Sandpaper perches for birds?

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

Cookie, like most birds, does not like having his nails cut and it's not fun for either of us. So I was wondering..what about i put a sandpaper perch in his cage for a few days? just until his nails are short. I would also like to know how you cut your birds nails?

 

[ParrotLover2001]

Those perches will hurt his feet, don't use those.
Natural wood perches help keep nails trimmed, but they will need to be trimmed eventually.

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[Owlet]

there's some sandpaper perches that have sand paper on the sides but then smooth tops/bottoms which are supposedly better. But the thing with sand paper perches is you CANNOT leave them in the cage. Some people say maybe 1 or 2 days at a time then remove it for a week.

 

[ParrotLover2001]

Safety pumice perches, like mentioned above, have smooth top/bottom and rough sides, they also vary in thickness, the perch itself is kinda wavy in appearance. It's a great perch, I use one for my birds.



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[itzjbean]

When I had my first parakeet I used sandpaper perches and little did I know they are not good nor that effective for birds nails, not comfortable for them either.

I now have 3 cockatiels inad they have a variety of perches in their cage (it's important to give them variety of perches) including cement and pedicute perches, soft rope perches and natural wood perches.

Here's a picture of it. On amazon they're not too expensive.

 

[EllenD]

What you want is to add one of the Cement Perches to his cage full-time, not just for a week, but all the time. The Cement Perches are totally safe, they are not the same diameter throughout but rather all different diameters like a natural tree-branch is, and if you place one inside of your bird's cage full-time from now forward, it will not only keep their toenails filed and you'll no longer need to clip their toenails much at all (except to occasionally take the very point on the ends off), but they also use the Cement Perches to file the tip of their Beaks on as well, keeping them rounded and preventing any "needle-beak" from developing...

***But again, you must keep the Cement Perch inside of their cage full-time from now on, and put it in place of one of his regular perches, preferably the perch that he spends the most time on, so that he'll be using the Cement Perch on a regular, daily basis from now on. That's the only way to keep his toenails trimmed and from over-growing in total-length; if you only put the Cement Perch in his cage for a week or so it will simply result in the tips of his toenails being rounded-off and not pointy, but you'll still have to clip all of his toenails regularly because their overall-length will continue to grow. In contrast, if you remove whatever perch he spends most of his time on now with a Cement Perch and leave it that way, then the overall-length of his toenails as well as his beak will be kept in-check, and he'll rarely require any nail-clipping.

The "sandpaper" perches that you were talking about (also those sandpaper perch covers that you slide over regular dowel perches) are not good for a number of reasons. The main reason the sandpaper perches are bad is that they are just dowel-rod perches with a rough, sandpaper outer surface, and they're all one diameter throughout their entire length, and this will result in Bumblefoot. Also, the sandpaper can actually hurt the skin on their feet, and they also tend to fall apart and break often...

In contrast, the Cement Perches are shaped like a natural tree-branch and are different diameters throughout their length, they prevent Bumblefoot, and they are heavy-duty and will not hurt their feet at all and are completely safe. I have had one in each of my 4 larger bird's cages since I brought them home as little babies, as well as having 2 of them in my Budgie's indoor-Aviary, and rarely do I have to file even the tips off of their toenails or their beaks. Totally safe, effective, and absolutely the best way to go.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Good ideas above. I'll just add My usual narrative...
I really recommend getting those nail-trimming perches... they can eliminate nail-trimming, which was always so stressful for me and the Rb. It took a few years, but I eventually established a pattern/rotation that keeps him trimmed. I haven't had to do his nails in 20-plus years. I keep a dowel as the main "highway" down the middle of the cage, but the special cement/trimmer/textured perches are all over.
A few brands... but there are many: Polly's Sand Walk... Pumice Perch... Trimmer Perch...
Be sure to introduce them gradually: they're abrasive to their tender feet at first. I LOVE them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These are smooth on top and abrasive underneath. Very easy to install/clean, oo.
Sweet Feet and Beaks Pedicure Perch xsmall for parrots, Feather Fantasy
May take a while to get the right combinations/locations, but was worth it for me and the Rb.

 

[ChocolateChipCookiez]

thank you all for the helpful replies. I really appreciated the help.
I'll get a cement/pumice perch for Cookie. And hopefully that'll reduce the number of times I have to trim his nails.

 

[EllenD]

I meant to say something yesterday about trimming your bird's nails...After you get a Cement Perch in there for him full-time, you should find that his toenails are kept from growing in overall-length, and that his Beak is also kept pretty dull on the tip...However, I still give my guys each a little trim probably once or twice a year on their toenails, just to keep them in-check...You might have to, you might not.

However, usually you don't actually have to "clip" them, but rather just give them a good touch-up with a hand-file (NEVER use any power rotary tools like a Dremel). That's typically all I ever need to do because the Cement Perch does it's job really well. And once in a while I also give the tips of their beaks a little file too, just to take the tip from being pointy...However, my Senegal Parrot uses his Cement Perch so often to file the end of his beak that I never have to even touch his beak, it's always nice and round and never overgrown at all. I actually see him rubbing his beak on it at least once a day, he loves it. So it just depends on the individual bird...My other birds use it to wipe the food off of their beaks after they're done eating every day, which helps too.

***If you do find that your bird's toenails are still a bit long or have a good point on them, then all you want to do is to clip the very tip of each nail off. That's it, no more than just the tip, that way you won't risk hitting the vein. If the toenails are clear you can see the veins and avoid them, but if they're black you can't see them and it's easy to clip too much...So I suggest always having a container of Qwik-Stop powder or just plain Corn-Starch powder and a wetted Q-Tip ready to go and next to you anytime you even take the points off, just in case any of the toenails do start to bleed. If they do you just dip the wetted Q-Tip in the Qwik-Stop or the Corn-Starch powder and then touch the end of the toenail right on the blood, dab some of the powder on it, and then wait a minute or two to make sure the bleeding has stopped. That's it...It's not difficult, it's pretty much exactly the same as clipping a dog's toenails, the only difference being a dog can lose a lot more blood than a bird can; a Green Cheek Conure can lose only about 2 Teaspoons of blood and that's it, so it's a very small amount. But toenails don't bleed badly or at all if you just stick to only clipping the very tip off and that's it...And if your bird will let you, it's always better to spend the time to just use a hand-file and not the clippers...