Cleaning perches

[Jong81]

Hey all!

Just a quick question. Jake's perches are starting to get dirty. He has a multicolored comfy perch and a cement grooming perch. What would be the best/safest way to clean them?

Thanks!

[Freedomoflight]

I either clean them with a steamcleaner, or turn the shower on as hot as the water will go, and run it under blasting hot water. That usually gets all the mess off, and the hot water kills the germs. No soap or chemicals involved. If they are really dirty, you can take a diluted bleach solution and soak the perches in there for a while, then hose them down in hot water and let them air dry before putting them back in the cage.

[LMPego]

I throw Cory's cement perch in the dishwasher.

[Alika]

I soak them in hot water for 15 minutes, then all the poop is really easy to get off.

I wouldn't soak them in disinfectant, but if you want to disinfect them, I'd soak them in water first, clean them off really good, then lightly spray them down with a good disinfectant. Let them sit for 5 minutes or so, then rinse really, really well. The 5 minute time limit won't kill EVERYTHING, but it will do a pretty good job without letting the chemicals perforate the perches too much.

I never disinfect wood perches... if they get that bad, I just throw them away and replace them.

[Babyblue033]

How about vinegar? I use it for cleaning most of my cages and it's a safe alternative to using chemicals or bleach.

[Montys Mommy]

steam cleaning is great! I use it for most of my cleaning.

[Freedomoflight]

Yeah- you can also use GSE (grapefruit seed extract) for cleaning. I try to stick to all wood perches in my cages, with a rope perch switched out now and then, and a sandy perch once in a while. To clean my wood perches I just put them in the bathtub, turn the water on hot and the shower head spray on as hard as it goes, adn blast them. Gets the poop off well, and the hot water kills the germs :)

[kathleen]

I carry the whole cage into the bathtub and soak with very hot water and oxyclean. Then I rinse rrreeeaaalllyyyy good.

[RachelLynn]

I put my comfy perches in a pillow case and put them in the washer ( use cold water because I heard that if you use hot it will melt the plastic at the ends) and then I put them some where to air dry. With my other perches I use a little bit of dish soap and scrub them down really good. And when my cement perches get yucky I throw them out. I tried to soak my cement perches in vinegar + water and after I let them dry they smelled like mold. So its easier for me to just buy new ones.

[The Outlaw]

You can wash them in hot water, but you can't put them in the dryer. The dryer will melt the hot glue that secures the ends.