Lovebird Joy was hanging by a wire....and

[dancelady]

SHE WAS SAVED!!!!!

Last night I went in to say goodnight to the birds and turn off the light, and I saw Joy hanging from a wire on the side of the cage IN A PANIC! There is a tall, slender glass feeder with a narrow open space at the bottom to eat from, and it kept moving and slipping, so I put a stickywire on the top to hold it. I watched it for days and she wasn't doing anything to it, so I relaxed and left it there. It was a covered sticky like you use for closing bread. Now it had her in a death grip!

Well, I panicked and went in to remove the wire from the cage -- which was hard to do when you're frightened. It took quite a while and then grasping her, I took her out of the cage and worked on the wire which was around her neck. This is a very small stickywire circle, I didn't think she would get it around her neck (can't figure out how she did it) -- thought it was too small. Now I couldn't get it off, and she was in a fright-panic trying to get out from being killed by it. She was biting me furiously, and I was so worried that it would kill her before I got it off. Slowly I untwisted it; I couldn't figure out which way it was bent, but finally I got it off and she could breathe and recover. I put her totally FREAKED OUT back in the cage and looked to see if there was any blood. She ran into her cozy nest and hid! Thank heavens she was alright!

MAKE SURE YOU DON'T USE ANY OF THOSE STICKIES ON ANYTHING WHERE THE BIRD CAN GET TO IT. DON'T USE THEM AT ALL!

[catschair]

How frightening! I am so glad you found her in time and that she is okay. Hugs and scritches all around.

[dancelady]

Thanks, catschair -- I am still in a panic mode every time I look at her cage and see what happened. I was very lucky -- I don't know why I happened by at that moment, but it made me believe in things beyond the normal range of ESP. But she is fine this morning and doesn't look like there is any skin broken at that site. Whew, sweet little girl!

[greencinacheeks]

wow....i'm so glad you got her!!! YAY

i had something like that happen to my GCC. its VERY scary!!!!

~Nate

[CraftQueen]

Jan,
I'm so glad you happened upon her. She is one very lucky girl indeed. I wonder, if when they think they want something that doesn't come loose right away, if they twirl themselves in it. Like we would wrap our hand around a rope to get better leverage. Because lovebirds especially, seem more proned to tangling up in things at my house anyway. I have to make sure there is nothing that dangles more than an inch so they can't wrap up in it. I've had a couple of close calls and one was where I'd taken short strips of material and tied them onto toys for something to preen. The threads that ravel off from the raw edges of fabric was a horrible hanging hazard. I also station pairs of gloves around my bird room so that I can grab a pair at any given notice, because no matter how tame a bird is they are going to bite in a state of panic. I like the cotton ones with the rubber dots on the palm side of the gloves, it keeps the birds from slipping out of your grip and it allows you to grip lightly. I recenty got a pair from the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, MO that are orange and they are coverd all over with grippy sticky stuff. I think they are for fishing, handling slippery fish, they were around 5.00 and worth every penny.

[dancelady]

Thanks, CraftQueen -- I need to get some of those gloves, because they would work well for occasions where you need to keep the bird still. I wonder where they might be around here -- do you think that Wal-Mart would have them? If not, this is a fishing place so I should be able to find them around here somewhere. The only gloves in this room were those plastic gloves for cleaning, and I didn't figure they would work. I agree that material cut up can be a thread problem waiting to happen -- so I haven't used that for toys. I also watch out for rope that can unravel and cozy huts that can get threads loose. You never stop looking for things that lovebirds can get into!