Just a blog for my endless love for feathered and scaley friends.I have a 3 year old male lovebird named Nash, a baby Mexican black kingsnake, a male pastel banana ball python, and a baby Halmahera blue tongue skink!
I hear this question a lot, and I wanted to address it in length here on tumblr, so here ya go!
Molting (v) : (of an animal) shed old feathers, hair, or skin, or an old shell, to make way for a new growth. This happens naturally in all birds, even wild birds
Plucking (v) : a maladaptive, behavioural disorder commonly seen in captive birds which chew, bite or pluck their own feathers with their beak, resulting in damage to the feathers and occasionally the skin. This happens due to a variety of reasons, most of the time in caged pet birds.
Molting will happen with every single parrot at any given time, and is very natural. They will do this just to get new, ‘prettier’ feathers in, or just because the clock in their body says so. When the old feathers are gone, new things, called pin feathers will make their way onto the bird
( ex: Blue-crowned conure filled with pin feathers on head and face )
These new feathers can be very painful for the bird at first, and may not like you to touch them, but once they get to a certain stage if you gently rub them between your fingers the white outer coating will come off and it will feel ah-mazing for the bird!
(ex: close up of older pin feathers who have lost their tops )
Molting will usually be in sections on your bird as they make their way around their body and so the entire body doesn’t hurt at the same time from the new pin feathers. On rare occasions a bird can just start to molt everywhere at once, but this is nothing to cause an alarm, they just may not get it.
Plucking on the other hand is intentional ripping of the feathers from the body usually because of stress, malnutrition, smoke/scents, lack of attention, etc.
Once plucking is on the birds mind they usually cannot stop, and it may take the use of a vest or cone to prevent them to do any more damage.
(ex: African Grey in a homemade sweater to prevent further plucking)
Although plucking is most common in larger birds ( because people get them not knowing the commitment they are and then stop paying as much attention to them after the honeymoon phase is over ), it can happen to smaller birds as well.
(ex: Lovebird with bare back from plucking)
Plucking usually ends up with skin showing, and no down feather underneath. In a healthy molt, your birds skin should not show through. If you see your birds skin when you believe it to be molting, consult your avian vet and get them checked out.
Plucking can be anywhere from minor plucking due to malnutrition ( I.e. not giving them veggies, or feeding a strictly seed diet ) to a major plucking issue where your bird has virtually no feathers.
(ex: Budgie who has plucked most feathers off of himself )
(ex: African Grey who has plucked himself completely naked)
You should always consult your avian certified vet ( don’t know who your avian vet is? Here’s a link to a large list of avian vets around the world: http://www.aav.org/search/newsearch.asp ) when you belive your bird is ill, and especially if you believe your bird is plucking.
But if they’re plucking I can just feed them better or change something and they’ll get better, right? Wrong! Most of the time wen a bird plucks, it’s like OCD, and they must do it from then on out. It becomes a habit, and is very hard to change.
These plucking behaviors can lead to skin disease, feather disease, and mental diseases. Sometimes it’s nothing the human has done wrong really, and they bird does it out of boredom. Although this is rare, it is possible.
Smaller birds tend to not pluck as much as say a Cockatoo or African Grey, but even the smallest of parrots can pluck and it is something every owner should keep in mind when thinking about their birds health and wellbeing.
Add my bird snapchat!!! I will be posting pictures and videos of Rudy and other birds as well as birds from the Papayago Rescue and my own birds from now on!
@ rescuerudy
@ rescuerudy
@ rescuerudy
Hey all, so you may remember the Rudy situation and may have helped out and I am here to say that we have made a tumblr for Papayago and will be posting a lot hopefully!
We will feature pictures of our birds, stories, tips, and recipes! We hope to get it off the ground soon and if you’d like please follow them @papayagorescue
We will post only bird related things and you will get the opportunity to meet our beautiful rescue birds! Thanks!
Hey all! My AC recently went out in my house and that reminded me that I really need to be extra cautious with my pet birds and guinea pigs, and to keep them as comfortable as possible. It is very hot outside right now ( about 97 degrees ) and so there was no option to remove them from the house until it gets fixed. Until then I will be following some very important steps to keep them all happy and comfy…
Here as some heat exhaustion and heat stroke signs to look for in pet parrots:
holding wings out, away from body
panting with mouth open and tongue out
loss of balance
loss of appetite ( not eating favorite treat )
overall anxious behavior
not acting “right” as well as one or more of the above bullets.
