Keeping floor around cages clean???

[SherLar]

I'm just curious about methods that other parrot owners use to keep the floor around their bird's cages clean.
We keep our macaw, cockatoo, quaker, and conure cages open during the day, with play stands adjacent to each cage, to give our birds more freedom. Unfortunately, with the exception of our macaw, the birds aren't polite about where they defecate. It's an ongoing struggle to keep feces cleaned up, at least for us.
We have hard-wood floors, which would seem to be easy to clean, but once the poop has dried, it turns to cement.
We've tried Press and Seal, but it doesn't adhere well to the floor. At the moment, we have linoleum mats under cages, but we don't use double-sided tape to tack it for fear of ruining the floor finish, so the edges curl up, causing trip hazards, and snagging my wife's O2 line.
We use a cage cleaning product to soften dried poop, which does help, but something disposable, or easily washed would be great.
So, what do the other parrot parents on the site employ?

 

[sunnysmom]

I just put newspaper down. Not the prettiest but it's easy and cheap and I can change it everyday.

 

[Jas]

I use old bed sheets, also means that they're reusable.

My mum and I was going to throw out a lot of bedding but I thought of better uses

 

[SherLar]

Thank you both.
Never thought of bed sheets, but we have a couple old ones that we can cut up and use.

 

[Imogena]

I have tiles on all the floors in my flat. This kind of tiles that normal people put on the bathroom floor. Maybe you could buy a few tiles and put them around the cage. They are havy enough not to be trip hazard. You could put some paper or sheet under them so they do not destroy the wood.

 

[SandraK]

Thank you both.
Never thought of bed sheets, but we have a couple old ones that we can cut up and use.

You can also used old bedding over furniture as poop protection. I've used painter's paper too - painters paper rolls - Google Search

If you have some of your cages line up in a row you can cut the paper into a longer strip to put under them.

 

[Jas]

You can also used old bedding over furniture as poop protection

I do that for my bed and walls!

 

[Ripshod]

InvisiShield Hardwood Floor Protector Film - 24 inch x 200 Foot Adhesive Plastic Floor Protection Film - - Amazon.com

I use that on my laminate floor. It's self adhesive so no worries about it moving. It protects the floor and is moppable. And it's easy to remove and replace. There's also a version for carpets, but not moppable.

New 3-Ply! ArmorDillo Strong 36" x 200' Easy to Use Hardwood Floor, Hard Surface Protection Film - - Amazon.com

Is a bit tougher.

 

[MauiWendy]

I have a mat under Keoki's cage. And he has one of those skirts. It doesn't catch food but it catches poop if he sticks his butt over the side. LOL

 

[Nikomania]

We use plastic mats made for rolling office chairs. None roll up

 

[d_msparkles]

I finally bought a silicone pet food mat from Amazon to put in front of Waffle’s cage. It’s meant to go under cat & dog food bowl to catch kibble. But birdie poop slides right off of it...much easier than scrubbing our hardwood floors!

 

[macawpower58]

I've gone to the dollar store and bought those cheap foot carpets you use near doors. Used newspapers too.

 

[MauiWendy]

I also have one of those handy vacs, for food and that he flings to the floor. I use it everyday.

 

[BertAllen]

I am so lucky that Tinker rarely poops in or on his cage. He does his morning poop over the edge of his feeding station on ceramic floor. During the day while out he goes over the edge of his day station onto a commercial vinyl flooring. No carpets in my house with a parrot.

 

[SherLar]

I put old flat sheets beneath Rio's (our G2) cage yesterday. So far, it's been working great. I'll switch it with another and wash it tomorrow.
I'm going to cut smaller pieces for the conures, quakers, and love birds also.
Koko, our B&G macaw, has only a couple specific places that he uses, so we use press and seal on those areas. Unfortunately, none of the other birds are as polite.
Some very good ideas.
Thank you all.

 

[Peachfaced]

I put newspaper in strategic places. The front of Rupert's cage is a very common pooping spot. Sherbie has 3 or 4 spots (mostly at the corners) where she is most likely to drop her "bombs" off of. I just change out the papers as needed.

 

[LWK]

This is a bit off topic but I wanted to share an approach that has been working with my Goffins for inside of his 36 in square cage. I found myself spending hours scrubbing the bottom grill. So I removed it. The cage is 5 feet and Winter never goes down to the bottom, so it’s safe. I precut 30 sheets of 36 by 36 squares from a roll of paper purchased online. Each month the 30 sheets go in, and every night I remove one carefully with all his dander, excess food and poop. Roll it up like a burrito and in the trash. This allows the cage to be very clean as I would never scrub the grate daily. It saves me hours of work. For certain birds like Grass Keets that spend time on the ground this obviously would not work.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

Newspaper. I'm not into scrubbing hard poop. Not that I'm lazy... it's that 14 inch steel plate and 13 screws on my femur that keeps me from being able to squat or kneel for low level work. I'm still pretty flexible for my age but bending over for great lengths of time can be hard on my back.

 

[Mockinbirdiva]

This is a bit off topic but I wanted to share an approach that has been working with my Goffins for inside of his 36 in square cage. I found myself spending hours scrubbing the bottom grill. So I removed it. The cage is 5 feet and Winter never goes down to the bottom, so it’s safe. I precut 30 sheets of 36 by 36 squares from a roll of paper purchased online. Each month the 30 sheets go in, and every night I remove one carefully with all his dander, excess food and poop. Roll it up like a burrito and in the trash. This allows the cage to be very clean as I would never scrub the grate daily. It saves me hours of work. For certain birds like Grass Keets that spend time on the ground this obviously would not work.

I use a bottle of water to mist the paper lightly before I roll it up... keeps the fine dust from flying around when you pick your paper up.

 

[KatelynDeanne]

We use newspapers around the edge of the cage for poo but when she shreds stuff and makes a mess I bought myself a mini shop vac! I keep it plugged in at all times and I vaccumm with it several times a day for the bigger mess around her cage and all the down feathers that fly around. If poo gets stuck, I use vinegar and water mix on a rag. I soak the rag, put it over the poo spot, walk away for about 15 minutes. Come back and wipe the rag up and it will come right up. We have hardwood as well so I know the struggle. I went to lowes and bought a pack of 100 of those cleaning rags and a lowes bucket and use them daily. Once dirty, back in the bucket and at the end of the week I wash them all in one load