Barbara2 Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 That is the question... I have seen this discussed before but I am curious what the majority feel about this. Do you leave the grate in your bird's cage(s) or take it out? What are the advantages/disadvantages of each? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdhouse Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I always keep the grates in my cages. My guys use their whole cage including play on the floor. Phenix & Kura like to play hockey with cat balls. Charm well, there's no knowing what she's going to amuse herself with. LOL I'd just rather keep them out of the mess in the meantime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I am the same as Birdhouse on this question. My Birds both play on the floors of their respective cages. You certainly do not want them tromping around in bird poop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KimKim Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I leave the grate in. But my grey does not go to the bottom of his cage. There is a gap anyway below the grate, so even if I wanted to take the grate out I wouldnt in fear of him escaping or getting stuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I leave the grate in all my cages, I don't want my fids foraging around on the paper I line the bottom of the cage with and it keeps them out of their own poop for a few will eat that, yes as gross as it sounds it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted October 12, 2010 Share Posted October 12, 2010 I leave the grate in my Amazon and Grey's cages as they go to the bottom of their cages and although they each have a selected place to poop I don't want them getting dirty. Now my Ekkie never goes to the bottom of his cage, and although he is the biggest poop I remove the grate from his cage because it is so hard to clean. I am grateful he is not a bottom dweller or I would have to leave the grate in and clean harder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 I take the grates out of my birds' cages. Both play on the bottom of their cages but both avoid walking through their own mess. They seem to enjoy foraging around on the bottom for bits of discarded toys or tearing at the newspaper that I line the cages with. By the way, I change their paper every evening, no matter what, so the mess doesn't build up much and they really do avoid the bit of mess that is in there. Oh, and also, bird poo is realllllllllly hard to clean off the metal bars of the grates annnnnnnnd after years and years of exposure, starts to eat away at most of the finishes (all?) so that is another reason I don't want the grates in the cage. (And yes, I have heard powder-coating a cage is indestructible, but I've witnessed different, so..for what it's worth.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted October 13, 2010 Share Posted October 13, 2010 I leave the grates in my 4 cages. They tend to drop many toys out of their toy buckets and I don't want the toys landing in poop. I also don't want my birds in the poop in the case they slip and fall to the bottom of their cage when climbing down their ladders which go to the bottom perch. As for cleaning the bird poop off them, I use 2.5 acid water and pull the grates out once a week to do the underside. Easy to clean! My cages are big and the grates can't be wahsed in the sink, I just do it on the floor near their cage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara2 Posted October 13, 2010 Author Share Posted October 13, 2010 Thank you for all of the replies. The grates are back in. I did not have the grate in Neo's cage and thought it unnecessary since he wasn't going to the bottom of his cage. Now that it is in, he is going to the bottom of his cage. As the only down side is having something else to clean, I'll keep them in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marla Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 I keep the grate in. I change papers twice a day, and wipe the grate with Baby Wipes. Since my Charlie Girl likes to dig, I have placed a pizza stone in the center with a brown hand towel wrapped over it. She thinks its dirt I guess. She scratches and digs and rubs her beak all over the pizza stone, which keeps her nails and beak in excellent shape. She only potties in two places. She avoids those areas when she goes down to play. She is also a ground feeder, so when she is done with her breakfast, lunch & dinner, she heads for the pizza stone and goes to town! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray P Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 My grates are all left in for all the reasons above. My birds are all over their cage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Squishy Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 I leave the grate in as well. BoBo will go down to the bottom from time to time but he doesn't avoid anything anywhere, so if it is there he will step in it. Our cage is powder coated and no they are not indestructable but are very tough. When cleaning the grate for BoBo's cage which is about 4' X 3' I take it and put it in the shower and run the hottest water I have on it for a minute or two and then using only a cloth or plastic brush or scrub pad I get what is left and then rinse again with hot water. Helps to disinfect it and it also dries faster. I only change the paper every other day, but then again BoBo only spends the night in his cage so it's the paper under the perches that I have to change daily. I personally believe it to be safer for our escape artist bird and helps to keep some of his toys cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Grates in here as well on our bird cages for all the same reasons already stated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 To this day, I still have a folded towel on top of the grate at the bottom with paper over that which is changed at least once if not twice a day. He doesn't poop very much at all in his cage so it works out that he does not wallow in his own poop. When he was younger he would sometimes drop him self on the bottom as if to fall to my mercy to not leave the house and let him out again. So I didn't want him to get hurt. I like the continued security of knowing that he cannot fall and get hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Squishy Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I had a towel in the bottom of BoBo's cage the first few months until he decided to destroy it and the next one we put in. I thought a dog had gotten to it lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJsHoney Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Rene does a lot of falling, enough so I was worried about some type of health issue with him, but the vets and I have decided that he just plays really rough and gets distracted lol... I had towels down but he starting shredding those, so I now put a bunch of flattened cardboard boxes on the bottom above the towel and then newspaper and he has left it all alone since.. Oh and I don't have Rene's grate in the bottom I bought his cage second hand and they didn't have it and cannot find one to fit properly.. but at least he only poops in a few spots and those areas he doesn't walk in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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