Disinfecting wooden items from my bird who died

[kumo_0531]

Hello, everyone. I'm a minor and a first-time bird owner. I lost my 4 month old cockatiel recently and I only had him for a month. The vet thinks it's due to a respiratory disease which he had since he was at the pet store but they're not entirely sure either. I'm planning to get a new bird who can use his previous items. I've read that porous items must be discarded but I feel like it's a waste because there are so many items that could be useful for my next bird. How do I thoroughly disinfect these wooden items? I was planning to first rinse off any residue and use a brush to get into the crevices, then pour boiling water on it, leave it out in the sun for a day or two, spray it with a disinfectant, then leave it out in the sun again for a couple of days. Would this be enough to fully sanitize it? Hoping to get your help. Thank you.

 

[JewellBird]

When my green cheek conure passed this last spring, my vet told me to throw anything porous out and to take his cage outside wash the big debris off, then let it dry, then go back and wash it off with a 1 parts bleach and 10 parts water mixture, let that dry and then go back over it VERY thoroughly with water again, and then leave it in the sun to dry for as long as possible. My vet said that to disinfect the wood perches it would be too difficult to get the perches and toys anywhere near safely disinfected. I had a lot of perches, toys, a really nice carrier etc. that I all had to throw away, it was a lot of money worth of items, but in the end you just have to ask yourself, is it worth it to keep the items and risk the life of another bird when you can so easily just throw the items away and purchase new ones? My answer was no, I would never want to risk the life of another bird by keeping such easily replaceable items. So in my opinion just throw them out and start new.

 

[kumo_0531]

When my green cheek conure passed this last spring, my vet told me to throw anything porous out and to take his cage outside wash the big debris off, then let it dry, then go back and wash it off with a 1 parts bleach and 10 parts water mixture, let that dry and then go back over it VERY thoroughly with water again, and then leave it in the sun to dry for as long as possible. My vet said that to disinfect the wood perches it would be too difficult to get the perches and toys anywhere near safely disinfected. I had a lot of perches, toys, a really nice carrier etc. that I all had to throw away, it was a lot of money worth of items, but in the end you just have to ask yourself, is it worth it to keep the items and risk the life of another bird when you can so easily just throw the items away and purchase new ones? My answer was no, I would never want to risk the life of another bird by keeping such easily replaceable items. So in my opinion just throw them out and start new.

Thank you so much for your advice. I'll keep this in mind.

 

[Shezbug]

If your vet suggested to dispose of any and all porous items then that is exactly what I would be doing.
My belief is they would only advise you dispose of porous items rather than attempt to sanitise them if your bird had a contagious deadly disease- if no necropsy was done to find the exact cause of death then to assume something highly contagious was the reason for premature death would be the smartest thing to do.
It is much harder to fully sanitise porous items and also have them dry fast enough to ensure no mold or bacteria growth…. My vote is for you to dispose and replace.

 

[kumo_0531]

If your vet suggested to dispose of any and all porous items then that is exactly what I would be doing.
My belief is they would only advise you dispose of porous items rather than attempt to sanitise them if your bird had a contagious deadly disease- if no necropsy was done to find the exact cause of death then to assume something highly contagious was the reason for premature death would be the smartest thing to do.
It is much harder to fully sanitise porous items and also have them dry fast enough to ensure no mold or bacteria growth…. My vote is for you to dispose and replace.

Thank you so much.