Serious Vacuum Talk

[sarafigal]

I get birdy moods, cage set-ups, poo analysis, and chop. What I have not yet figured out how to manage is the food-strewn floor. Quee eats two nutriberries and you'd think we'd had a threshing party in my family room. 15 minutes after I sweep around the budgie cage, I need to sweep again.

What variations on vacuums, mini-vacs, and brooms do you use to keep the floors tolerable?

 

[wenz2712]

There is no solution to keeping the floor seed free all the time I wish there was lol

I always vacuum the seed up every Morning, then about 3 times a day, I also sweep it up with the Dustpan.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Totally agree with Wendy. It's nearly impossible to have my floor spotless for longer than 5 minutes. Sometimes I feel my fids WAIT for me to finish cleaning the floor only to go into food flinging tantrums right afterwards.

I use dust pans and a handy-vac throughout the day. Once a day I bring out the big gun, my regular vacuum cleaner, because I have to deal with dog hair on top of pellets, fruit pieces, peas, wood pieces, feathers, etc. etc.

 

[wenz2712]

Ha ha.. Codie treats it as a Game She sits there until I have finished hoovering all the seed up, then as soon as she sees it go back in the Cupboard she stands in her Food Bowl and flicks it all out She then looks at me as if to say.. " What are you going to do about that" LOL

Another favourite one of hers, is, while I am on the floor sweeping up with the Dustpan, she flicks it all out, so it lands in my Hair

 

[antoinette]

Something you have to get used to.......
Just keep sweeping and cleaning LoL

Be careful when vacuuming, not to take in any food that is wet...... then you will have a serious vacuum problem.

Mishka also thinks it's a game, as I am cleaning, he chucks them out.
During the day I put back the big rounded pellets, in his cage,if they are still dry ....................waste not want not

 

[JerseyWendy]

Another favourite one of hers, is, while I am on the floor sweeping up with the Dustpan, she flicks it all out, so it lands in my Hair

Niko does the exact same thing when I'm cleaning his playstand and he's on it. He's got perfect aim, too. If he can reach my hair, he makes sure to actually put items in it, cracking himself up with a dirty laugh the whole while. :32:

 

[Rana]

same here - i go around with the hoover every evening (after their dinner) and throughout the day i use one of those dustbuster handheld hoover things - and dustpan, or wet wipes...

 

[WharfRat]

We keep a large wet/dry shopvac in the bird area 24/7

 

[Devann]

its a constant battle LOL! small price to pay for the love of our feather babies

 

[Karigan]

Agreed. I have carpet...
yeah.
So I have a computer chair mat that stays under my sennie's cage. Super easy to wipe.

 

[stephend]

I'm hoping to get an iRobot Roomba in the not too distant future:
iRobot Roomba Vacuum Cleaning Robot - Overview

 

[DerSchniffles]

The wife cuts trash bags so they open up and we put those under her cage so when she does poop/throw food, its super easy to clean up.

 

[Riio]

The wife cuts trash bags so they open up and we put those under her cage so when she does poop/throw food, its super easy to clean up.

Good idea!

 

[DebsFlock]

We have a Roomba, a gift from my husband, and it does a pretty good job of getting under the cages. I'm not as good as some here, but I do run it a few times a week. Blanco's cage is the only one that doesn't have seed guard -- that does help contain the spatter some. Blanco is a major food flinger, so he has his dish set on the cage floor away from the edges (and not under any good perching locations!) I also have a tidy seed feeder I want to set up for Scooter, but his cage is really too small to put it inside, so I need to try to rig something up. For him, it's the flung fruit debris that's an issue.

In addition to Roomba aka K9 I have a good quality upright vacuum, a pet-model hand vac and a carpet cleaner. The hand vac is good for getting up the larger debris. The nice thing about the Roomba, aside from the fact that it does its thing on its own, is that I don't have to move the cages to get under and behind them. In theory it would be possible to set it up so it ran automatically several times a day, but the birds are still a little wary of it and I like to be in the room when it runs.

I also have carpet, and I have microfiber kitchen rugs under the cage doors, which is where the poop issue is the most significant. I am dying to yank it out and put in tile.

 

[sarafigal]

On top of the mess itself, I realized that some tiny ants have realized that my floor is now a fabulous source of goodies: grape skins, raisin bits, orange peel nibblets...[sigh] so I guess the next question has to do with bird-safe pest control!

 

[Riio]

A dog. LOL my dogs come in and suck up anything edible from under, around, and in the cage as far as their tongues can reach! Never had an ant one!
But on a serious note, I'm not sure about the pest control thing. I have heard food grade diatomatious earth (spelling) will work for some pests. Not sure about ants, might be worth a Google search. Good luck!

 

[Bpd15]

For ants I read put a little dish soap and water in a spray bottle, the dish soap drowns them. It won't take out the nest though obviously its just for the ones you notice.

 

[Rio Mom]

We just got a Shark Navigator Pro vacuum, I really like it! I also have a handheld black n decker flex that works great for sucking up debris in the seed catcher and floofies around the cage.