet" food ( chop, yams, berries , etc etc) outside of his cage , on what is essentially his open stand. He is not a 'flinger' so 99% of his uneaten food falls into a stainless steel bowl under him. If your grey is a flinger, you may need to need to protect the walls etc with a plastic sheet , some folks use shower curtains. Which ever method you decide , uneaten food needs to be cleaned up before it goes bad, draws flies and gets your grey sick. Here is my setup for Salty:

 

[Billdore]

I heard having sand paper on hand to help scrub the tougher stuff can be really handy. I worry the most about disinfecting the area. 50/50 water vinegar takes care of this? I have become extremely scared about harming my friend with any chemicals but still keeping his area at maximum cleanliness.

 

[Billdore]

Sweet setup Wrench!

 

[Scott]

Congratulations, I know you put in a LOT of effort working with Timneh!

I use a pressure washer, and insert vinegar into the dispenser cup. There is a fine line between effectiveness and overpressure that can literally force away the paint. Poop-Off works really well for stubborn areas such as the grate. Be careful with sandpaper as you don't want to wear away paint and expose bare metal; that can cause rust.

It will take her time to acclimate! Greys are notoriously stubborn and set in their ways.

 

[Billdore]

She is a sweet heart

 

[Scott]

Nice pics, there is a developing bond for sure!!

 

[JBassset]

For disinfecting most things around my house I use hydrogen peroxide. It's dirt cheap, does a very good job and doesn't leave residue behind. (It basically turns to water.)

The only thing to be aware of is that it can cause rust because of the water in it but if you just dry stuff off it's good to go.

Another cool feature is that if you put it on things, where you see it bubble... that's where the gunk is!

To be clear I use the stuff you can buy at the grocers. It's very dilute. Pure, this stuff can be very dangerous. But dilute from the store it's safe to use and does the job.

 

[wrench13]

Sweet setup Wrench!

Thanks. Between this , and the overhead plastic chain, where all of Salty's toys hang from, he never even wants to hang out on the top of his cage or inside.
Like I said , we feed him all the wet food from here, and the pellets and his water are in his cage ( with the doors open). As a result , his cage is very clean, no dried up pieces of food anywhere. He's a dropper, not a flinger, so all of his rejected wet food drops inot the big bowl, which has a grating in it ( to keep him out of the food and poops ) and is lined with paper towels , that just roll up at the end of the day. This set up took me awhile for figure out and see what Salty liked, but is it super easy to keep clean. LOL if it was up to me, I'd have chains leading all over the house, like little highways for Salty, but the Queens wife put her size 6 down and said NO !

 

[coopedup]

I use press-n-seal wrap on my walls near his food bowl aka the "fling zone" and the "drop zone" under the front edge of the cage because Wrangler prefers to poop outside of his cage rather than inside. Makes cleaning a snap. It self adheres to the wall/carpet with no residue, peel and replace

 

[Billdore]

LOL thats awesome. Probably because Timneh has spent so much time in her cage and on her cage she is very attached to it, not a bad thing. Shes so cute i've been keeping her up too late she stays up till she starts yawning the last couple of nights. The press and seal wrap is a great idea.

 

[Billdore]

She poops all over her cage from many different heights. LOL Bombs away

 

[Billdore]

Not the safest but one of the cutest things ever was seeing Timneh come walking into the kitchen to find me!!

 

[Scott]

Not the safest but one of the cutest things ever was seeing Timneh come walking into the kitchen to find me!!

Oh, definitely be careful. Not to dwell on the negative, but there have been tragic accidents - they are so small, quiet, and fragile.

 

[Billdore]

I know thank you I have read about all the nightmares. I am a big fella also 6ft 280lbs. I also have quite a few doors in my house. I try to just leave em all open anyway but extra careful now.