Here’s some heat exhaustion and heat stroke signs to look for in pet guinea pigs:
lethargy
panting or rapid breathing
laying on side ( although my guinea pigs do this all the time so I wouldn’t make this the deciding factor that this is happening )
Dehydration ( gently pull the skin over the shoulder blades up and see if it remains risen up after you let go, or if it snaps back to normal. If it stays, they are dehydrated )
Drooling
Now, here are some things you can help with for a Parrot that is overheating:
put ice-cubes in their water to cool it down, this will also help if they get right up next to their bowl since the side will get cold.
Spray feathers with cold water
place in quiet area to get their anxiety down
let their feet in water/draw a shallow bath
put your bird in your car in a travel cage and turn AC on
turn on the fan in the room and keep the door closed ( do NOT take your parrot out of the cage while this is on )
syringe feed your parrot cold water if it seems dehydrated ( please make sure both you and your parrot are properly trained with syringe feeding.. a lot can go wrong if done improperly )
Here are some things you can help with for a Guinea Pig that is overheating:
put a water-bottle full of ice in their cage wrapped in a wet cold washcloth so they can cuddle up to it
draw them a shallow but cold bath ( not freezing, try something a little cool to the touch )
put ice-cubes in their water
feed them watery foods like watermelon ( in moderation, they are full of sugar ), and cucumber.
spray with cold water
gently wrap them in a cool wet washcloth for a few minutes.
Hey guys, I would love to share with you this pet shop that I regularly visit and volunteer at ( for the sake of the animals of course ). This is where Rudy is if you remember that post, and also where many other birds and other animals suffer and die.
So I went today and actually got some pictures for you guys to see. Here’s a little tour ( note: this does not show the fish, reptiles, or rooms they have designated for employees only. That will come in a later post )
So let’s start in the small animal room and i will show you the worst.
First off, this cage, with 3 guinea pig babies and 1 mama, was left WIDE OPEN when I walked in. The employees were all in the front talking and gossiping, and a baby guinea pig could have gotten hurt as a result of this! Also note that there is a gigantic bowl of pellets ( guinea pigs only need 1/8th of a cup of food each every single day. This is well more than 2 cups. )This leads to obesity and other issues if they eat too much.
Guinea pigs also need fresh fruits and veggies daily ( here, they NEVER get it and I actually have to go out and buy them some whenever i have the money. Me. A volunteer. Has to buy these poor animals veggies because the owner is too stupid to know that they need this ) Also they need an unlimited supply of timothy hay every day. I am actually, genuinely surprised to see some hay left over in the bottom of this cage, but I can assure you, they also only ever get hay when I am there. The owner, John, says that they don’t need it, it’s just a treat, and that it’s ‘too expensive’ to give out willy-nilly. He only ever gives hay to the cages with babies in therm, and that’s whenever he remembers too.
This is another guinea pig cage in the same room. 2+ cups of food for the single guinea pig who lives in this cage. The floor is COVERED in urine and feces, so much so that the light creme color that the bedding usually is is a dark brown from the wetness and crap on it.
Not only are these animals mistreated, but they are overcrowded and John still breeds them. There are 10 guinea pigs in this one room alone, and more in the back. The first picture showed 4 guinea pigs shoved into a cage that I would only ever use as a travel cage for a SINGLE guinea pig.
Here is HALF of the small bird room. As you can see there is cage after wretched cage stacked on top of one another carrying more than enough birds in each. These are very small flight cages, once again, that I would only ever use as a travel cage for a bird.
You can look and see that there are 3-5 COCKATIELS in every cage carrying them, and there are 10+ finches in cages as well. These cages are very dirty and CRAWLING WITH BUGS. No bird should live like this
Here is a finch in one of the cages. His leg was somehow torn off as you can see by that orangey-red looking spot under his wing on this side. He stays at the bottom and cannot fly up or perch with his one remaining leg. He is harassed by the 10 other finches in his cage, and has been in this state for several days now, nobody has done anything about it.
Also notice the amount of built up poop at the bottom and the seed covering the bottom of the cage under the grate. Cages should never have this much food on the ground, and this should have been cleaned many days ago. The seed is a little more and 1 inch tall, and has not been cleaned for 7 days ( I go in and check several times a week and clean them, but for the purpose of these pictures I have left everything alone for a week. Nobody who actually gets paid to work there has cleaned this cage or any other for that matter.
