Conure is eating hair...

[echoskybound]

I caught my conure today eating my hair. I have long hair and I could always feel him tugging on it, and I normally just try to move my hair out of the way. Just now, he was sitting on my shoulder tugging at my hair, and when I tried to pull my hair away from him, I found that some of it was part way down his throat while still attached to my head! I didn't know he eats hair, and I'm not sure how much he's ingested. I know that hair doesn't break down easily, and I'm wondering if I should be worried at the possibility that he's ingested some. Is this okay?

Thank you!

 

[weco]

I wouldn't be too worried, unless you've recently had a perm, or use oils/creams/sprays/solutions daily. My MBC used to pull the hair from my ears if I let it grow for a couple of days.....

Although I've never heard of it elsewhere, Avianweb had this posted on it's site a year or so ago: "Cut-off Circulation: If a toe or leg is involved (ie. toe chewing), the possibility of a hair or thin thread having wrapped around the limb should be considered. Thin human hair gets easily wound around limb. They can be invisible to the human eye and cause discomfort and even pain to birds, as they cut off circulation. The hair or thread / string needs to be removed immediately as it will otherwise cause the limb to potentially die off or be chewed off."

Maybe I'd be worried about more than a few strands not passing through the crop & gizzard properly.....

 

[JerseyWendy]

My MBC used to pull the hair from my ears if I let it grow for a couple of days.....

I'm not going to lie, but that made me laugh pretty hard. :54:

My YN regularly preens my eyebrows, gently though, while my B&G THINKS he's preening my hair, when in fact he's ripping it out with his beak. The GW likes to climb on top of my head, hold on for dear life and flap rigorously. My hair is fairly short.

I personally think I'd be a bit worried if I saw one of my fids with a beak full of hair sticking out of their beaks.

 

[weco]

The first time he did it I about came out of my chair, but eventually I became desensitized to the pain.....but.....when he reached up & yanked a nose hair, he & I had a serious discussion.....it only took two tries for him to fully understand that was not going to happen again.....I put him in his cage & got all my other birds out & we watched a movie...his cage didn't face the TV.....