How To Get Rid of Roaches in the Bird Cage

It is common knowledge that bugs are not far off wherever birds are, as avians attract insects for many reasons.

For one, birdcages provide lots of nutrients from seedlings and droppings that line the cage’s base.

Birds are typical messy eaters, and anything their beak misses lands on the floor. This will naturally draw roaches — which you do not want.

This guide will discuss simple ways to get rid of roaches in bird cages.

In the following sections, we will example some practical strategies to keep roaches at bay from birdcages.

Also, we will answer some frequently asked questions about roach infestations.

But before we go into all that, let’s find out why roaches around birds are an issue.

Why Are Roaches in Bird Cages a Problem?

Roaches are natural scavengers and will eat all manner of filth. These include rotten food, dead skin, trash, and even sewage.

Although they love filth, roaches will happily feast on bird food if they get access to them. If not, they will settle for the bird droppings littering your cage.

But, regardless of what they eat, finding roaches in your birdcage is a problem. This is because roaches are unsanitary animals and often carry diseases.

This is hardly surprising, considering they live in unhygienic places like trash bins, drainages, and other damp areas. They gather bacteria and viruses from these places and spread them wherever they go, including birdcages.

This exposes your birds to diseases, creating a problem for you to handle.

So, let’s look at how you can control the situation before it gets critical.

6 Ways To Keep Roaches Out of Bird Cages

Prevention trumps elimination regarding the relationship between roaches and bird cages.

Many elimination methods are not bird-friendly, and you don’t want to put your pets at risk.

Below, we consider some ways you can stop roaches from coming around your birdcage:

1. Keep Your Bird Cages Clean

The chances of a clean birdcage attracting pests are very slim. Thus, cleaning your birdcage after they feed can help to control crumbs and other litter.

Roaches can still invade your birdcage, even without food droppings. For these pests, bird droppings are a worthy alternative.

So, pick up bird droppings whenever you spot any, or set time apart for inspection and thorough cleaning.

However, cleaning the cage may not make an adequate defense if the rest of your house doesn’t match it.

If there are other sources of filth attracting roaches, they can still find their way to your birdcage.

To reduce the chances of this happening, keep your kitchen clean, sweep up the crumbs and fix plumbing leaks.

2. Guard the Legs on Your Bird Cage

Although some roach species can fly, these insects generally crawl to get around. But you can stop them from crawling up your birdcage — if it is the type that comes with legs.

Get some sticky tape — the brand with gum on both sides — and wind them around your bird cage legs. That way, any roach that attempts to climb the cage will get stuck in the tape.

As they cannot move, the stuck roaches will remain in that position until you find them.

You can combine this method with the soapy water method for better results. This involves dipping each bird cage leg in tubs of soapy water.

Even though they love moisture, roaches will drown in soapy water. So, even if they fall off the sticky tape by any chance, you are guaranteed they won’t get away.

3. Make Roach Traps

Before roaches can get to your birdcage, they must have access to your home. So, sometimes, it is not the birds attracting them but something else.

You will have to find where roaches nest, like bathrooms and under kitchen sinks. Then, set a trap to eliminate them before they have the chance to invade your birdcage.

However, you want to exercise caution with which methods you use here.

For example, chemical traps like boric acid are a huge risk. The reason is that the chemicals do not kill roaches immediately. Instead, the roaches still have time to roam around after consuming the acid.

Your bird can get sick if it eats any of these infected roaches. So, opt for safer methods like sticky glue to solve your roach problem.

Place some oily foods like butter on the trap and set it in dark corners. The sweet, buttery scent should soon rope in the roaches and get them stuck to the glue.

4. Keep Your Bird Cage Far From Your Home

Watching your birds from a short distance may offer some comfort. But this is nothing compared to the trouble their presence can bring to your home.

As we said earlier, birds drop food around as they eat, attracting different insects, from roaches to rats.

So, if you don’t want these creepy animals finding their way into your home, move your birdcage away.

5. Keep Your Bird Cage Far From Garbage

Roaches feast in garbage dumb and invade anything close by, including birdcages.

The more distance between your birdcage and trash, the lower the chances of roaches coming around.

So, besides cleaning your birdcage, guarding the legs, and deploying roach traps, ensure no garbage is around the birdcage.

6. Store Bird Food in Airtight Containers

Guaranteed, storing bird food around your birdcage may make it easier to feed your birds. But this often creates a happy meal for roaches to find.

Roaches love both filth and good food lying around, undisturbed, and will smell one from any distance.

So, transfer your bird food to containers with airtight lids and store them in cupboards or your freezer.

Conclusion

Although roaches have a unique purpose in the ecosystem, they are unwanted visitors in birdcages.

But, eliminating them around living birds can prove tricky, most times. We outlined some of the best ways to keep roaches out of birdcages above.

These include guarding the legs of your birdcage, making roach traps, storing your birdcage far from your home, etc.

Above all, remember to keep your birdcage clean, as a dirty cage will always attract these unwanted pests.

Try any of these tips and let us know the results.