Regular bird cage cleaning is important in keeping your pets healthy and, should focus on the entire enclosure and its components. Although most people might think it is a hard task, cleaning your bird cage daily or weekly can be very easy when you know how to do it. With a simple routine, you will be able to clean your birds’ cages fast and more efficiently. This will not only ensure better physical and mental health of the birds but, also a clean environment.
Whether your birds’ enclosure is kept outside or in the living room, it can be vulnerable to germs. Thus, it is advisable that you are always keen on any signs of bacteria, fungi, virus or diseases when cleaning. Besides, you should also watch out for any dangers or hazards on the bird cage to ensure that they are corrected for the safety and comfort of your pets. Other things that you should also check during cleaning may include, droppings, feathers, condition of bird cage parts and components, amount of food consumed among others.
Steps of Cleaning a Bird Cage
Before you begin cleaning, it is important that you have all the bird cage cleaning agents in place. Most bird cages are cleaned using water and a soft cloth or brush, depending on the bird cage material. You would also want to include a disinfectant to kill germs that might be present on the enclosure. One of the most common disinfectants is household bleach. However, you must always choose a disinfectant that can effectively kill bacteria, virus and other germs but, safe for birds and bird cage material.
You should also find some gear to put on while cleaning the bird cage like, rubber gloves. Besides, it is also important that the bird cage is cleared by relocating the birds and removing their toys, feeders and other bird cage accessories to give room for proper cleaning.
Dust off and disinfect the bird cage
In order to make sure that all the parts of the cage are cleaned thoroughly, you should first remove any form of dust, birds dropping and debris from the surfaces. In case you use a disinfectant, it should then be applied carefully on the surfaces and left for about ten minutes.
Even if the disinfectant used is safe, you must thoroughly rinse it off after the ten minutes period. After rinsing, leave the bird cage to dry as you also clean other components and accessories.
Scrub and wipe off the bird cage frame
In case the bird cage has dried out debris like, droppings and food remains, they should be carefully scrubbed off with water and a brush or piece of cloth. When scrubbing, always be very keen to ensure that you do not peel off the surfaces or leave rough edges that could pick your birds’ feathers.
The corners of bird cages are usually breeding grounds for germs and can hide so much dirt. Therefore, they should also be properly cleaned to ensure that the birds are not exposed to infections. The side, top and front bars should also be wiped off using water and a piece of cloth.
Bottom trays
Most bird cage types and styles in the market today are designed with pull out bottom trays, which you should also clean regularly. The pull-out feature makes it easier to clean the bottom trays since you can simply drag them out and empty into a trash bin. You should also use water and piece of cloth or brush to thoroughly clean the bottom trays.
Considering bottom trays also contain birds’ droppings, it is advisable to carefully check them for any signs of disease in birds. Besides, they should also be disinfected for safety of birds.
Accessories
During cleaning, you should also make sure that the bird cage liners are removed and replaced each day. In fact, the liners should be cleared before disinfecting the bird cage. And, they should only be replaced after the bird cage is dry so that it does not soak in water.
Other bird cage accessories like, bird feeders and birdbath should also be cleaned in hot water with soap or disinfectant and thoroughly rinsed in clean fresh water. In case your birds use toys in the bird cage, make sure that they are also checked for accumulation of droppings and cleaned before putting them back in.
It is also important to clean the surrounding areas through sweeping or vacuum cleaning before setting up the bird cage.
In case you may still need more information on how to clean your bird cage, simply get in touch with us for professional help with bird cage cleaning.