Horrible experience

Fargo and I were just playing around, he was in a happy mood, so was rolling over my hand and snuggling into my neck, and then flying around and landing back to me..

He flew to his cage, and landed on the platform opening, and i have no idea what happened, but he somehow got his leg ring caught underneath the bars... In 6 months of always flying and playing on the opening this has never happened..
He started screaming, i started crying, he was flapping his wings trying to get his leg out, i thought he was going to break his leg..

I tried to help him, which he thought i was trying to hurt him, and he bit me.. a few times.. i didnt feel a thing, i guess all the adrenaline, but i got him out, and he flew off..

i then looked at my hand and noticed all the blood, i quickly washed it off, and then came back and got him down from the perch he had flown to, i was more scared he was going to hate me..

But, he started giving me kisses ( i was crying alot ), and then sat on my hand as i gave him lots of scratches and kisses, and then he preened himself haha

He luckily didnt hurt his leg, not limping or anything, and he seems happy, is having his lunch now, i think i am more upset about it then him..

I wanted Fargos leg ring removed as soon as i got him, as he is microchipped, however our vet said he wont remove it unless he is sedated, so i did not want fargo under sedation ? :/

Do all vets use sedation? i have heard bad stories about this so did not want that done, however i have heard too many stories about leg rings, and now that nightmare has happened


But, i have to say, Fargos bites did not hurt at all?
They were probably his 'soft' bites, but still, i cant feel a thing, unless my adrenaline is still running haha They are getting hard and lumpy though!




and Fargo, all calm from the experience preening on my hand, so at least he hasnt hated my hands or lost trust for me at all!

OUCH, even if it didn't hurt at the time they still look painful. Look at how swollen they are D:

My vet never uses sedation when removing bands, and did a great job of it(using GIANT bolt cutters lol). I suppose if the band was extremely tight it would be safer but never under normal circumstances. It took three people to take off Rosie's open bands, one to hold her, the second to hold her leg and keep it steady, and her vet who cut them off.

I'm so happy Fargo is ok and that you still have all your finger. Poor guy, as well as you, must of been terrified!

It is always scary when an accident happens and yeah usually when i am dealing with an emergency i get bit and dont even notice till after. those are some nice bites though... most vets do not use sedation at least mine doesnt and completely honestly me and my father remove our own birds leg bands. I am not saying to do this but i dont understand why he must be sedated. If he is fine with restraint he should be just fine getting a leg band off.

i am glad to hear he is ok and i hope you are to after all those bites.(no worries though my arms are all scared because of doing behavioral work with rescues). he realized after you were just trying to help him and forgives you i am sure .

I forgot to add, you should take photos of those bites for a few days to show how they bruise up. You battle wounds to protect Fargo

Thank you both!

I will email the vet now and see what he says about it!

He got a nice scratch, loving the attention
Now hes preening my hair, being extra sweet, i think he knows how upset i was haha

Its just the worse feeling watching him flap around helplessly






And yes, my battle scars i took for Fargo haha

OUCH Tab! Glad to hear he is ok. But those wounds look rough.

Omg!!!! How scary! You must have freaked when you saw he was in trouble. Isn't it funny how your mind works when your loved ones are in trouble, you didn't feel anything so you could finish the job of getting him to safety. Do take care of hose bites now though. I bet they are going to feel a bit worse now. Talk to your parents about some medication. I'm glad everyone is ok.

Tab mine doesn't look anything like that...Just one puncture from her lower jaw and my hand is swollen a little...i don't think it would show up on pictures very well...we will see what it looks like tomorrow...also I think it was the hat...lesson learned

Sherry said:

Omg!!!! How scary! You must have freaked when you saw he was in trouble. Isn't it funny how your mind works when your loved ones are in trouble, you didn't feel anything so you could finish the job of getting him to safety. Do take care of hose bites now though. I bet they are going to feel a bit worse now. Talk to your parents about some medication. I'm glad everyone is ok.

Click to expand...

yes! neosporin and other medications will be your friend.

Ouch! Although you didn't feel a thing (becuase you love Fargo so much!), that still looks so painful! Fargo must have notices that you were helping him, so afterwords he gave you kisses!

