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Keeping your bird room clean, the high tech way!

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:16 am
by rottielover
Hey all, just wanted to share with everyone a bit of a success story for me.

The only room in my house that I could turn into a bird room has cheap/thin carpet in it. So I've been vacuuming the room every other day, but it still wasn't enough. Those little birds can really fling seeds, hulls and nesting materials (not to mention feathers) farther than you think.

Getting under the cages was taking the longest time, bending down or even sitting on the floor with a long hose attachment trying to get all the debris...

Then I saw a small blurb in Bird Talk magazine about the Roomba vacuum robots that have been on the market for a while now. They look like over sized hockey pucks, and claim to automatically keep a room cleaned up.

So I went out and found a 5th gen. one at my local Sears. It has a clock and a once a day schedule built into it. So I set up the little robot to clean the bird room once a day at the same time every day. About 30 min later, the entire room is clean, the little robot fits perfectly under the cage stands and picks everything up.

Now all I have to do is empty his collection bin once a day (much less time than manually vacuuming the bird room myself).

These little robot's are not cheap, they cost about as much (or more) as a whole vacuum cleaner would cost. However, it's making up for the cost in the time that it's saved me and how clean my bird room is staying.

The birds don't seem to mind the little robot, they would get much more upset with me in the room and all the noise of my upright.

So anyway, I just wanted to post a note out there for all of you hobbiest like me out there. If your finding that your spending more time cleaning up after your birds, rather than sitting back and enjoying them, you should check these little robots out.

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:02 pm
by FeatherHarp
I was looking into an I-Robot too! I read up on the Dirt Dog model which stated it was good for workshops and for pet owners. I am tired of vacuuming all the time too and since I have such a bad back and am facing another back surgery in a few weeks...the Dirt Dog is sounding better to me all the time. :D

I am glad to hear you like yours....now I need to convince Hubby I really need one... :roll:

Here is what I am talking about.

Dirt Dog Model

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:10 pm
by rottielover
Yes, the dirt dog model was the one featured in the Bird Talk blurb.

It's a lot less expensive than the model I ended up with (http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=334)...

I think the main differance is the scheduling and built in clock. The dirt dog has a button you have to press to start a cleaning cycle. The model I ended up with will automatically start a clean cycle at a set time each day.

I've had it about 2 weeks now and I'm quite pleased with it!

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:19 pm
by FeatherHarp
You are right about all the options...they sure add on to the price of the I-Robot. But I think the basic model would be fine for my use....although...I wouldn't put up much of a fight if a certain Hubby got me one with more featuers....lol! :P

Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:48 pm
by kittani79
Roombas are awesome. My mom has one and it even keeps the carpet clean with her gang of cats and aging border collie -- and getting black border collie fur off thick carpet is no easy task!

I've been very impressed by them. We have one too but it doesn't have quite the hard life my mom's does :)