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Post by lesley on Jun 22, 2016 3:28:27 GMT -5
As soon as I brought Coco home I realized how messy these little devils can be. When eating he spits some of the food around, and when pooping he manages to poop half the time out the cage and on to the floor. To help keep my walls from his messiness I covered the back of his cage with an old tablecloth. I always keep a damp cloth on hand in case he poops on me or the floor. I made a 'cape' for when he's on me but don't like or use it even though it is handy. Just wondering how everyone else deal with the messy behavior.
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Post by zim on Jun 22, 2016 4:02:20 GMT -5
Yoshi is rarely in his cage unless he's sleeping, so almost all his poop ends up on the sides of the cage, or underneath one of the many perches and ropes attatched to the outside of his cage. Newspapers help a lot with this, and are easy to pick up and change as needed. It's also helped that there is one particular perch he favors for pooping off of, as I've always rewarded him for pooping there (it's where I sit him when he's on my shoulder and I know it's just about poop time). As far as the food...yeah...I just deal with that. I've got bits of corn, peas, strawberries, watermelon, peaches, etc etc stuck to the side of the wall next to his cage
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Post by julianna on Jun 22, 2016 13:33:11 GMT -5
These little guys can sure be messy... no doubt. My QP has been trained to poop anywhere except on me.. lol. Like Zim.. I use a lot of newspaper as it is easy to clean up. Some at the bottom of his cage and some surrounding the area around his cage. Oscar is like Yoshi where he is rarely in his cage except to sleep so it is one continue mess all day.
I clean once a day and that takes me about an hour. Change all newspaper, sweep all floors and scrape up all the food he has tossed around. He knows that there are only certain places that he can eat and that is on top of his cage or on the coffee table with me. But when he decides to throw his food it ends up on the walls, floors, etc. etc.
Training them to poop on paper is not too difficult but is time consuming. You can tell when it is time for them to go as they get into the little squat and hang tight to your finger. Quickly bring him to the paper and when he poops... tell him "good poop" and make him excited that he did something good. Continue this as often as you can and soon you will see that he will go to the paper to poop.
When Oscar would poop on me... I would say "what did you do? Did you poop on Mommy?" then I bring him to his cage... show him the poop and tell him no.no.no. Now I would ignore him for a few minutes. Eventually they get the idea.
Best wishes and welcome to the world of messy Quakers.
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Post by cnyguy on Jun 22, 2016 19:57:26 GMT -5
An old parrot book I have contains the phrase "parrots are inclined to be messy," which I always thought was understating things. Parrots are extremely messy is more accurate. I have no special secret for dealing with parrot messes-- I just clean them up as necessary. The floor around the two cages gets swept or vacuumed at least once a day. The cages get wiped down at least as often, and get a more thorough cleaning every three or four days. Messes that need special attention get handled as soon as they're noticed, things like a big splotch of poop on a perch. So far, nobody has come up with an infallible means of getting parrots to clean up after themselves, and I don't suppose they ever will.
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Post by Jan and Shah on Jun 22, 2016 20:41:59 GMT -5
Good grief Gary, haven't you learned that they are not there to clean up after themselves - that is OUR job. Please go back to your Slave Training Manual and re-read the section on Cleaning Up After Quaker Parrots - A Never-ending Task
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Post by cnyguy on Jun 23, 2016 19:55:50 GMT -5
Good grief Gary, haven't you learned that they are not there to clean up after themselves - that is OUR job. Please go back to your Slave Training Manual and re-read the section on Cleaning Up After Quaker Parrots - A Never-ending Task I can dream, can't I?
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Post by biteybird on Jun 24, 2016 2:06:11 GMT -5
We just keep a pack of tissues handy and clean up as we go - we have wooden floors throughout the house, which means it's easy. As far as clothes go, not so easy...poop has a habit of soaking into cloth very quickly. We don't wear a cape or anything, but we do frequent loads of washing anyway, so it doesn't matter. Re the food: Bonnie takes a bite of something, then it sticks to her beak, so she shakes her head...hey presto, it's everywhere! Cheeky little hussy. I guess it's just a parrot thing.
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Post by lesley on Jun 24, 2016 3:02:03 GMT -5
We just keep a pack of tissues handy and clean up as we go - we have wooden floors throughout the house, which means it's easy. As far as clothes go, not so easy...poop has a habit of soaking into cloth very quickly. We don't wear a cape or anything, but we do frequent loads of washing anyway, so it doesn't matter. Re the food: Bonnie takes a bite of something, then it sticks to her beak, so she shakes her head...hey presto, it's everywhere! Cheeky little hussy. I guess it's just a parrot thing. It sounds like Coco is very similar to Bonnie with the diet and messiness. We too have wooden floors so I just vacuum and mop each day and although I don't have young children my hubby and daughter play sports so I also have frequent washing. I have to vacuum each day because our british bulldog sheds a lot. I wouldn't have it any different just wondering how other cope ha ha.
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Post by easttex on Jun 24, 2016 4:00:53 GMT -5
You're just looking at it all wrong. Your quaker would tell you, if he deigned to, that it is your privilege to serve him. Cope? Bah.
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Post by Rene Gonzalez on Aug 18, 2017 14:11:53 GMT -5
I am new to Quaker Parrots and am in the process of getting a cage. Does it help for the cage to have a seed catcher around the bottom of the cage? I'm excited to get my bird and want the best cage without breaking the bank. Thanks for any help?
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Post by easttex on Aug 18, 2017 18:51:49 GMT -5
I don't care much for them, personally, but some people like them. When I used one, it seemed I was always running into it and knocking it down, or at least making enough of a racket to upset everyone. They don't catch everything, but they do catch a lot. Then they have to be cleaned. I'd rather clean everything off the floor all at once. Individual preference.
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Post by cnyguy on Aug 18, 2017 20:23:00 GMT -5
I've never been a fan of the seed catchers. I tried the seed catcher on my old YCA George's cage, and George was very good at just flinging things beyond the catcher, making it useless. I never bothered attaching it to QP Ralph's cage, and Scooter the CAG's cage doesn't have one. Some parronts seem to like the seed catchers, but I wouldn't reject a cage that came without one.
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Post by biteybird on Aug 19, 2017 3:07:02 GMT -5
Bonnie's cage had a catcher but it was murder fitting it on and then we couldn't get the cage through doorways because of it....maybe you should consider whether or not you need to move the cage from room to room. Since we moved states we haven't put the catcher back on and to be honest I haven't noticed the slightest bit of difference in regard to mess on the floor. Hope this helps.
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Post by pidgesmum on Jan 5, 2018 19:37:35 GMT -5
Pidge's mess was getting me down. For Christmas I bought a robot vacuum (it cost a fortune) but it sure helps. I bought an adult bib and put it on backwards. It works but I can never find it! Every few days I do a thorough poo patrol. I've got fabric lounges dammit. I find the white bit the hardest to remove. Any ideas?
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Post by julianna on Jan 7, 2018 16:06:20 GMT -5
There is a cleaner that you can purchase to help clean up poop. We don't have much variety here but the one I use is "Nature's Miracle" and they are tissue wipes. I only use them when I am doing a big clean up because usually just warm water on a paper towel works. Sometimes you have to let the wet paper towel sit for a bit to soften the Poop.
It is funny because sometimes the poop is very easy to clean and other times it is like cement. All depends what they are eating.
Personally I would do the poo patrol daily because it easily turns to powder and can get into places you do not want it to be.
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