Here’s a tortoise in the bird side of the store stuffed into this very small glass showcase. He is, as you can see, about 1/6th the size of the cage and has trouble turning around. His bedding was just changed, but the other day it was limp and wet from the feces and urine he produces. He is also thankfully given veggies.. but only Kale, which can be poisonous if given in the quantities shown, and especially over a period of time. Kale is recommended to be fed very sparingly because of it’s high in goitrogens, which impair thyroid function.
This is not a good picture, but it shows the build up of feces in a larger birds cage. The dark green at the bottom of the cage is the feces, and it is surrounded by a 2-3 inch mountain of seeds. There is no grate between the feces and the bird, and if the bird wishes to it can step on it or even eat it.
These birds are given food, but do not eat it because it is disgusting, and covered in bugs. They are fed an all seed diet, made with very fatty and sugary preservatives and seeds, and have never been offered veggies. One woman who works there, Ashley, feeds the birds meat and dairy sometimes, both of which birds cannot digest properly
Behold, Rudy. If you have not read his story, please go check it out for full details. He is a harlequin macaw stuffed into a cage fit for a conure. He has no toys ( looks like he was finally offered one but it it now on the ground, and has not been picked up ). He has been at this shop since he was bird 7 years ago and now plucks as a result of it. His legs, chest, and back are mostly bare, and he has never gotten medical attention for it like he should.
He, as well as every single other macaw there, has a cracked and dirty beak from malnutrition, and him and several others breath as if they have a respiratory infection. They have not, and will not get medical attention until they are out of this place.
Here’s another case of a bird bird in a small cage. This is Big Red, he is a 4 year old scarlet macaw who is also stuffed into a cage fit for a conure, and the door is barely wide enough for him to squeeze in and out of. His feathering is horrible, and he has started to pluck around the neck.. He has only been with them for 3 weeks, he shouldn’t be plucking.
He is a very friendly bird to those he trusts and luckily I am one of those people. Nobody else who works there can handle him, and I have actually been called in before to get him out and take him up to get his beak and toes trimmed because the workers are so afraid of him, and other large macaws there. ( This is a huge problem because these workers need to gain trust with these birds and be able to handle them in case of an emergency ) You can see the pile up of poop on the bottom of the cage ( Already dark green from malnutrition even just from 3 weeks ) and on top of one of his sand perches ( which are also bad for them and their feet.. 2 of his 3 perches are sand perches ).
We don’t call him “big red” because he is a small bird. No, he is a rather large scarlet macaw with a rather large beak as well. He shouldn’t be shoved into this cage where it is hard for him to get to his food and water bowls.
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Now, I will try to keep you all updated on what is happening and what is next. For the sake of my volunteering opportunity, I will not release the name of this pet store until I know there is something you all can do to help.
Now, we sit and wait.
I will be getting in contact with our local ASPCA and humane society to see if they can do anything and if so, what. We NEED this place shut down
My budgie keeps on plucking out her feathers and I don't know how to make her stop I get her out every day she has plenty of toys and food and treats I have tried anty peaking spray but it didn't seam to work ,i don't know weather they are annoying her or if she has something as they do just fall out on their own sometimes but it doesn't look like mites ,also her beak is beginning to grow and look crusty. She is about 2 1/2 and I'm very worried any ideas? so I can help her thank you.
Hi! Plucking can come from a variety of things, so it’s hard to say what is happening. Is her chest bare or patchy, or do you just notice feathers on the ground? If it’s the latter she is likely just molting as birds do.
I’ve never heard of “ anty peaking spray” so i would not know if that would affect a bird or not. I’d say it may be best to stop using it because birds are very sensitive and it can affect them if they are being sprayed by anything other than water.
Does she have a very large cage? Get veggies and sunlight? A small cage can be very upsetting to parrots even if they are let out frequently. Budgies are also very social birds so if she is not getting enough human attention ( i.e. 3+ hours a day ) i would also look into the option of getting another budgie for her. I would do research of your own of course of the pros and cons of this and also understand that she may not get along with another bird and you may have to keep them separate all the time.
Obviously i would also suggest going to an avian vet which will likely be a little expensive but they can greatly help you more than any blog on tumblr can, and may be able to completely stop her plucking and make her much happier! I wish you the best of luck (: