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What's On The Bottom Of Your Cage?


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Hi all, we are setting up the cage for a new Budgie and was wondering what you all line the bottom of you cages with? I have seen written in my research that some people use non toxic kitty litter. Is that an option or do you stick to newspaper/paper towel?

 

Also, the grate that comes at the bottom of the cage... is it better for their feet to take that out or leave it in? Seems to me that it wouldn't be too comfortable for them to be waddling around trying to grip onto those bars underfoot.

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Here's what I do, although I'm not necessarily saying it's the best method, but I like it well enough.

 

I leave the grate in, but then I put several layers of newspaper on top of the grate. Then when I think enough poop has fallen on the newspaper, that I don't want them to be picking at it, I remove the top layer of newspaper, to reveal the next, usually cleaner, layer.

 

A lot of the seed hulls and other debris will make it's way to the edges, and fall through, to underneath the grate, so I pull the slide out tray and dump that into the trash. Occasionally I will take a clean paint brush that I keep just for the cages, and brush even more of the chaff down into the tray, since some of it will seem to get stuck at the edges of the grate.

 

One of the drawbacks is that there will also be chaff filtering its way in between the layers, so sometimes the next layer is already full of seed and stuff. Then I will shake the papers out a little and use the paint brush again.

 

One of the main good points I like about my method is that the birds can feed off of fallen seed on the floor of their cage, and it doesn't get wasted, as it would if it fell through the grate. How frustrating that would be for a bird who played in his dish emptying it out, only to have it all sitting there under the grate, just out of reach!

 

And I do think it's nicer on their feet to walk on the paper, and not the grate. I usually put in a good 20 to 30 layers, so it is quite thick, and lasts a long time. It's funny to hear them crackling around when it gets down to the last 1 or two layers, and it's thinner!

 

I think this topic is a good idea. I'm looking forward to seeing what other people do.:D

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In cages with babies, I do like Finnie and put layers of newspaper over the grate so they can access all the seed on the floor also for their little feet. Other cages I have the grate on top with newspaper in the tray below.

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Here's what I do, although I'm not necessarily saying it's the best method, but I like it well enough.

 

I leave the grate in, but then I put several layers of newspaper on top of the grate. Then when I think enough poop has fallen on the newspaper, that I don't want them to be picking at it, I remove the top layer of newspaper, to reveal the next, usually cleaner, layer.

 

 

 

 

Me too :D

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Me too :)

Edited by Ratzy
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Me too.

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Me too - :lol: Sorry, got carried away. I also use newspaper

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I actually use normal white paper and cover the bottom with that, then I put the grate on top. I have no slide out tray for the cage I use, so it is a bit harder to clean frequently like I used to.

 

The birds don't seem to mind the grate, I actually think it is easier for them to grip on than a flat surface, but that is just my opinion of course. :)

 

- Kassidy

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I found that when mine were babies they would tend to kick/dig in their seed containers so it would go everywhere. So I'd put paper on top of the grate so they could still eat the seed they split. When they got older, they stopped this behaviour so I removed the paper from on top of the grate and rubbish would fall into the tray below. I found this was easier to clean/manage and since they have multiple seed containers, no one goes hungry! I guess it depends on the bird's behaviour and how they like to eat. You just adapt the cage set up to the bird's preference for eating etc.

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My budgies are nuts :rolleyes: They like to tip everything out onto the floor and then eat it. The hens especially like to kick out the seed containers ( Marigold popped out an egg a few days ago :( ).

Edited by KAZ
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My lad has a grate at the bottom of his cage and a pull out tray beneath that. I put a large sheet of butcher's paper on the bottom of the cage on top of the grate and it makes it super easy for me to clean the cage...I pop him out in the morning for his play outside the cage and then I reach in, roll up the paper with one hand, deposit it in the bin and slot a clean butcher paper in to the cage. The paper doesn't cover the entire area of the cage but it covers enough that only seed falls through to the tray below.

 

I prefer to clean his cage every day as 1) he lives inside and 2) I think bird poo turns in to cement if you leave it sitting around for a few days so easier to clean regularly for me. I play with him everyday so this little routine works for us.

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in my avairy i have sand, soaks up everything, then you just take out old sand and get new.

