FINCHforum

Unfortunately, my finch died. If I get another pair of finches, it will not be until at least april 2019. So I need to deep clean and store my cage. What should I use to do that? I was going to use bleach but then I wasnt sure if it could be toxic to any birds that go in the cage.

Bleach will evaporate in a few days. Lack of chlorine smell will tell you when that has happened.
Hydrogen peroxide kills bacteria. Wash the cage down with a sponge or use a spray bottle with the supermarket concentration of H2O2.

Vinegar is another good disinfectant

I use white vinegar and dawn dish soap with hot water, rinse well and dry in the sun.

sparrowsong98

I use white vinegar as well. I have used hydrogen peroxide in the past, but I don't think I have any at the moment.

Vinegar is not a disinfectant.

I use dish soap, mixed with water. 1 part soap, 3 parts water. Spray well and let it soak for 5 minutes or more. Don't let the spray solution dry, spray it again if it is drying quickly.

Then wash it clean, and rinse. Once it is clean, spray with rubbing alcohol or strong bleach solution. Again, keep it wet with the disinfectant for 5 minutes or so.

Then, dry and you're ready to go.

Here are the reasons:

Vinegar kills some germs, but leaves a lot of them un-killed.

Disinfectants don't work if there is organic matter present. So, clean well and then disinfect.

Also, most disinfectants need to be liquid on the surface for a period of time, so that everything is killed. Thus, re-spray the disinfectant if it is drying quickly.

Dave

Thanks for clearing that up. I scrub stuff down when I use liquids, so that removes a good amount. I use rubbing alcohol on my tools, but it's a bit volatile, so I imagine everything should be cleaned in another room if a lot of the alcohol is being used.