floor, wire grid vs paper?

[Hilary]

I tried the walnut in the trays under the grills and loved it (other than the fact that I still had to clean the grills). The problem was that the seed moths also loved it, and the bedding quickly filled with those aweful webs and grubs.

[Sally]

I also HATE cleaning grills. I have gradually replaced all my cages that had fixed grills with ones that have removable grills, so the grills are now in storage! I am using newspaper in the trays, it's free but not the most attractive. I'm currently trying out some coconut chip bedding--haven't used it long enough to tell yet. I ordered some from Canada, and the shipping about killed me. I've found another company with headquarters right here in Dallas--they apparently have a warehouse in Florida, but they are really bad about communicating. The one cage where I'm trying out the coconut chips seems to be doing fine, no mold problems, looks nice.

[dfcauley]

I really don't think the looks of newspaper in cages on the flloor looks bad at all. I think it is great and works really well for keeping it nice and clean.

I used to put it on the floor of my aviary under poop areas, but now I am using towels. I went to Wal-Mart and bought these really large cheap towels that all match. I have really loved using them rather than the paper. When they are dirty, I shake them out, turn them over before washing them. I have enough extras to replace while they are being cleaned.

[cindy]

Liz
I used to have a bath tray inside the cage. But they splashed SO MUCH water all over the place, inside and OUTSIDE the cage, that I got a Plenn Plax outside hang-on bath with a cover to try to contain the water. Well the first time in was a big disappointment, to me. The water leaked out all over and onto the floor. This is a basic design defect of that bath.

I had plexiglass cut to size and fixed with hooks for the bottom half of my flight cage. It does a great job of keeping food, water, (and yes,) even sling shot bird poop of the walls and floor. lol

I to used the plexiglass around the lower part of the cage for seed guards with my Gray...love that stuff. If I build an aviary I plan on doing it the there also except on the back I want to use the frost rice paper look plexiglass....keeps the walls clean and shows off the birds.

[cindy]

Thanks Cindy for that note about mold. Haven't seen any ever but worth keeping an eye on.

Our bird bath is dome structure so water doesn't typically get splashed onto the bottom.

[ http://www.arcatapet.com/fullsize/14251.jpg ]

I've also been considering try out some of the crushed walnut but they are very very sharp and thought it might hurt the birds feet when they are on the bottom of the cage. Also, in some reptiles it's shown to cause impaction so i wasn't sure if finches would eat some and lead to issues.

I never used crushed walnut with the reptiles I used to raise. I always used Reti bark or sand mixed with soil for my shield tailed agamas. What to choose for my finches...what to do, what to do?

[Ursula]

I use compressed sawdust pellets (the bag says "cat litter" but I buy it from a bird supply store) on the bottom of my parrotlet cages, under the cage grid. It absorbs very well and seems to also absorb the smell somehow. Can only recommend that!

In the aviary I use aspen shavings, but I wouldn't use that in a cage. It doesn't absorb as well and needs to be fluffed up to dry or even changed when it gets wet...

[cindy]

I know people that use cat litter, unscented litter clay. I will also check out the saw dust pellets. Thanks Ursala.

[ac12]

The birds are getting smarter
When they take a bath, they splash water outside the bath onto the newspaper.
They learned that the wet newspaper is easy to tear. So after their bath, they start tearing the newspaper and take it into the nest.

I had to take out several layers of newspaper that they had put over the eggs, forming a newspaper blanket.
Then I put a piece of cardboard cereal box over the wet newspaper to keep them from tearing it. Now I will have to keep a cardboard cereal box on the cage bottom in front of the bath.

[FireFinchMayhem]

Ahhhhhhhhhh. So cute! Little buggers though.

[ac12]

Here is the nest with the newspaper blanket over the eggs.
There were several layers of newspaper forming an insulating barrier between the hen and the eggs.
I was able to see it via the nestcam, so I could remove the large pieces of newspaper covering the eggs. I left the smaller pieces as nesting material.

[ac12]

I "think" I have a solution, at least for now, for my birds and newspaper.

They splash water out of the bath, and that water makes the newspaper soft and easy to tear.
I put a piece of 1/2" square wire mesh over the newspaper in front of the bath. The wire mesh stopped them from shredding the newspaper for nesting material. It took them a few days, then they went to a different part of the cage w/o the wire mesh and pecked at the newspaper until the got a hole, and once they had a hole, they started tearing...again.

So now I have to put the 1/2" wire mesh over ALL the newspaper on the cage floor.
They can still forage for food as the wire mesh lies flat on the newspaper, so they can still reach anything that falls to the floor. But so much for a smooth floor to walk on.