Pionus Preening Debris..

[flappybird]

It's not the keratin sheaths... those are white and flaky. But when Luna preens herself for extended periods of time, she sheds these very tiny, almost round, dark grey, kind of hard little particles. At first I thought they were bugs or mites or something, but they definitely don't look like bugs, and look like they're shells for something. Does anyone know what these are? I usually find 3-7 of them at a time.

[Wolf]

I have no idea from what you are saying. My best guess is that they my be the exoskeletons of some kind of parasite, maybe some good close ups would help to identify them, but I would suggest that you take the bird and some of these things to the vet for identification and treatment.

[Pajarita]

It could be pieces of nails. They do groom their claws and chew on them to keep them at a comfortable length. But I would take a couple and look at them under a microscope to see what they really are or, like Wolf said, take the bird and the particles to an avian vet.

[flappybird]

The list of things I want to call the vet for just keeps on growing. Haha...

Maybe it could be bits of her nails.. especially because I do see her putting her feet in her mouth sometimes but I'm 95% sure it's to help clean food out of her beak. (she chews on her soft t-shirt toy and her rope boing for the same reason, not for fun) Her nails are really blunt too, which I thought was weird, but also they seem long enough that maybe I should do something about it, the ends of her toes don't lie completely flat on flat surfaces, but very close. Strange combination. She has no grooming perches nor has ever that I know of, so not really sure if her previous owner just kept up with that really well or what. Maybe having a grooming perch would actually make them sharper, who knows. I wish they were sharper, she seems to be slightly clumsier than I would expect her to be. Doesn't have a very strong grip at all (compared to other parrots I've handled in the past). She's really good at getting her toes tangled in her cage bars when she tries to climb around. (They're about 3/4"-1 wide, but thing wires. Not permanent though, so I'm not worried about it.

[Pajarita]

The weak grip could be caused by her not having good perches for a long time... people tend to use dowels and perches that are too big for their feet and that messes them up. Or, it could also be a bit of neurological problem -a mineral imbalance does it all the time.

[Wolf]

It also could be that the bird just doesn't hold on to you very tightly. Kookooloo has a very strong grip when she wants to use it, but for the life of me, I can't get her to hold on tightly when she is on me. She refuses to grip and relies totally on balance to keep her on my arm or shoulder. When she first came here she held on tightly and still does if I try to move her and she doesn't want to be moved.

[Pajarita]

Yes, you are right, Wolf. That is another possibility. My Freddie never hangs on hard to me - so much so that he would, sometimes, actually fall off my shoulder when I bend over.

[flappybird]

Yeah, that could be it.
I was worried about it because when she climbs around her cage and outside of it she does very gingerly, almost like she's calculating every move. Most parrots I've seen climb much quicker and are more sure-footed so I wonder if she has coordination issues of some sort. OR! maybe she's just not used to moving around that much. I think she spent most of her time sitting on her crappy perch or top of her cage with her previous owner, here, I let her climb from her own cage to her travel cage and down the sides to the floor and she walks all over the couch and windowsill. Maybe it'll get better with time. I did notice today some of her nails feel sharper on my neck. Maybe she will need a grooming perch after all. The sharpness doesn't bother me at all though, I just don't want the length to inhibit her mobility.

[Wolf]

If she wasn't moving around especially on flat surfaces she may well be trimming her nail to shorten them to the length she wants. Kookooloo, my CAG, trims her nails on a regular basis. It is also possible that her feet are sore from the effects of the wrong perches and/ or from a poor diet.

[Pajarita]

If you are going to get a grooming perch, please consider getting only sweetfeet -it's the only kind I use and recommend.