I finally had to break down and use ant spray in the room where my budgies were. I saw the suggestion to use vinegar spray after I'd already done it, and I'll use it next time. For now, I've moved my budgies to my bedroom.

 

I've wiped down all the surfaces where the ant spray hit, and vacuumed up all the dead bugs. I've put out a fan and opened all the windows. How long would you say before it's safe to put the birds back in the room? They've been out for about 24 hours.

 

My bedroom is a higher traffic area than the office where they normally stay. My toddler comes in regularly, and I tromp in and out a dozen times a day. It's more social, but since the birds live loose, it also means more times a day for the cats to sneak in. In addition, there are open aquariums with no lids around, so it's not ideal.

 

I'm not super worried - my budgie's wings are clipped, so it's unlikely that they could fly up to the aquariums, and we're careful about the cats. They're also more like bird statues on their perches than active, travelling little animals - they're very quiet most of the time. I'm more worried that they're going to get stepped on than anything.

 

I know I should probably put them in their cage, but we're qt'ing a new bird there(beautiful white with black markings on her head, and bright blue under her wings), and they haven't used the cage in a month. So my ideal solution would be to get them back in the office, where they've been safe and happy.

I would say withing 48 hours it will be safe

I would say withing 48 hours it will be safe

 

Thanks! I'll get them back in there right away. Had a close call with a cat tonight, so I'm glad it's safe. It turns out this is a tough house to make safe for birds! I'm probably going to have to get them back into a cage, or at least convince them to move to perches up on the walls instead of sitting on the ground.

 

I'll start another thread on the behavior forum on that. Thanks for the help!