Bird Litter, Liners & Cleanup

Bird litter is typically called just that—bird litter. Some other names include bird bedding for cages or bird chips. Whatever name you use—bird litter is an important element of keeping a clean and healthy environment for your feathered pet.

It’s important to use litter or bird bedding for birds, especially those living in cages. Not only does litter help minimize odor in your living space and make it easier for you to clean the cage, but it also helps maintain a healthy and more sanitary living environment for your bird.

Bird litter is easy to use. Simply scatter a ½-inch or more layer of litter at the bottom of your bird cage with every cleaning. It will absorb bird droppings to help maintain a healthy environment in your bird cage.

For cleaning, simply scoop out the bird cage litter and replace it with a new bed of fresh litter each time. Using bird cage paper liners are also helpful for ensuring a fast and thorough clean up. Simply lay down a piece of bird cage paper in the bottom of the cage before putting down bird litter. Next time you need to clean the cage, pull up the paper in such a way that it keeps all the litter on top of it. The paper also keeps dropping from getting all the way to the bottom of the cage and creating a need for you to do an extra bit of scrubbing.

Keeping your bird cage clean is a lot easier with bird cage litter and liners. With each cleaning, lay down a sheet of bird cage liner paper at the bottom of the cage and then spread out a bed of bird cage litter at least a ½-inch deep on top of it.

When it comes time to cleaning the cage, you should be able to pull up the liner with the litter still on top of it to remove and throw it away all at once. Using water, a sponge and perhaps a little light soap, you can scrub away any additional droppings that might have missed or soaked through the litter. Once your bird cage is clean, place a fresh bird cage liner and a new bed of litter to start the process over again.

Sand is not an ideal bedding to use in bird cages. Actual bird cage litter made from timber or paper by-products is a better alternative. There are a number of different reasons why sand is not suitable as bird cage litter.

Sand is not as absorbent as regular bird cage litter. This means that bird droppings might soak through the sand to the bottom of the bird cage, and less odor will be absorbed. Also, sand can create more dust, which might make a bigger mess in your home. And that dust could potentially be breathed in by your bird.

Sand is generally heavier than bird cage litter, which can put added strain on hanging cages. Fully replacing all the sand in a bird cage would be a big task and may make an even bigger mess when you try to clean it. For all these reasons, it's highly recommended to stick with paper or other natural types of bird cage litter for your pet.