Washing new and old toys and edible items

[Zing]

So I spent some more money and slowly decorating my parrot's cage.

I have some questions.

I hear some people go all out with washing new toys, like bleach, boiling water, etc. The toys at the store, the ones on the shelves, are a lot of them really that contaminated with bad germs/bacterias that it'll hurt your bird if you don't wash it? Or is it just being real cautious?

I bought a perch at one store and I washed it but not that carefully. Just with some running hot water in the bath tub. Just wondering how serious it is. I'll wash it more carefully from now on but just wondering.

Is the usual vinegar with water okay? I find bleach to be really heavy and I don't have a dish washer.

I'm wondering what's the importance of letting your items completely dry out after washing? Couldn't I wash the perch and just hang it in the cage to let it dry in there?


And do you wash edible foods, like lets say there's two, one such as a calcium perch that I just got that helps with trim the nails and beak, it's covered up with plastic but I don't think it's airtight, should I wash that too? And sometimes I see food (like seeds for finches etc) sold out of the bag at some of the stores, how safe are those?

https://www.amazon.com/Penn-Calcium...67223740&sr=8-1&keywords=parrot+calcium+perch

 

[SailBoat]

In truth, I have looked at and re-read your Thread several times. Each time, I am left trying to put together some kind of honest response. I have nothing that doesn't come back to a heavy dose of common sense.

At the very least, this will get you bumped back on the New Post list and from there maybe someone can ......

 

[Zing]

Well, I do have a hint to some of the answers myself but I wanted a confirmation or detailed information to make me feel more confident in what I'm doing. I'm only asking these common sense questions for the sake of my parrot. I only have about 2 and a half weeks of parrot caring common sense to rely on so I'm trying my best for the little guy.

Thanks nonetheless, I'll try to go back to google and see what I else I find.

 

[Piasa]

Hey Zing, this can actually be a complicated answer, I am not sure if I know what is safest.

I use white vinegar and water to clean most things. Don't heat the vinegar or use too hot water with the vinegar as it will release toxic fumes for the birds (not sure how sensitive birds are to heated vinegar, I won't take the chance though).

Boiling water is a good way too, or a steam cleaner (does same thing). I don't mess with bleach unless I have to, I believe the ratio I got from the vet was 1 part bleach to 32 parts water (double check this somewhere, it could be way off).

The thing with drying is that rope perches and other porous stuff, if they don't dry fast enough they could harbor mold or mildew. I've put wet perches back in cages with my birds for years with no harm done.

Any store that sells toys and also has animals could potentially expose disease to toys. What the real risk is, I don't know. I usually don't sweat things from places that don't house animals, or have the animals in a completely separate room.