Posted by Johanna on May 19, 19100 at 10:13:01:
In Reply to: How messy are they? posted by Carol Teal on May 19, 19100 at 07:31:58:
: Heah! Welcome!!
I just brought home a male Ekkie 2wks ago. I also did research and interviewed breeders.
The mess....well.....I have a conure and he is no problem but he is small. Small bird, small mess.
The biggest dif. with the Ekkie is his poos are bigger, much bigger! So it's more clean up. But I haven't found food flung far and wide and feathers everywhere. First, Ekkies eat. They don't want their food anywhere but in their bellies! Some food will get tossed, but very little in my experience. Same as my conure, no more. Second, Ekkies love to get baths. I put my Ekkie in my big garden tub, place a washcloth down for footing and turn the faucet on real low. He went wild with joy! So, that helps with dander and keeps their feathers great. Some people spray mist their birds. Mine enjoy running in and out of the water faucet....its more like a rain shower for them! I change paper every evening and put a piece down under their side perches, clean the cage as needed, total scrub down of the cage once a month. If you feed foods like black berries or raspberries then its a lot messyer and stains. Stay away from strawberries altogether they are full of bacteria and bad stuff, you can't wash them properly and are messy too. Unless, of course, you grow your own!
All animals have a certain amount of clean up but I have found my birds are a lot less hassle than any other pet I have ever had. My one persons mess is anothers ......no problem. Just so you know....I hate mess....I hate clutter....I hate dirty bird cages..... So I don't tolerate mess well.
One idea I got from the breeder...to save the walls, you can get a piece of plexy glass, drill holes into it and slip those plastice pull tie things...the things that hold cords together and you can just cut off. They have those notches on them for tighten?????? Anyway if you use those then you can cut them off clean the plastice, slip a new one back through the holes and save your walls.