Lorikeet Cage Cleaning Routine

[birdybabies]

Didnt know whether to put this here or under cages but thought I would more responses here.
I love rainbow lorikeets, they are just stunningly beautiful and am thinking next year I may add one to my flock of 4. If I do, s/he will be an indoor bird as are my other 4.
My question to other rainbow lorikeet humans is, what is your cleaning routine? What do you do to prevent the poop from being on your ceilings, walls, floors, furniture or where ever else it may land? How often do you thoroughly clean cage? Do you also give daily wipe overs? Do you put a cover around parts of cage, do you cover parts of wall?
I already have plastic matting under my current 3 cages, clean the food and water bowls daily (or as req, thanks birdys for poo soup), clean cages at least once a week (more if req) I have natural perches which I replace as req (the beauty of being an aussie, abundance of natural, bird safe eucalyptus trees) Have I forgotten anything else that you can tell me?
The diet I have under control but I am worried about the cleaning cos apparantly if you aren't diligent (according to a website I visited) bacteria can build up and cause the bird to become ill or worse. Thanks in advance.

 

[cupcake]

Lorikeets are really cute! They're like little australian conures! :D I've had a scaly breasted and a rainbow. I really miss mine!

I used to wipe down the cage bars almost every day, sometimes every second day if they were less active that day. Lorikeets poo like crazy... seriously. Like crazy! I think it's because of what they eat. And it's not like normal bird poo, it's kinda runny. :| It's easy to clean up tho. I potty trained my lorikeets so I would do that too if I was you, when ever they were out playing with me I'd have some folder up paper towel on the table or floor next to me and hold them over it every couple of mins and they'd just go, so there wasn't any poo anywhere else. It's really easy to just chuck out the paper towel afterwards.

I reccomend wiping down the cage as much as you can because otherwise it really builds up and gets smelly quickly. I used to wipe mine down like I said, then take it out once (maybe every fortnight or 3 weeks depending on how clean it stayed with wipe downs/paper changes) and hose it down/scrub it clean.

Btw just a little tip... when you feed him/her their wet mix... use warm water, they go CRAZY over it when its luke warm!!! :D Mine used to get so excited when they saw me making it, haha.

 

[Steenbokpixie]

For Goku, I clear out his cage completely and hose + scrub it down once per week. To keep the poo from flying everywhere through the cage bars we hung clear plastic sheets on two sides that reach almost to the top of the cage (but don't fully enclose it) and tucked them underneath, into the removable tray at the bottom. This way most of the poop goes into the plastic sheets and slides down into the poop tray. We also have to be very careful when rearranging his cage (which we do after every clean as otherwise he gets territorial) and arrange the branches and toys in ways that wouldn't encourage him to get too close to and poop off of the uncovered front side of the cage.

We also put a plastic sheet under the cage (larger than the bottom of the cage itself). This way when he poops while out on the top play area of the cage, it usually just goes onto the plastic. This gets washed every week along with the rest of it.

Potty training has been very helpful, though ours isn't perfect yet. Goku knows he doesn't come out until he poops and knows that he won't be picked up and carried around the house until he poops as well. When we're playing away from his cage we sometimes have a plastic basket that we tell him to "go potty" in every 10-15 minutes or so. He won't actively go to the cage or basket to poop, so he'll still go anywhere unless we keep a watchful eye and tell him to go at certain times.

 

[charlie_lorikeet]

I clean Charlie's cage daily. We were recommended to use some shade cloth as a back so poo doesn't go flying everywhere but all I do when he's out is have a baby wipe and wipe after him lol. Usually its in my hair though so that gets washed every night too. But yeah only poop is the biggest task I have to do, but I clean guinea pig hutches daily too so its just another part of my routine.

I have natural branches as we have the gum trees they eat from (we have 3 of the massive things) so that's all good.

 

[MikeyTN]

Our Black Lory never poops on us, when he has to go, he hops off. We've install pergo floors throughout the house because of all the pets so it's a easy cleanup. We hang towels around the cage, they squirt like machine guns...lol....like cupcake says, using warm water to make nectar. It works quite well! We wash the bowls down completely. I need to take the cage apart and give it a good scrub cause the nectar plus poop really sticks to everything pretty good....We have to take out all his toys and ALL the contents within the cage and give it a good scrub once a week. Plus his bottle grill gets cleaned often cause he love to play with little balls on the bottom of the cage. Mine kinda drives me nuts, he's a energizer bunny that does NOT stop! He does occasionally goes under my shirt and sleeps while he's out with me. I have him out alone cause he does not play nice with other birds.

 

[birdybabies]

Mikey, glad to hear that Malachai is behaving as a lory should. Maybe if he is not playing nice with the other birdys maybe you should get him a lory friend. Then you can have double the poop cleanups cos it sounds like so much fun. LOL. Actually, I dont mind the cleaning at all, just the number of times you have to do it. I major clean the cages once a week and mini cleans as required. I would feel that i HAVE to clean a lory cage every day, being as it would be inside - dont know if I have the time or energy for that. Maybe .......one day. (A rainbow lorikeet is the last bird on my dream list)

 

[MikeyTN]

Nah, IF lory are not paired up, was suggested pairing them up while they're very young, they will not play nice with one another either. He does not play nice with my birds at all! He only likes us and only us or his toys. He LOVES toys!!! We love Malachai dearly, but I don't think most people can deal with the needs they require and the craziness he acts at times...lol....He's super smart and a little black evil monster! LOL....He makes one heck of a mess every single day! But we don't really care cause we love him very much. He's on a strict diet of fruits and veggies with nectar sprinkled over them, he will not eat them unless it's sprinkled with nectar. Then he gets his warm nectar drink at night. He have dry nectar and fresh water offered to him at all times. He gets bathed often cause he gets very very dirty!!! So far he hates bath time...He is what you would call a neurotic bird, he doesn't stop moving or the begging motion of a baby bird, in which I was told they're known to do that for a very very very long time....lol....Lately he's figured out what not to do, stepping up! He knows he gets put up if he steps up so now he refuse to step up, he rather not be in his cage period, but we make him go back in to eat and to give other birds peace when they're out. Like I said, he's a evil little black monster....lol....

 

[birdybabies]

Sounds like a real little character. You are very lucky to have each other. I did read on the other (Aussie) forum that you have a long time with the "baby" part. Dont you just love the little darlings (all birds)? They have us humans all worked out. Wish we understood them as well as they do us. LOL

 

[MikeyTN]

They got me figured out pretty good...lol....