smoking...and other questions

[Darren]

Hi,

I was just wondering if any members on here are also smokers. I don't smoke inside my room (where he's located) or even my house for that matter, and before I handle Hibbert, I always wash my hands very thoroughly as well as my mouth area. I don't tend to get much smoke on my clothes or hair, but no doubt at least a little bit. Do you think this will have any detrimental effects on my birds health?

Also, about trimming and clipping and such. I trim the nails myself which isn't a problem, and I don't intend to clip his wings (they were clipped when I got him, and I just let 'em grow in), but what about the beak? I know they need to be cut down a bit from time to time. I provide him with cuttlebone, a mineral block, a concrete perch, and stuff like that but I don't notice those things helping to keep a short beak. Any suggestions as to what I can give him to help his beak? Also, can someone give me a rough estimate to what length the beak should be before it needs to be clipped? He is coming up on 4 months (in his first moult, yes) and the only thing yet to have been clipped is the beak. Any information on that would be appreciated.

As for a response on how potty-training was going from my first post, he usually flies off of me or my bed to his cage or perch to take a dump. This pretty much came naturally which is suprising. He tries to go before he flies or me or leaves his cage. So I was extremely lucky and had to do no potty-training! I still get the odd poop though. No worries :-P

Thanks in advace for any help or suggestions.

Darren

[Sally]

I do not smoke, no one I know does. I hope you can quit someday.


Make sure you change clothes and I am glad you wash your hands and do not smoke in the house with a bird or pet of any kind. So many bad things in that smoke for all living things.

With nail trimming, I have not had to do that. I have several grooming perches. I do not trim wings. I like Chipper to fly.

About the beak, I do not think Parrotlets need a trim often like some larger parrots do. Give plenty of things to chew on. Here are just two photos of chewing things that keep Chipper's beak nice. One is a Yucca chew. They are great! Chipper chews it daily! She loves her wood toys too. You can see she chewed the wood on that one photo.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/Sally11/Yuccachew450.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/Sally11/bored-1.jpg

[nar1122]

Like Sally said, I don't think the beak trimming is that necessary as often. Oscar is coming up on 6 months old, and his beak isn't that long. I don't think he needs it. But do you guys think he should have it trimmed? I will get a picture and show you later.

[AndreaFahy]

Kudos to you for smoking outside of the house and for washing well. Many people don't consider the fact that the nicotine spreads from skin to the bird.

Beaks should really never need grooming. Keep a lava rock and wooden toys, etc. Aside from that, if a beak is over growing, there is usually an underlying medical condition. An annual avian vet check is always advisable for maintenance, preventative med, etc.

[Darren]

Right on, thanks for the help. I do change my clothes when I get home from work, as well as some washing. I've seen too many animals die from living in a smoke-filled environment. I would never let an animal live in those conditions. I didn't realize really that they needed the beaks trimmed less often. I figured since it's smaller than larger birds beaks, it would grow faster, alike fingernails and such. Anyways, I'll have to look into these yucca chews and lava rock. Thanks again.