Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

Clip of File Talons?

Chat about general parrot care and parrot owner lifestyle. Bird psychology, activities, trimming, clipping, breeding etc.

How do you primarily trim parrot talons?

Scissors
1
14%
Nail Clipper
3
43%
Dremel
0
No votes
File
3
43%
Sandy Perches
0
No votes
Not at all
0
No votes
 
Total votes : 7

Clip of File Talons?

Postby Michael » Thu May 19, 2011 9:50 am

Do you clip or file your parrot's talons? What is the instrument of choice? If you don't do it yourself, what does the groomer use? Do you leave them to dull themselves on sandy perches or not trim at all?
User avatar
Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: Clip of File Talons?

Postby MandyG » Thu May 19, 2011 10:44 am

I'm not comfortable with clipping black nails so I just file them. When they go to the vet for their annual checkup they get clipped and I don't find that they get very long throughout the year between appointments. When they get sharp I just file them a bit.

The vet in the one city uses a dremmel. I don't think I'll be going back there for the regular appointments, Mojo could barely perch on anything after because they made his nails so short. The avian vet in the other city clips them with a nail clipper.
User avatar
MandyG
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 946
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Yellow Crowned Amazon
Flight: Yes

Re: Clip of File Talons?

Postby Michael » Fri May 20, 2011 11:29 am

In a way I use all of the above (except Dremel, seems insane to me to use that on a bird). However, I mainly depend on a good clean cut of the talon once every few months. I may file in between but it seems that repeated filing makes them short and sharp. It's preferable that they get long and remain relatively blunt. Then you have something available to cut again. I let the filing perches reduce the time between trimmings but ultimately I have to wait until they are long enough and just cut them back.

I found that the special nail cutting scissors with a slit in them are easiest and safest to use. I don't have to open them much, just enough to show the circle opening so there's no way of cutting anything accidentally. I just slip the tip of the talon in and it makes a nice clean cut.

Mandi, I'm surprised the dark talon makes that much of a difference for you. You don't see the quick but you learn quickly by guess and check. You cut a little, no blood, cut the next one more, etc. When you hit blood the first time, you know to cut a little less than that and you get your orientation set for the rest. Kili's talons are black and Truman's are kind of a mix of light and dark ones so it's not that relevant. A budgie's talons are really easy though cause you can see exactly how far you can cut ahead of time. A bit of patience and quick stop are your friend :thumbsup:
User avatar
Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: Clip of File Talons?

Postby TheNzJessie » Mon May 23, 2011 6:53 am

i have never had to clip or even file my budgies nails and i ahve filed my lori's nails twice and they were clipped when he has a vet check up after our house filled with smoke.
Qwil-:budgie:
Jango-:rainbow:
Jessie-ME
:)
User avatar
TheNzJessie
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1066
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Rainbow lorikeet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: Clip of File Talons?

Postby Chris&Akilah » Mon May 23, 2011 10:47 am

I have one of those 'grooming perches' in front of Akila's water dish, it seems to keep the nails dulled, but not too short. I had his nails clipped when I picked him up from the borders a couple months ago, and he had a hard time playing on his tree without the nice sharp tips. Kept falling. So I don't think I'll have them clipped again.
Chris&Akilah
Conure
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 161
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot
Flight: No

Re: Clip of File Talons?

Postby zazanomore » Mon May 23, 2011 6:14 pm

For the budgies, they always seem to have their nails filed nicely on their own. They literally have 9 different types of perches/swings available to them. I have a safe pumice perch for them meant to keep nails filed, but they never use it. They're really active, so I guess that's why their nails remain so perfect.

Einstein however, he uses the pumice perch as his sleeping perch. He has just as much variety as the budgies, yet his nails don't remain filed. I don't feel comfortable clipping or filing them myself, so I get the vet to do it.
Bonnie - :budgie2:
Clyde - :budgie:
Einstein - :greycockatiel:
Alyssa - :thumbsup:
User avatar
zazanomore
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1314
Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Number of Birds Owned: 5
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiels
Budgies
Flight: Yes

Re: Clip of File Talons?

Postby MandyG » Tue May 24, 2011 5:45 pm

Michael wrote:Mandi, I'm surprised the dark talon makes that much of a difference for you. You don't see the quick but you learn quickly by guess and check. You cut a little, no blood, cut the next one more, etc. When you hit blood the first time, you know to cut a little less than that and you get your orientation set for the rest. Kili's talons are black and Truman's are kind of a mix of light and dark ones so it's not that relevant. A budgie's talons are really easy though cause you can see exactly how far you can cut ahead of time. A bit of patience and quick stop are your friend :thumbsup:


I had a really bad experience cutting a dog's nails that were dark and long. I had always been fine with my own dogs' nails until then (one with white nails, one with black). When that one bad cut happened we couldn't get the bleeding to stop. We used corn starch and quick stop and it took a long time. It took me a while to do my own black dog's nails again and now that I can do it they're kept much longer than my white dog's because it scares me. Birds bleed out much faster than dogs do and I can never shake that fear about it. If it took nearly as long to stop the bleeding as it did that one time a bird would likely be dead. I know it was an isolated situation, but I'd rather just file the birds' nails a bit than put myself through that.
User avatar
MandyG
Amazon
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 946
Location: Manitoba, Canada
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Yellow Crowned Amazon
Flight: Yes

Re: Clip of File Talons?

Postby Michael » Tue May 24, 2011 7:05 pm

If you don't cut in an insane amount, like most cuts don't bleed but one a tad more and it does, it's usually a thin part of the quick so it doesn't bleed so much (on birds at least from my experience). If quick stop doesn't stop the bleeding within about 30 seconds, I'd get a piece of cloth or towel and just hold it against there tight for 5 minutes to hold it in. That works better if the cut is too big cause if it's flowing, it moves too fast to clot on its own.
User avatar
Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes


Return to General Parrot Care

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google Adsense [Bot] and 23 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store