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cleaning bathroom safely?

nicc

Meeting neighbors
Joined
2/21/22
Messages
67
So, my birthday is soon which means I will have guests over. There are two bathrooms in the house and one of them is mine so it's my responsibility to clean it for the occasion. Up until now I've always cleaned it using bird-safe methods but since I still live with my parents my mom is demanding I use commercially available detergents that I'm pretty sure emit fumes that are very dangerous for my cockatiel, Sunny. I tried convincing her vinegar is just as good, if not better than the detergents but she just got angry at me so I don't have a choice anyway.
So I am wondering what the safest way to go about this is? Here's a really crude diagram of the way things are positioned. The red are the doors from my room to the corridor and from the corridor to the bathroom, the yellow brown is the door to the porch, the blue are windows. Normally Sunny's cage is located towards what is the bottom right corner of my room in this image.
Screenshot_20231221_190056.jpg
I'm wondering if it will be safe for him if I clean and ventilate the bathroom while he is still in my room, or if he'd need to be moved to an entirely different disconnected space for a few hours? Are the closed doors and walls enough to stop harmful fumes from getting to him ??? If moving him is necessary there's several rooms that don't share a single wall with any of these that he can stay in. If he needs to be moved, how long should he be away until it's safe for him to come back? In either case, I will leave the window in the bathroom open to ventilate the space for the duration of the entire day. I'm very upset that my family refuses to take his health seriously so I want to do everything I can to keep him as safe as possible. Thanks in advance for any and all advice!!!
 

Shannan

Rollerblading along the road
Mayor of the Avenue
Cutest Bird Ever!!!
Joined
7/27/21
Messages
1,095
Real Name
Shannan
Can you use a box fan to draw the air out of the window and away from your room? Also maybe an air purifier in your room as well. They do make some commercial cleaners that are vinegar based but they do have scents, but maybe you can lean towards ones that are less dangerous. The other thing you could do to reduce (not eliminate) is to cut them so that you use them only half strength. Others will probably chip in with ideas but I believe generally you want the birds out until you can no longer smell the chemicals. Use them very sparingly, meaning rather than spray the entire tub, maybe spray a little on a sponge and then wipe it down with the sponge. Also follow it up with a very good rinse with water and then towel dry. Make sure you remove the sponges, towels and other tools that you use to clean the bathroom so the smells don't linger.

I wonder if your parents would consider F10 as suitable. It is a bird safe disinfectant that vets and other professionals use. I haven't bought any in a very very long time but I am sure someone knowledgable like @Pixiebeak or @mizzley can give you more information on it.
 
Last edited:

nicc

Meeting neighbors
Joined
2/21/22
Messages
67
Can you use a box fan to draw the air out of the window and away from your room? Also maybe an air purifier in your room as well. They do make some commercial cleaners that are vinegar based but they do have scents, but maybe you can lean towards ones that are less dangerous. The other thing you could do to reduce (not eliminate) is to cut them so that you use them only half strength. Others will probably chip in with ideas but I believe generally you want the birds out until you can no longer smell the chemicals. Use them very sparingly, meaning rather than spray the entire tub, maybe spray a little on a sponge and then wipe it down with the sponge. Also follow it up with a very good rinse with water and then towel dry. Make sure you remove the sponges, towels and other tools that you use to clean the bathroom so the smells don't linger.

I wonder if your parents would consider F10 as suitable. It is a bird safe disinfectant that vets and other professionals use. I haven't bought any in a very very long time but I am sure someone knowledgable like @Pixiebeak or @mizzley can give you more information on it.
Thank you so much for the help! Unfortunately we don't own a box fan or an air purifier so that part isn't an option, but thankfully my bathroom is a very bare-bones one and the only things that I can't clean with water, soap and some elbow are the toilet and the sink. However I'm pretty sure I can get away with using as little detergent as possible with those. Also unfortunately the detergents are already decided on and I won't be able to go buy vinegar based ones myself or convince my parents to do so :'D Also, I have looked into F10 but it seems to be completely unavailable or always sold out in our country + birthday party is tomorrow as of the time I'm writing this so I don't have the option of picking some up from anywhere. Either way, I think what I have going for me is the fact that I think I won't need to use too much of the chemicals + the sponge I use needs to be changed out anyway so it's going in the trash immediately after. If anything I'll keep in mind to move Sunny to a different room where no fumes can possibly get to him. Again, thanks so much for the advice regardless of whether or not I'm able to follow everything!!!
 
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