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Im asking due to horrible tennis elbows, Im really suffering this winter and I cant scrub 10 huge grates, top of perches and cages everyday-sometimes 2x a day. So Im asking for ideas. Newspaper is shreeded and messy- worry of impactions with shavings. Please any ideas?What do you do to make it any easier on yourselves.

Hello,

Do you shred the newspaper before putting it down, or do your toos do it? I have a cage where the is a metal grill which is about two inches above the catchment tray. I just lay newspaper on the bottom, and all the food and poop etc just falls through and onto it. There is some good stuff on a website i know - www.24parrot.com, called poop off. Try it, it makes poop dissolve then you can just wipe away the residue - no scrubbing needed!!

Hope this helps,

Nicky

I use poop-off its the scrubbing of the grates that is killing me- Ive gotten so much in pain that all grates have been pulled and Ive gone back to my clean processed straw. I just wanted to know if anyone eles out there suffers with pain and needs less scrubbing with 10 Macaw kings cages its an all day event.

I use Doodle and it is the best product on the market as far as I'm concerned. Spray it on, leave a couple minutes and wipe up. Actually, you only need to leave it on for a couple minutes if the poop is really dried on. Those cement poops as it were. LOL

I use plain newsprint on the bottom of my cages. I buy 50 pounds of it. It comes in sheets of 18" x 24" and 24" x 36". I use the latter. The box of 50 pounds will last me a year and I use it in the cages and under the cages. No more black goffin. LOL I paid $35 Canadian for the 24 x 36. I'm sure it would be cheaper in the US. You just have to find a packaging plant. It is a wonderful thing!!

Bev

ljhassell wrote:Im asking due to horrible tennis elbows, Im really suffering this winter and I cant scrub 10 huge grates, top of perches and cages everyday-sometimes 2x a day. So Im asking for ideas. Newspaper is shreeded and messy- worry of impactions with shavings. Please any ideas?What do you do to make it any easier on yourselves.

I only have 3 cages to clean and it gets to me. Annie's grate is close to the tray and she would SHRED her newspaper that I use. Last week I decided to just throw a page in on her grate and it made a HUGE difference. She tears that up, plays under it, plays peek-a-boo in the morning with me with it...........she has so much fun with that one piece of paper. And it saves me from picking poopy pieces of paper and shoving them back thru the grate.
Gloria

First, you need to find a way to lift the grate in the cages so that they can't reach down and pull the news paper up through the grate and make a big mess. You can use boards that go across the ends of the cage to place the grate on, or even bricks in the corners....but the boards will make it too high for them to reach down and still allow you to slide the tray out. If you have a bird that doesn't like to step on the grate, or bottom of the cage, just take the grate out all together.

What I do is lay newspaper, with wax paper between layers. I then make several layers of newspaper and wax paper, always ending with wax paper on top. The wet stuff will not go through the wax paper. Then every morning, I just remove the top layer. You can also put a paper plate under their favorite perch when you put them to bed, pitch the plate in the morning, and the cage is good to go for one more day.

Once a week, I really clean the cages, scrape the grate, wipe down the bars, etc. (During the warm months, I push my cages outside and hose them down, let them drip dry and sun for a while before pushing them back in.) But, if I had as many as you do, I would use the wax paper/news paper layers, and would super clean two cages a day. As long as everyone gets a sparkling clean cage once a week, and a clean cage bottom everyday, you're good to go - who could ask for more than that?

I found a product like wax paper that you can get cut to the exact size of your trays. Then lay 6 or 7 in & once a day pull the tray out, take the top sheet & it's ready to go.

Not I'm not using them yet but have considered. If interested I can get you an email add. for the lady that showed them to me.

Cami,
I like your idea of the paper plate!! Wax paper also, but where do you find wax paper the size of a large cage? Or do you just keep tearing pieces from the regular roll?

Versacesmom

Call or email Debbie at Feathered Playpen perrinda@att.net or call 513-777-7719. Tell her Chris from Indiana referred you Cocoa's dad.

Versace'smom wrote:Cami,
I like your idea of the paper plate!! Wax paper also, but where do you find wax paper the size of a large cage? Or do you just keep tearing pieces from the regular roll?

Versacesmom

I agree, I've been using a paper plate under my Sun Conure for the last year. Her poop is worse than the other 2 birds put together!! And I've been using wax paper for the last few weeks.
I'm now thinking about the bricks or boards to raise Annie's grate. I can just see her now.............streeeeeeeetching her little leg down as far as she can to get that nut she dropped. She may just spend all day trying to reach that nut if I raise her grate!! She's the most determined little 'Too I've ever seen.

Yeah, I just put as many strips on as needed. I will also put a smaller piece under their favorite perches in the morning, then switch it out with a paper plate or another little piece of wax paper when I put them to bed.

I buy my wax paper at the dollar store. I also put pretty wrapping paper down for special occasions that I get at the dollar store too. Birthday wrapping paper, Holiday wrapping paper ... It still looks pretty under the wax paper .... I LOVE to decorate!

You can use anything that will attach between the bars of the cage to raise your grate.

This is going to be confusing to describe but I'll give it a try ....
You know how a perch attaches between the bars, with those great big washers and a screw, or butterfly bolt? Find two large squares, or rectangles of hard plastic, and drill a whole in the middle - make eight of them, two for each corner.....then, just like those big washers, put them in each corner of the cage where the leg of the grate will lay on top of it. I used a strong piece of wire for a while but didn't like the look of it, then I used some wood until it got ate ... I just keep looking for the right thing to use to keep that grate up high enough to keep those toes from reaching the papers.

I also keep a SS bucket in my birds cages, sometimes I switch it out with a basket from the dollar store that holds all of the foot toys, bells, etc. I do have to pick the smaller ones up off the cage floor everyday and put them back in the "toy box" but that's not a problem at all, and they like to raid their "toy box" and pull everything out everyday anyway. For those who like to shred paper, I put one of those adding machine paper rolls in for them to play with, or hang it by a rope and let them unroll and shred to their hearts desire.

I'm lucky; my Goffins doesn't ant his precious little toes to even touch the grate. If he accidentally drops to the bottom of the cage its not for more than a split second. So I can put newspaper layers on his grate and they stay undisturbed. I put others in the tray too just to catch anything that might fall around the edges.

My Timneh does occasionally play on the bottom of his cage with some foot toys but he has only recently started trying to chew the paper some. I could leave the paper off the grate without any problem because there is enough distance between the grate and the tray that he couldn't reach it. I am somewhat hesitant to do that though because Baggins has some nerve damage in one foot from a leg that was broken in the nest, and I worry about him maybe getting it stuck or something. Actually, though the way he climbs around on the cage ceiling, hanging upside down from it to play with his toys, tells me it really wouldn't bother him. I guess it will just depend on which becomes th easiest to clean.

Ibuprofen works for me ...

cathyt wrote:Ibuprofen works for me ...

not for me unfortunately!