I'm so happy that Fargo is not hurt! But I would put something on your hand though. Most of the time, it's the second day that gets really painful.

Thanks everyone! I am glad he is ok too
I emailed the vet, so just waiting for a reply

I put some sort of antiseptic cream on it which said it was for wounds and cuts? I am a great doctor haha

It stings a little bit if i clench my hand, but not really, I am always hurting myself so i am used to pain by now haha Not as painful as when i got bit by a dog- and yes, i was trying to help him too :09:

Maybe it will look cool in a weeks time and i can make up an awesome story to tell everyone at the party LOL :54:

GYA leg bands. Ive gotten to be pretty against those things lately.
Please, anyone with a parrot with a leg band get it removed. The same thing happened to my bird (but I'm sure very different because of the size! He's never drawn blood cause his beak is so tiny!)
glad Fargos ok!

And the bruising begins!

My vet used a very light sedation when Nimbus needed xrays, not to knock her out, just so she wouldn't stress with being strapped down. So my experience with it, while I was apprehensive, was a good one. I bet those bites will sting tomorrow!

Oh tab, I think it's gonna get nasty. Please take care of yourself. Watch out for any lines (red) on your hand or wrist. If you see anything like that go straight away to the hospital. My daughter got a tiny puncture from a tiny dog once. I really didn't think to much about it, she said it didn't hurt at all. Well the next day her hand was swollen and had this little line so I took her to the hospital. It was bad! She had to get iv's for two days be ause of the infection. Infection can be very dangerous. I don't mean to scare you, I just want you to be sure to take care of it. Fargo needs you!

Yeah, that looks painful! I too have a B&G and when he was learning to fly, broke his leg. Snapped it in half! He had a pin put in and it was recently taken out. Unfortunatly, my bird Taki, walks with a limp and does have a slight case of arthritis, but he is a survivior. I have a pic of the x-ray and his little cast on his leg....poor baby! I was going to upload some images to show, however, it looks like images have to be loaded from a weblink only, bummer!

Glad Fargo is okay and no PTSD from the experience. Same goes for you. Keep the wounds clean and covered if u r going to do anything like cage cleaning. Ice packs will be good for about 15-20 min at a time when u can.

Yeah those are love nips you'd definitely feel it if he actually latched on to you.. Glad he didn't.. Scary experience... Glad your both ok

So Akraya, they only go a bit dopey, not fully asleep?

Wow scotty, that must of been horrible for you both!! That poor little boy, but thats great he pulled through! Tough guy!

Thanks guys, i will keep an eye on it if it starts to look nasty..

Yes it definitely wasn't a latch, just lots of quick bites telling me 'GET ME OUT OF HERE.. NOW!!' Not that i can even remember it now.. its all foggy and went so quickly haha

I am sorry Fargo got his leg band caught and the horror is getting him free from it. You were willing to do what it took to take care of him. I hope your hand heals fast.

I can understand your reluctance to have Fargo put under to have his leg band removed. I never had any of my birds put out to remove a leg band and I was not present for when I had to have Mihijo's removed. I had to drop him off when the clinic opened and pick him up during my lunch break. I didn't have time to take him back home so he spent the rest of the day at work charming everyone that came across him.

I am sure your bond with Fargo has him "forgiving" you for the frightening experience. I can tell in your pictures of you petting him he has probably forgotten about being scared. It is no fun trying to restrain a large frightened parrot. I had our vet teach me the "helmet hold" on a parrot's head to help keep him restrained and calm. However the larger the parrot the harder it is to keep that head in the hold while helping them. I actually had to do the helmet hold on Valentino tonight because he panicked and was biting me. I know he could of done way worse damage with his powerful beak but I needed to help him get calm so I was holding him against my chest in the helmet hold and talking softly to him while softly petting him. He calmed down right away so I slowly released him and he was fine.

Valentino has a closed leg band but I am afraid to have it removed. In case after I retire and relocate to another state I need to prove this parrot was bred in the US so he will not get taken. That is my biggest fear. With the US laws constantly changing with exotic pet keeping especially state by state I don't ever want to be in a situation in which Valentino would be taken from me.