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Parrot Poop Vs Kitchen Sponge


bluedawg

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You all must go through a ton of paper towels. I HATE going to Costco and buying their mega-size paper towel and toilet paper bundles and they're gone in a couple of weeks. Reusable is the way for me. I'll nuke my sponges/dish cloths, which is what I've been doing for years. Wife otoh plows through enough paper products for a family of 10.

 

Not really, I purchased some of those plastic sled disc kids use for snow sliding few years ago. I put them under the perching spots in my living room, bird room, etc. I take them out in the evening and spray them off and sit them against the sliding to dry. I just replace with a clean dry one and go to sleep ready for a new day.

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You are not wrong. it's not completely safe... I wouldn't eat it. The distribution of E. coli in psittacines varies from one species to another. It is less common in Amazons and macaws, sometimes found in greys, and common in cockatoos and Eclectus. In fact, E. coli can compose as much as 30 percent of the gut flora of some psittacines and others like cockatiels and budgies carry somewhat less.

 

While there was far less growth from the parrot poop than the other samples - that doesn't mean what is there is safe. I have not identified the different bacteria types yet - I will though :)

Edited by bluedawg
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E-coli is easy to pass on! Of course washing hands is the preventive method.... C- diff is rampant in hospitals and passed on thru feces. I just am very conscious of handling feces. I run human dishes and bird bowls and toys separately in dishwasher. Its worked for us all. Birds are healthy, and so are we. As I am crazy about washing hands and have taught my kids to do the same, I am sure we have cut down alot of illnesses that could have hurt all of us. I'm sure we wash our hands too much. ( wash before and wash after handling a bird). I worry more that we can introduce infection to the birds. Sometimes Sophie is very impatient when I get home from work and wants me to pick her up. She sits there with her foot up and ready while I wash. If she could roll her eyes she would! Nancy

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I use cotton dish cloths that I knit myself, use one for each day of the week and just wash them with oxyclean on the sanitize cycle of my wash machine. I use paper towels to wipe my hands on when I dry them, and I just stack them to re-use for poop wipes -- just spritz them with a vinegar/water solution that I keep in a little spray bottle, wipe up and toss. Also douse them with boiling water from my morning tea kettle and use them to wipe down Inara's cage in the mornings. So double duty/doodie there.

 

Still waiting for Dave's recipe for Red Poop Souffle! Definitely want to see the petri dish... CSI: Parrot Poo!

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Hi Muse... No, I am in school for laboratory science. Right now I'm finishing up my associates in Math & Science then I'll continue on to get my bachelors in Laboratory science... or maybe I'll change my mind and go for the wildlife biology degree :) in any case I have microbiology lecture and lab tomorrow back to back so can't wait to look at my samples under the microscope. I'll bring home some pictures to post. They are not gross at all. It's just interesting to see how much less growth is in the poop than the rest. I would have expected to see more growth but I guess it makes sense - all types of creepy crawleys can grow in the sponge environment but in the intestines only a select few can live. I am going to have to identify the different bacteria types so that should be fun.

 

Inara, I love your idea of knitting your own cloths, one for each day of the week... I am going to do that too. Also a great gift idea :) Do you have a pattern?

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