Sand Bedding?

[Isaac 0]

I would highly suggest against sand.Parrots may over eat the sand and die of gizzard impaction.

 

[Parront]

I have heard that eating too much sand is possible, but I have always had a dish of small sand for parakeets available to my birds. Dylan will sample it, drop it on the floor, the water dish, etc. Cockatiels and Parakeets use some occasionally. I think if they were not used to it they might eat too much if it were on the floor. They love to pick through what falls to the bottom of the cage. My cage has bars that are over the paper in the bottom, so birds can not get to the bedding. I can see the attraction to something like sand, that you could scoop the poop out of like kitty litter. I read a book, "Alex", about an African Grey. The book said that Alex got sick from Aspergillis mold in the corn cob bedding used by the college where he lived. Mold is very bad for all birds. I just have always used paper, never any health problems.

 

[Coturnix Quail]

For indoor birds, I have not found anything better since my first birds in 1977. I will say, flapping, which my birds like to do while hanging on the perch, will stir up whatever is in the cage! Dylan, the Grey in my avatar, shreds the paper into mulch, then flaps it into the room. I just sweep it up with a broom, it is easier than sand would be, I believe. A big, intelligent bird like Dylan you can potty train. They naturally hate to poop their nests. I hold her over the toilet in the morning when I get her up, 7:00 am, she poops, then she goes to her day cage and gets a treat. Saves about 1/2 of the poop clean up chore, she never poops in her night cage, not for the last 6 months. I am constantly impressed how smart she is (a little bragging here).

That's soo cute! My finches like pooping in their nests all the time! (Strange little birds!) None of my bird are potty trained. Sometimes they even like pooping on me! Do you put your cage on a desk/table? I keep my birds on the living room wood floor. Is that bad? Also, have you ever built a DIY cage? I have a fairly large cage for the parakeets, but I want to give the finches a longer cage after learning they like cages in width, not in height. I was thinking of just making a sturdy base out of wood or something and wrapping it in one inch?

 

[Parront]

That's soo cute! My finches like pooping in their nests all the time! (Strange little birds!) None of my bird are potty trained. Sometimes they even like pooping on me! Do you put your cage on a desk/table? I keep my birds on the living room wood floor. Is that bad? Also, have you ever built a DIY cage? I have a fairly large cage for the parakeets, but I want to give the finches a longer cage after learning they like cages in width, not in height. I was thinking of just making a sturdy base out of wood or something and wrapping it in one inch?

You could use small ~1/2 hardware cloth for finches flight cage. Parrots chew the cage wire too much to use hardware cloth, they need wire that does not have any zinc in it. Some people wash the hardware cloth with vinegar to get rid of the galvanizing with the zinc in it.
I could not potty train my cockatiels, not every bird cares about a clean nest! I could tell that Dylan was waiting to poop out side the cage, so I took advantage of that. I have a stand that goes on an old outdoor iron table for her, and she likes the top of the cage, it has a nice play area where she shreds paper.

 

[BudgiesQuailsChickens]

For budgies I probably wouldn't. If they swallowed it, it will probably scratch up their insides a bit. And when they fly or do that thing where they stand in one place and flap like crazy they will probably kick it up and get it in their eyes or on them. And it would probably irritate their back. If the cage is big enough I dont think they'll kick it up, but in a small cage they will.

 

[Jurassic Wolf]

You might want to try horse stall bedding. You can get 40lbs. Of it for 6 bucks at TSC it's not dusty and controls odors well