Rocky And Bluey Go Green

Until recently, I’ve always used sand sheets for the bottom of Rocky and Blue’s cage. But having had three different cages over the years, there never has been one size of sand sheet that is the right size and I’ve ended up having to trim bits off at one end and put a bit in at the other.

Then one day, I ran out of sheets, so had the idea of cutting up the empty packet and used that instead. It worked a treat. Then instead of buying more sand sheets, I tried kitchen roll, but that sort of went soft and soggy in places, especially where the birds splashed the water about, and it tended to break up or stick the bottom. I thought about using gravel or sawdust, but ruled this out to be too messy, and then eventually thought of cutting up old magazines.

This later idea proved very effective, as the glossy pages didn’t disintegrate with pea or poops and seemed to hold together where water dribbles were concerned. Also, neither of my birds ever goes down on the floor of the cage anyway, except when Bluey falls off her perch sometimes! So now, any old magazines that I have are kept specially for this purpose, and it actually saves me some money into the bargain by not having to make the trip down to the pet store to buy sand sheets. It is also very ‘green’, as the soiled pages can be rolled up and put into the compost bin where they will rot down and be part of my home made compost.

And of course, depending on what magazines I use, whether it be Which Digital Camera, Women’s Fashion or the RSPB subscription magazine, both Rocky and Bluey can keep up to spec with the latest digital cameras, women’s fashion and what their country cousins are getting up to!