FINCHforum

Hi everyone, I'm a new finch owner and was wondering if anyone has any good methods for cleaning and sterilizing cages. And how often?

I'm currently using a 1 part bleach to 4 parts water mixture which I thoroughly wash off with soap and HOT water once a week. Is this overkill? Everything is going OK so far, I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything or harming my new little buddies!

That sounds fine...just rinse well...

I mostly just use hot water...sometimes vinegar...and bleach only if I'm worried about something...

...how big is your cage?

I have an 18x18x24 Clean Life cage.

Okay! So not too large...easy to clean in the tub...

...you can likely bleach it less often...once a month should be plenty...

I use grapefruit seed extract (4 drops to a pint of hot water) to clean my bird cages. Bleach is good too but it makes the cages rust really fast.

I was worried I was using bleach too often! I hadn't thought of rusting. Thank you for helping me save my cages!

Rue said- "I mostly use hot water...sometimes vinegar"

Am I supposed to dilute the vinegar , or just use it at full strength?

I dilute...but I'm not too exact about it...I think I do roughly 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water...

Sorry, I must sound stupid. My finch would have a heart attack if I removed them I would think. I've only had them a little over a month.
We have so far only taken out the perches and dishes and all to clean them. Is this wrong? How do you catch them and where do you put them?

whenever I've had to catch them I put the cage on the floor, turn off the lights and close the windows, put a towel over the cage to darken it, then catch them by hand. It's easier in the dark. If you're cleaning then take them and put them in a spare cage. I personally use a dry brush to loosen poop stuck to the grate and then remove the grate, tray and all the perches and dishes to clean. I find they don't poop on the outside bars so I don't worry about cleaning them too much. When I get my hookbill I'll have to start though, since they like chewing on the bars.

Oh, good. I don't notice any poop on the bars or anything and we clean everthing else.

hi all
have you tried a hand held steam cleaner!

ken

lol Kenny, I would if I had one!! I love those things!

hi thalia
dont you have car boot sales,or flea markets or garage sales as they call them in your country,it doesnt have to be new

ken

I always thought birds...and finches esp. were so fragile...

...but after handling more finches...treating and medicating...

...they're much tougher than you think...

If I have to catch all of them...I do it in the dark as well...

lol Kenny, always quick to reply! Actually we do have garage sales, unfortunately I've never had the money to go sifting through them since I've been a student for the past 5 years. Now that I have the money I work 12 hours on Saturday and on Sunday, the days when people have garage sales lol
car boot sales tee hee hee I was thinking... why would people sell boots for cars?!?