Disinfecting seagrass?

[Tammie123]

Just wondering if there's any way to clean/disinfect a seagrass hut? I saw on an older post that some people wash their bird toys before letting their parrot use them. I never have before, but now I ordered the seagrass hut from Amazon (from Super bird creations) and since it doesn't come wrapped, maybe I should give it a quick wash just to be safe?

I'm just not sure how seagrass reacts to water or being put in the dishwasher so I wanted to ask if any of you have tried it before, or if it's even necessary to clean it at all?

Thanks Hope you're all having a nice day.

 

[WillowQ]

If there’s no plastic or synthetics on it, you could bake it in the oven at 225 for an hour.

 

[Shezbug]

Unless you feel that it has been stored poorly or come into contact with other birds I personally would not bother disinfecting it.

I once got some toys from a store I used to use an awful lot but they had recently changed owners- after my purchase I noticed on Instagram that the new owners packed the stock/orders and took lots of cute pics of their birds standing in and on customers parcels- I disinfected everything in that order and stopped using their store.

If I feel I need to disinfect a brand new toy or item made or sold for birds that I need to pay for then I do not buy it- I have never used Amazon so I can not comment on toys coming from there but any store that sells items needing disinfecting is probably best avoided.

If you really want to wash it then I can say that in my experience Seagrass deals with being wet just fine as long as it is allowed to dry out well.

 

[Mizzely]

I lightly spray it down with f10.

I'm not sure I would trust it in the oven. Even the thin woods I put in the oven sometimes end up a bit singed.

 

[Tammie123]

Thanks for all the replies!

In that case I'll probably pass on washing it, I don't think I have any reason to believe it was stored poorly (and it has a lot of good reviews on amazon).

I don't have f10 but maybe that's something I could buy in the future.

 

[Emma&pico]

I do same as mizzely and wipe poo off with cloth and f10 if it’s proper disgusting too much poo etc I just buy another

 

[Emma&pico]

I wouldn’t bake it probably catch on fire or I would be scared it would or singe then I wouldn’t trust the smell

 

[WillowQ]

Remember “Fahrenheit 451”? That’s the temperature that paper catches on fire. If you stay well away from that you should be fine. Then again, ovens can have hot spots so I stay around boiling point which is 212 F or 100 C. I dry things at about 200 F.

Plastic or nylon can melt and those fumes are dangerous. But you can detach plastic pieces and clean them separately. My very old Quaker had a seagrass mat with toys. I needed to clean it a few times and I would wash and disinfect the whole thing; rinse well; then take the plastic bits off and bake the mat so it didn’t get any mold growth.

My perches and seagrass last a long time this way but yes I keep them way below 300f. Around 200 means the water gets evaporated but no scorch happens. I had to do this because my bird would itch her bad eye on things so everything had to get taken out and cleaned, or replaced, regularly.