New Cage - needs cleaning!

[zandische]

Hey everyone,

 

I bought a cage that is in good shape, but it's been left outside for a long time and is pretty dirty. Inside it was a bunch of toys/perches, some of which are rope, leather, wood and plastic. They toys are used, but many of them are still in good or almost new condition (minus the dirt).

 

How would you clean this to make sure there aren't any nasties that could make a new birdie sick? Cleaning the cage portion is easy, but I'm wondering about the toys and perches. Some of them are very expensive and durable, and it would be nice to keep them if possible.

 

How would you recommend cleaning the cotton rope perches? What about wood and acrylic/plastic toys? Should I boil, bleach, use a salt water solution, etc? I'd like to clean them in a way that kills any bacteria, but doesn't leave some sort of residue behind that could hurt the bird.

 

In the fish world we'd always bleach everything or boil it, but I don't know how well that will work on wood/cloth/acrylic for birds.

[Dave007]

The rope and leather needs to be discarded because both harbor bacteria which can't be easily removed and leather is primarily used in cages for a bird to chew on. The rope can get chewed on and there may be mite larvae in the rope if it's been outside. The birds grip tightly on rope and foot mites aren't pleasent. The wood perches can be washed with soap and hot water with a rough edged sponge then washed down with vinegar until totally dry. If the wood you're talking about has to do with toys and you can't thoroughly disinfect them, throw them away.

The acrylic toys can be boiled in water.

Outside atmospheres ruin many bird products both cheap and expensive.

[zandische]

Thanks Dave! I've gotten rid of the cotton stuff. Some of the "stainless steel" is actually rusted, so that had to go too. I scrubbed the wood perches, boiled them, then baked them to dry. Everything else got boiled and soaked in vinegar/baking soda.