nail growth

[marie83]

Just a couple of things I've noticed over the years so I'm just mulling a few thoughts over.

I know excess nail growth can be down to a few things. The most obvious is wrong perch size/type. Incorrect diets, illness too.

Now none of my birds have ever needed their nails trimmed except when they very first come to me. I once had a rosella who was so grossly overgrown that we had to cut them in several stages over months but after that she was fine.

I do have to say that there is an exception to that - my green cheeked conure. I do have a feeling Rena will be the same as I saw in her last home that all her perches were good in size and type yet her nails are overgrown.

Both birds sleep on happy huts whereas none of my others have. I'm wondering if that makes a massive difference to how worn down the nails are ? They also return to them for naps the majority of the time.
I've also noticed they spend a massive chunk of their time not on their perches, they would much rather sit on shoulders, backs of the sofas. Ollie spends a lot of time exploring the floor too but that doesn't seem true of Rena as yet. None of these surfaces is natural for them really. With the other species I've had they all spent a lot of time on perches in the daytime too even when out their cages.

I read time and time again that birds should never need nails and beaks trimming (I've never needed to trim a beak) but do wonder from my own small sample size if this is always the case? Is it always because the owner doesn't have the right set up? The birds ill or on a bad diet? Or if it's sometimes not the owners fault and is just how the parrot leads it's life which doesn't give as much opportunity for wearing the nails down?

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

[Wolf]

Well if the bird is spending most of its time on soft and non abrasive surfaces then it is the owners fault for allowing this through their set up. I like to sit and stand and even walk on soft surfaces too but I also know that this is not always good for my feet or back. Birds, I am sure love to stand on soft surfaces, but their feet are designed for harder more abrasive surfaces. They don't realize this and like to be comfortable too.

[Pajarita]

Well, Wolf, when it comes to GCCs and shoulder time, I would much rather the owner had to trim the nails that make the bird spend more time on a perch.

I don't have to trim Codee's nails at all BUT she spends a lot of time on her perches (which, by the way, are all natural tree branches), she doesn't have a sleeping hut (she has a boyfriend to lean against and to cuddle with) and she spends only two hours on me (again, because she has a boyfriend) and I think that's what makes the difference.

[seagoatdeb]

I have a perch attached outside the cage that Gaugan my Red Belly uses to keep her beak in condition and it helps her nails too. I use a nail file for my pois, and just file a little, often, if the nail start to get too long. This is only a good method for very tame parrots that trust you though. I find it is easier on my parrots than clipping.

[Wolf]

I was answering a question about the nail growth that caused the need to trim the nails and was not trying to say anything about whether trimming the nails was a good thing or not. I don't need to trim my birds nails but if I were providing enough surfaces that my birds wanted to be on and were happy with then I would also be trimming nails and I would be doing it frequently so as to only need a few strokes to be enough.

Marie asked if her needing to trim her birds nails was her fault and we know that the birds are in good health and then she told us of all of the soft perching places that her birds likes and uses, So it is her fault that her birds need to have their nails trimmed. This is simple facts and I can't do anything about that. But if you noticed at no point and I saying that this is either good or bad. This is actually, to me, one of those things that is really neither good or bad and is just a matter of knowing why they need trimming and then deciding if she wants to trim them or not. It really sounds to me that if you do not look at the nail trimming then both Marie and her birds are happy and for that reason I would suggest that she continue with their lifestyle and they just have to accept that they need to either have their nails trimmed or they have to trim the nails., I would probably trim the nails.

I have a budgie that I have to trim his beak, this is due to liver problems, he had them when he arrived so I trim his beak, so far the perches are taking care of the nails. For me it is neither good or bad, it is just what he needs.

[seagoatdeb]

Gaugan nails are good because of the rough perch she goes on to take the flakes from her beak. Sunny has sharp little nails and is scratching me up. I am teaching him to like getting his nail filed. I like it better because my pois nails are dark colored and it is hard for me to see the quick so it takes me a long time to feel safe enough to clip.

I dont think that it is good or bad either. I once had a Cordon Blue Finch that had a problem with beak overgrowth. The vet said it was a fungus that was incurable. he had to have his beak trimmed a number of times so he could eat. None of the other male finches ever caught the fungus.

[marie83]

Well realistically I am not sure there is much I can do to encourage staying on their perches- we mainly use natural branches too btw.
Removing their happy huts would probably go some way to helping but they absolutely love them. Maybe a compromise would be to switch them for the ones with perches inside? I've never seen these in person though and don't know how safe they are or what the perches are made from.
My boyfriend really wouldn't be happy with me removing the sofa, it would possibly be relationship ending lol.
Less out of cage time would solve the sofa and the shoulder problem though but I prefer them having as much freedom as possible.
We already have lots of places for Ollie to hang out in the living room but he prefers to be near us so doesn't choose to use them very much. Rena is in temporary accommodation really so there isn't much in there atm.
Any type of flooring won't wear the nails I don't think.
All this doesn't explain Renas nails unless she constantly sat on someone's shoulder too. This I think was my main musing- is it the happy huts that are the main problem because like I say none of my other birds ever needed a nail trim.

[Wolf]

I really can't say about Rena and unless you had the vet do the expensive bile acids test we really don't know much about the condition of her liver. All of the rest would just be speculation, I guess.

The position of the perches that do the most filing might be something that could be done to help. I use them near the food and water dishes as it appears that they use them to clean their beaks a lot more in that position and I think that the movement of getting some food and then settling back to eat it before going back for another bit of food, make them more effective at trimming the nails. It might help you too if you are not already doing this. Otherwise I don't think I would worry too much with any other changes. You may just have to resign yourself to frequent touch ups of their nails. Keeping both them and you happy is far more important in the long rum, I think.

[marie83]

I don't mind nail duty. Ollie is trained to let me do his. I've done two of renas so far as I don't want to overwhelm her but she's barely noticed me do it. By time I've done a few more she may be more wary though.

[shiraartain]

This actually clears up the matter of Fajr's nails for me.while he does have a perch made of rose branches, he spends 90% of his day out if the cage and 90% of that time is spent perched on us or on out laptops/bed/the windowsill.