Toe/Wing Clipping

[Kissthegirl]

I have a three month old GC Conure and am not sure I want to take on the risk and responsibility of clipping his wings and toes. I've never clipped a bird before and have no intention of hurting him, doing damage, or risking our friendship.

That being said, how would I go about finding a groomer for birds? The groomer I use for my cat (for special occasions) doesn't do birds and I really don't want to stress him out by taking him to the wrong sort of place.

Id love to have someone clip his toes and wings for me, show me the signs of when the wings are too long, and maybe (in time) teach me to do it myself. He's starting to get a bit more leverage and distance from his clipped flight hops and I'm wondering if I should nip it in the bud and get them trimmed yet or not.

I know PetSmart has a grooming department, would that be a safe or reputable place to get it done? Or should I try to take him to a vet office, do they perform these sort of procedures there?

Thanks for your help!

[The Outlaw]

I would think the Petsmart groomer would be fine. I know they teach their employees how to do them for I have a friend in Arizona who manages a Petsmart. He is a retired dog groomer and he trains his staff to do birds and dogs.

[Monica]

I wouldn't necessarily trust a petstore, unless they show you how they clip before actually clipping... but just to reference an article I wrote to desribe various types of clips click here... http://birdboard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23283

Oh, and avian vets may also clip!!!

[MaskedBird57]

Or you can just go to a good bird place like I do but make sure they are good like board,breed,hand feed, ect. just stuff you won't find at other normal ones. I get mine done at basicly birds in NJ. I got my Petie from her she is a great person she boards, breeds, breeds hand feed, grooming, ect. So if you live in NJ go thier she has 20 years of avian experince. O yea make sure if your going to a good pet store make sure you go online just to see if they have good experince most good places put that on the web. .She runns her own place, the only Basicly Birds in the world lol. fell free to email me for more info.
Alicia

[grandma]

Any vet experianced with birds will do it for around 10-20$.

[MaskedBird57]

mine does it for $5-7