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Hi i put news paper at the the bottom of the tray and leave the grate on my bird pebbles loves walking along the grate its probably not the best method so i advise you to read through some of the other posts i am probably going to start putting layers of nes paper on top of my grate like what one of the other people said rolleyes.gif

 

 

 

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No grate and kitty litter.

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No grate and kitty litter.

 

 

This is interesting, Nubbly. Is that with a slide out tray? And do you use the clumping kind of kitty litter? I might want to trial this method, but with my slide out tray, I'd have to make sure there was only a thin layer of litter, so it doesn't get pushed out over the sides. Can you show us a photo?

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Nope - no tray just attapulgite (natural kitty litter). But I use a deep litter system scooping the clumps of hen pooh out and replacing a bit at a time. Think there might be a picture of it in my last years breeding journal where i was prepping my cabinets.

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This one?

 

okay a close-ish up picture of my cleaned and semi-prepped cabinet. I use kitty litter on the floor to absorb moist poops and scoop them out. Otherwise litter stays in until the end of the round.

 

miscphotos003.jpg

 

 

I guess I couldn't do that. My regular cages have slide out trays, with holes in the front, and my breeding cages are actually shelves, so the litter would fall right out through the spaces between the floors and the walls, and out the wire fronts. I see you have a kind of wooden slat on the front of yours, so the litter stays in.

 

It looks like a method I'd like to try, though, if I ever get cages that can hold the litter in.

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In my cage that I have set up for Dalek, I took the grate out and lined the pull out tray with some sand sheets I brought at Coles and on top of the sand sheets I put a little bit of shavings that we use for our baby chicks in their boxes.

 

Dalek seems to love it and it's really simple to clean as I just pull the tray out, tip out the shavings and put soem more in and replace the sand sheets with new ones when they wear down.

 

They are like really soft sand paper so it helps keeps the budgies nails trimmed.

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This one?

 

okay a close-ish up picture of my cleaned and semi-prepped cabinet. I use kitty litter on the floor to absorb moist poops and scoop them out. Otherwise litter stays in until the end of the round.

 

miscphotos003.jpg

 

 

I guess I couldn't do that. My regular cages have slide out trays, with holes in the front, and my breeding cages are actually shelves, so the litter would fall right out through the spaces between the floors and the walls, and out the wire fronts. I see you have a kind of wooden slat on the front of yours, so the litter stays in.

 

It looks like a method I'd like to try, though, if I ever get cages that can hold the litter in.

 

If your cages are made from shelves and the kitty litter fall behind down the wall , well I am wondering what is stopping the seed from falling down there too because seed is smaller than the kitty litter, may be you can run some silicone long the back to seal it.

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In my cage that I have set up for Dalek, I took the grate out and lined the pull out tray with some sand sheets I brought at Coles and on top of the sand sheets I put a little bit of shavings that we use for our baby chicks in their boxes.

 

Dalek seems to love it and it's really simple to clean as I just pull the tray out, tip out the shavings and put soem more in and replace the sand sheets with new ones when they wear down.

 

They are like really soft sand paper so it helps keeps the budgies nails trimmed.

Throw away your sand sheets. They arent needed for budgies and can indeed harm them if ingested. they can also add to feet issues. As far as wearing down nails goes, that petshop blurb written on packets. Normal branches are good enough. A budgies nails and beak will only grow out of size and shape and control if it has a health issue causing the growth.

No sandsheets or sandpaper in my aviaries and on their perches and none of my birds have long nails or beaks :D

Edited by **KAZ**
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In my cage that I have set up for Dalek, I took the grate out and lined the pull out tray with some sand sheets I brought at Coles and on top of the sand sheets I put a little bit of shavings that we use for our baby chicks in their boxes.

 

Dalek seems to love it and it's really simple to clean as I just pull the tray out, tip out the shavings and put soem more in and replace the sand sheets with new ones when they wear down.

 

They are like really soft sand paper so it helps keeps the budgies nails trimmed.

Throw away your sand sheets. They arent needed for budgies and can indeed harm them if ingested. they can also add to feet issues. As far as wearing down nails goes, that petshop blurb written on packets. Normal branches are good enough. A budgies nails and beak will only grow out of size and shape and control if it has a health issue causing the growth.

