Cage Cleaning?

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Thu May 10, 2007 8:16 am

I'm an avid garage saler - I go every weekend, if possible, during the summer. I've gotten some great finds, but I've never seen a steam cleaner at a garage sale, that I can recall. I'll have to keep my eyes open, though - that seems like a great way to clean and disinfect a cage pretty thoroughly.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Thu May 10, 2007 9:31 am

hi thalia
what about e-bay...we always call them car boot sales as originally evrything was sold from the back of the car now we have tables to sell on because before you could get parked up people where rummaging in your stuff before you got the boot lid up (trunk )
ken

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HAND-HELD-STEAM-C ... dZViewItem

StevePax · Post by **StevePax** » Thu May 10, 2007 9:49 am

Kenny - would you use something like that on the grate of your cage while your birds are still in the cage? I guess if it's just steam, and the birds have all fled to the top of the cage, it should be fine, right?

Also, wouldn't that kind of make the poop all soft and slimy, anyway? I'm kind of interested in this idea.

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Thu May 10, 2007 10:06 am

hi steve
they call it dry steam that comes out of these things.and as you say if the birds are up near the top of the cage they should be ok...as far as the poop is concerned it would blast it through your mesh and as soon as it hit another hard surface it would harden again enough to either sweep it up or wash it away with an antiseptic wipe which is what i use! i clean all my cage fronts with mine also! some people even put thiers in the dishwasher but make sure the wife is out if you do that

ken

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:17 pm

That sounds like a lot of work to me. I just take a stiff piece of cardboard and run it along the bars of the cage, grate included. The poop is knocked right off.

C A · Post by **C A** » Thu May 10, 2007 5:23 pm

Hello again! For all the new finch owner's who are looking for a good cleaning schedule I found a great link. It deals with aviaries, but most of the cleaning tasks are the same with cages.

http://www.finchaviary.com/Maintenance/ ... Aviary.htm

There is loads of info on this site also. Hope this helps all newbies like me!

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Thu May 10, 2007 11:21 pm

I actually don't trust eBay, lol I don't like paypal, yeah I'm a weirdo. They are talking about firing someone at work and hiring someone to work weekends so then I can work Mon-Fri instead of Sat - Tues, which would be much more social calendar friendly for me. I'm going through Farmer's Market withdrawal! It's only open on Saturday

I may actually just buy myself one of them if I ever see them on sale at Costco or Walmart, I really like them. I've used them before for cleaning bathrooms and such and they're amazing! The soap scum peels right off the walls in the showers, no scrubbing. They also don't leave a lot of water behind which is weird

allgirlsmom · Post by **allgirlsmom** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:05 pm

C A, Thanks for the lead on aviary cleaning. After scanning part of the info, I am getting ideas for the aviary I am designing to make cleaning it easier.

Does anyone have a suggestion for the backwall? I am building it against a wood fence that has spaces between the boards. They're small but maybe critters(?) could get through to the birds. Does putting glass or plexiglas against the wood sound like a solution if I include an air space between the two?

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:13 pm

you could probably get away with having it solid plexi, it's going to have at least 1 other open side right? I would worry about something getting in between the cracks of the fence, snake or something else.

allgirlsmom · Post by **allgirlsmom** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:23 am

It would only be plexi on the back wall. Three sides would be wire with a strip of solid wood or plexi at the top all around for shelter from wind. The top would be part wire/part wood to let rain in and for air circulation.

I took a better look at the fence. The space between the fence boards is only around 1/4"-1/2" at most. But, I still feel better if there's a solid barrier between the birds and our neighbor's yard. She agreed not to spray for pests, etc. on that side of the yard, but I still think it should be solid for extra measure. I'm just concerned that plexi against wood might encourage mold since wood retains moisture. But if I leave an air space between plexi and wood, would the plexi eventually look grimy on the outside where I couldn't wipe? Wonder if there is dark plexi? That wouldn't show the grime!

tursiopschic · Post by **tursiopschic** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:12 pm

There are lots of stores online for different colored plexiglass, including black. It may be more expensive though, but will look really sharp imo.