Grooming perches????

[greyburd]

Spencer's nails are starting to get a little bit on the sharp side. I was wondering what most of you use in the way of nail grooming perches. Are the cement perches better than the sandy perches? We do have a vet appointment on Tuesday, so they'll probably get clipped. But, I'd still like to get some type of perch.

Thanks

[bgmacaw]

We have one of the sandy perches in front of either the food or water bowl in each cage. I know some folks don't care for either but we have seen no issues. I'm not sure abut the cement perches.

[Kristi]

I've got cement perches for my fids and they work great. Just be sure you've got other types of perches as well...cement ones will hurt their little feet if that's all they've got to stand on.

[Freedomoflight]

IMO cement- ughhhhhhhh. Honestly, go with sandy perches if you want a good grooming perch. Sandy are much easier on the feet, and the core is manzanita, so that like a wood perch, if the bird stands on it for a long period of time, it will heat up to the birds body temp. I have had many birds come to me with nasty sores on the bottom of their feet from cement perches. What I personally do is take a sandy perch and place it in front of the food dish. That way, they are on it while they are eating, (not a main perch, but you know it is used) which takes care of feet, and after they are done eating, they wipe their beak on it, which takes care of the beak. Works great with my caique who has a tendency to overgrow his beak a bit.
Cement is very stiff, and can cause cramping, etc. And *usually* are just straight perchs, whiles sandy perches are true of a natural branch, varied width and length and have twists and turns so its good on birdies feet.
I tried an experiment on a goffins too once- I put a cement perch that I used to have right in front of her food dish as described for about a month, maybe not even that. She spent a normal amount of time at her food dish, not too much not too little, and after that period of time, I looked at her feet. She had developed sores, just like my caique, who came to me with his only perch being a cement perch. The bottom of both birds feet were bright pink, flaking and sore. The goffins were not as bad as she was not on a cement perch all day (neither was the caique at that point, but he still showed the affects of the perch) after that, the perch went in the trash. To this day, the caique still has little spots on the bottom of his feet... small discolorations. Thats why I recommend sandy perches- I have never had a problem with them, and the birds havent either.

[cfulhage]

I dislike cement perches also.

Ollie has a great sandy perch in her cage all the time. I have only had to trim her nails once!

[Ingrid]

Originally Posted by Freedomoflight

IMO cement- ughhhhhhhh. Honestly, go with sandy perches if you want a good grooming perch. Sandy are much easier on the feet, and the core is manzanita, so that like a wood perch, if the bird stands on it for a long period of time, it will heat up to the birds body temp. I have had many birds come to me with nasty sores on the bottom of their feet from cement perches. What I personally do is take a sandy perch and place it in front of the food dish. That way, they are on it while they are eating, (not a main perch, but you know it is used) which takes care of feet, and after they are done eating, they wipe their beak on it, which takes care of the beak. Works great with my caique who has a tendency to overgrow his beak a bit.
Cement is very stiff, and can cause cramping, etc. And *usually* are just straight perchs, whiles sandy perches are true of a natural branch, varied width and length and have twists and turns so its good on birdies feet.
I tried an experiment on a goffins too once- I put a cement perch that I used to have right in front of her food dish as described for about a month, maybe not even that. She spent a normal amount of time at her food dish, not too much not too little, and after that period of time, I looked at her feet. She had developed sores, just like my caique, who came to me with his only perch being a cement perch. The bottom of both birds feet were bright pink, flaking and sore. The goffins were not as bad as she was not on a cement perch all day (neither was the caique at that point, but he still showed the affects of the perch) after that, the perch went in the trash. To this day, the caique still has little spots on the bottom of his feet... small discolorations. Thats why I recommend sandy perches- I have never had a problem with them, and the birds havent either.

This is VERY VERY interesting..........I had Kally with me at school for one week, and after that week her feet were bleeding........I could not figure it out??? You may have just given me the answer......I have a cement Perch on an open cage that I have bolten to....and that is all she has to stand on ....hummmm...Perhaps that is why her feet were bleeding??? I thought it was from my hand lotion, but maybe not....maybe it was the cement perch that she stands on all day??? interesting......needless to say she does not have any sores, or bleeding since I have kept her home from school.
Ingrid

[Freedomoflight]

It could very well be- my caique was on a cement perch for the first 3 years of his life, and he had horrible sores- I rubbed salve into them for a while. My zon also had cement perches before I got him, and he was very sore in his feet, and his leg muscles. The bottom of his feet were bright red- I put all wood perches in his cage and now he just has "spots" left... I dunno how else to describe it.. not red, just discolorations on the bottom of his feet where the red used to be.
You kind of confirmed my "experiment" LOL- I did it with the goffins, you did it with your (ycm, right?) and we both had negative affects- take the perch out of the equation and everything goes back to normal...

[Rue]

...I love the SandyPerch products...the bigger birds use them while out in the evenings...the smaller birds have one by their food or water bowl...

...but they do need other perches as well, in a variety of diametres and textures...