No sandsheets or sandpaper in my aviaries and on their perches and none of my birds have long nails or beaks :D

 

Oh gosh! I didn't know that. :( Damn that pet shop lady for lying to me! What do you recommend instead? I really don't want to put the grate in because without it gives him more room to play around in.

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When I fist started I bought that sand paper for bottom of cage and it wasn't long before their feet were bleeding, chucked the lot away. Newspaper is safe not sand paper.

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If your cages are made from shelves and the kitty litter fall behind down the wall , well I am wondering what is stopping the seed from falling down there too because seed is smaller than the kitty litter, may be you can run some silicone long the back to seal it.

 

So far it hasn't been too bad of a problem with the seed falling out. Mostly it's empty husks that sift out. They go down to the next level, then to the next and so on, but not too badly. It's not like the lower birds are getting rained on or anything. Now, if they were being naughty birds and kicking out lots of uneaten seeds, then I would have to try to do something to minimize the waste. (Or maybe the birds on the next level down would eat it! :lol: ) But their seed is in a feeder, so that's not the same as lining the whole cage with 2 inches of kitty litter.

 

Anyway, the gap is too wide to seal with silicone, and I like that I can dismantle the whole thing for cleaning. The shelves just lift out.:)

 

 

In my cage that I have set up for Dalek, I took the grate out and lined the pull out tray with some sand sheets I brought at Coles and on top of the sand sheets I put a little bit of shavings that we use for our baby chicks in their boxes.

 

Dalek seems to love it and it's really simple to clean as I just pull the tray out, tip out the shavings and put soem more in and replace the sand sheets with new ones when they wear down.

 

They are like really soft sand paper so it helps keeps the budgies nails trimmed.

Throw away your sand sheets. They arent needed for budgies and can indeed harm them if ingested. they can also add to feet issues. As far as wearing down nails goes, that petshop blurb written on packets. Normal branches are good enough. A budgies nails and beak will only grow out of size and shape and control if it has a health issue causing the growth.

No sandsheets or sandpaper in my aviaries and on their perches and none of my birds have long nails or beaks :D

 

Oh gosh! I didn't know that. :( Damn that pet shop lady for lying to me! What do you recommend instead? I really don't want to put the grate in because without it gives him more room to play around in.

 

You have to expect the pet shop people to try to sell you stuff, it's their job. There are tons of bird supplies out there that no one needs.

 

Like Splat said, use newspaper. It's a lot cheaper, too. All you have to do is cut it to size.

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l use newspaper.

Instead of cutting to size, l just fold the paper.

Edited by **KAZ**
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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest K&M Breeding

In my breeding budgie cages I do usually put a piece of newspaper down on their grate main reason is So I don't have to scrub that part so much while they're breeding - before I set up a pair I put their cage in the tub and scrub it all down and clean it up and when I'm done before putting the pair in I'll put a single piece of paper on the grate to help keep it from getting poop build up from where the male sits all the time and on millet days I'll give them a clean piece of newspaper if theirs is dirty for their millet so they can enjoy it w/out loosing most of it to the tray

 

Community cage only gets paper when its millet day

 

lovebirds Never ever ever get access to paper (it makes mine make nests and start breeding when i don't want them to) My conures and Ringnecks do get paper on their grate just because they poop a lot ( a lot more than the rest of the birds) and they're breeding now too So I don't want to disturb them any more than needed by scrubbing their cages So i change the paper When it gets bad (since they're not out walking all over it like the community budgie cage would be) and put clean in but my conures They like to make my work even harder and Climb on to the door and poop out it Getting poop all over the doors of their cage and all over the shower board in front of their cage (I have shower board down on the floors under each cage to keep my carpets clean and poop free(I rent so I take a ton of precautions I want my security deposit back when ever I move out LOL)

 

I have no problems with grates I think they're the easiest part of the cages to clean and none of mine but 2 come out (that's my pet Quakers cages) plus I don't like cages with out grates they walk all over their poop and thats just gross to me

 

Never ever use cat litter, Corn cob bedding or the like it all harbors bacteria plus there is no such thing as "non- toxic" cat litter it is all very dusty! and that is NOT good on the birds lungs at all

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