Wax paper / butter paper /parchment paper safe as cage liner

[mona]

Are wax paper or butter paper/baking paper / parchment paper safe as cage liner for the birdies?

I haven't seen them ever chewing on the base plain white A4 size paper so far.. All of these cost the same as newspaper we buy to place under the grid..

If it's unsafe, then I'll think of something else..

[blue48]

I'm sure it will be safe, it is a food grade product. It is not absorbent though, but I don't suppose that will be a problem.

[mona]

I just read up that Parchment paper is coated with silicone and treated chemically.. however, it's still used for baking.. so just wondering..

[tweetiepiesmom]

My vet asked me to line Tweetie Pie's hospital cage with wax paper 8 hours before I bring him in so she can get a good fecal sample. I don't think she would have told me that if it were unsafe.

[Hezz]

Regardless, I wouldn’t use it if I had a chewer, which I do. I don’t really trust the newer man-made products. Silicon was said to be safe but then some had concerns about it. It is too much of an unknown to me to risk anything that hasn’t been proven over time. In this case I go along with the “if it ain’t broken, why fix it?” Approach.

[Morgan]

Silicone is safe as long as it is 100% silicone.

I suggested this so that Mona could check her buds poops and see if the green urine was from the urine itself or from the color of the poop being absorbed into the liquid urine by an absorbent surface. This has been recommended by many people’s vets when a bird is ill to properly inspect the poop and color of the urine.

[mona]

I'm not sure if these products are adulterated, since there's no label or packaging that comes with these (over here at least)

Currently, I keep a piece of parchment paper after they settle for sleep and take it out first thing in the morning before they wake up..

For regular usage after they are alright, I guess I'll not use it, if I'm not sure about the contents in it.. I'm looking at the brown paper roll, the ones used for making paper bag as a replacement for newspaper over the grid for support to their feet and to reduce my cage grid cleaning effort..I guess that brown paper should work for that? Everything costs me almost the same

[Morgan]

mona - that is a good solution! And you shouldn’t need the wax or parchment paper for any longer than you suspect a poop issue.

[Deleted]

I think I'm going to have to line my shelves and cagetops with newspaper and weight it down. My pvc tablecloths were doing fine when draped, but once I cut them to size Yuki decided they were worth chewing, which is also what he thinks about a good number of the soft furnishings! 😡 This bird does not know what's bad for him, so we're going to have to go safe and disposable rather than easily wipeable, which is something of a shame.

[Morgan]

@sillycat84 - have you tried the seagrass mat method? I have been thinking of trying it for one cage myself as a trial, but since it wouldn’t be washable not sure how comfortable I’d be with the poop being shaken off, but never washed. Unless they are washable. xD

I’ve been thinking of alternatives in case my hens ever did take a liking to chewing fabric. So far I’ve been able to get away with fabric cage top coverings, but if they ever got broody about it I would need to find a new cover fast. Newspaper would probably work in a pinch.

Maybe you can use clean/disinfected rocks on each corner? Heavy enough the buds couldn’t move them, but light enough they don’t make the cage top sag or something. The corners should be strongest though.

[Deleted]

I had grass mats for the top of the large cage, and did wash them, you just have to make sure they're thoroughly dried so they don't rot. I just wanted something easier to clean.

We were going to buy some wood for something so maybe I'll just cover the wood with more wood.
I could just uncover the shelves, they were just a pain to clean because it's bare wood which is rather absorbant.

I might try folding the edges over and sticking them. Will make the piece slightly too small but he ignored them when they were folded and draped.

[Morgan]

@sillycat84 - I hope that does the trick! Good to know about the mats, thanks! Maybe I’ll try one this summer as a seasonal item 😁

[Deleted]

Morgan I've just put the spare cage tray on top of the big cage and then folded and stitched an old sheet to size for Munchy's. Yuki shouldn't be able to get his beak into the fibres of that.