Lethal human saliva?

[Royalroacho]

YoYo's been pretty obsessed with kissing me, then he really got into nibbling on my tongue. when i searched to try to figure out why hes doing it, one of the only hits i got was a response to a yahoo answers question stating that human saliva is lethal to birds. i didnt consider the bacterial aspect, so ill have to stop him. even though i think she was being a bit dramatic saying youre lucky your birds not dead, im a bit freaked out. i have a vet appointment scheduled next week. can anyone confirm or debunk this lethal saliva comment?

 

[JerseyWendy]

I personally would NOT allow my birds to nibble on my tongue as the human mouth is full of bacteria. Don't know if it will necessarily kill my birds, but why chance it?

 

[Dinosrawr]

I agree with Wendy on this one, the human mouth is full of nasty bacteria that you don't encounter in an avian mouth due to the lack of a perfectly enclosed mouth with lots of hiding places for bacteria in between teeth. I wouldn't say that your bird would immediately die in general cases unless you were hosting some pretty bad bacteria.

I would avoid letting your birds nibble on your tongue. They don't need what's in your mouth, and you might not know if they had just cleaned their vent prior to nibbling on your tongue

 

[Royalroacho]

I would avoid letting your birds nibble on your tongue. They don't need what's in your mouth, and you might not know if they had just cleaned their vent prior to nibbling on your tongue

yeah, im not letting him do it anymore. the bacteria didnt occur to me. im alot more worried about him after reading the word "LETHAL", and "lucky hes not dead!!!" with all sorts of exclamation points strewn throughout her response, possibly exaggerated or not.

 

[RavensGryf]

I seem to have read before that the human mouth contains gram negative bacteria, which is not natural in the avian body. It "can" cause a bacterial infection. I'm not aware of anything worse, but that would be bad enough, as it would require a vet trip and antibiotics, even if not lethal.

 

[Kiwibird]

I allow Kiwi to kiss me on the lips and occasionally I'll bite off a piece of fruit I'm eating to share with him or let him nibble off my fork (obviously, I'm not slobbering all over my food, but there's probably a small amount of saliva), but I wouldn't let him "in" my mouth to nibble around. I also keep away when I'm sick. I know there is a minimal risk to allowing kisses/sharing food, but I also strongly feel overly sterile environments foster weakened immune systems and a greater overall likelihood of infections of many kinds due to a weak, out of practice immune systems. The jungle isn't a sterile place, and I'm sure parrots are exposed to a lot nastier things in nature than human saliva from a hygienic mouth. Just my PERSONAL opinion.

 

[Allee]

It sounds like the article you read that predicted instant death was a little over dramatized but as everyone else has said, it's not a wise practice to share saliva with your bird. I think YoYo is probably safe, but I'm sure you'll feel better once he has his first vet visit.

I agree with April/Kiwibird, a completely sterile environment is not only unrealistic if not impossible to achieve, but IMHO it isn't entirely conducive to a healthy immune system.

Has YoYo found a suitable perch or does he still prefer the safety of your hair?

 

[Royalroacho]

sorry, had a busy few days, but YoYo is becoming alot more independant. hes exploring and jumping around for about an hour or 2 before he wants to be back in my hair, and is generally more comfortable when i leave him alone, although he still really doesnt like being in his cage yet. i realized he wont panic if he doesnt think im here. ill put him in and sneak away while hes eating, and quietly go to bed. i can hear him climbimg around and calling me, but he settles down after a while. phew.
he also gave up on trying to pry my lips open to get to my tongue in exchange for grooming my beard, so everything is going well for now.
i have vent shafts that run around my apartment close to the ceiling, im making him a huge play gym thatll connect everywhere, im pretty excited to see what he thinks of the first installment thanks for your responses

 

[Allee]

Glad to hear you're making good progress. Can't wait to see pics of Yo-Yo on his new gym.