Keeping parrots claws and beaks naturally worn is a constant battle. Nobody wants to take their parrot to the vet to have its beak or nails trimmed and I’m sure your parrot doesn’t want to make that trip. This is uncomfortable for you, uncomfortable for your parrot, and very expensive!
This is not a problem in the wild because their environment gives them ample opportunities to wear down their beak and nails. You can also prevent this problem (or at least minimize it) naturally by duplicating your natural environment.
Here are ten ways to naturally help your parrot keep its heels and beak worn.
Nail tips
- Provide plenty of rough and / or concrete perches for your parrot to climb on. This gives his feet a workout and more importantly helps your parrot keep his nails naturally trimmed.
- Give your parrot plenty of incentives to climb and exercise (toys, foraging items, etc.). Now that you’ve given them rough perches (see # 1 above) to climb on, now you have to get them to climb. Make it fun and they will thank you.
- Provide toys that encourage your parrot to use its feet. They can be hanging toys that they have to grasp and hold or foot toys that they have to hold.
- Provide toys to look for food and have them use their feet to drill for food. This can be foraging items that they hold in their ‘hands’ or hanging foraging toys that they hang from while foraging for food. Either way, they have to use their feet, which is another opportunity to wear down their nails.
- Give your parrot opportunities to walk and play on flat ground. Many parrots (especially the African gray) spend a lot of time on the ground searching and feeding. This naturally helps them keep their heels worn, so try to reproduce this natural behavior when possible.
Tips for the beak
- The same rough perches that help your parrot keep its nails frayed also help keep its beak worn. Parrots use their perches as napkins while eating and wipe their beaks on the perch to keep them clean. This naturally helps keep your beak worn.
- Providing your parrot with plenty of soft foods (vegetables and fruits) makes its beak dirty and encourages it to clean its beak on the rough perches. So feed them lots of soft and dirty foods. The messier the better! Luckily for you and your parrot, there are plenty of healthy and unclean foods. This includes most vegetables and fruits.
- Provide your parrot with plenty of foraging toys made of various materials to encourage them to use their beak. Be creative. There are many resources online to show you how to make your own toys to save money.
- Provide plenty of chew toys (wood, paper, cardboard, etc.). You must give them something to destroy at least once a day. This will be expensive if you don’t learn to make your own toys. Not only is it good for their beaks and nails, but it also keeps them busy and provides them with some environmental enrichment.
- Every now and then, give them walnuts to open (help them by starting the crack if necessary). Too many nuts is not healthy, but giving them a nut every now and then is fine and beneficial. Of course, most birds are crazy about nuts (sorry I couldn’t resist) so don’t overdo it because they will probably eat all the nuts you give them.
These tips will go a long way to keeping your parrot’s beak and nails naturally trimmed.
If you don’t follow these tips and need to have its nails and beak trimmed, your first option should be to take your parrot to a vet. You can cause serious damage by trimming a beak or fingernails if you don’t know what you are doing.
If they don’t work and you can’t / don’t want to take him to a vet. You can always learn to do it yourself. The easiest way to do this is to train your bird to use a Dremel tool. WARNING! Trimming the pick incorrectly can cause serious injury and even death! If you damage the beak, the beak will hurt, and if the beak hurts, the bird will not be able to eat and if the bird cannot eat … I think you see where this is going. So I don’t recommend this method at peak unless you know what you are doing. It can also cause serious damage to your nails if you don’t know what you are doing. It is recommended that you take him to the vet at least once to trim the beak and nails so the vet can show you the correct procedure.
After your vet or other qualified person has shown you the proper procedure, you can use Clicker training to easily train your bird to allow it to use a Dremel tool on its nails and / or beak.
You have probably chosen a theme here. Duplicating the natural environment of your parrots is key to helping them naturally keep their nails and beak trimmed.