Teaching Percy to 'fist-bump' ;)

[MomtoPercy]

I've been trying this for a while and we are still having a 50/50 success rate with it but I managed ti snap a nice pic today of him 'fist-bumping'. .

What I have been able to train successfully is the 'wave'. He always pulls this coy head trick when he waves, the flirt!

BTW, what do you guys make of the pink patch on his hock (I think that's what one calls it)? Its been that way since I got him, never gotten red and doesn't seem to bother him, I can even touch and rub the area. Should I be concerned about it? The other foot looks the same. He doesn't have any rough (sand papery) perches in his cage (except his calcium perch which he never sits on anyway) because when I did put rouch perches in to help with the long nails, his footies got abraded within two days so I yanked them out as quick as I could.

 

[Kissed82]

Oh so cute!!!!!! I think I'm in love again! Hehe

 

[Freespin]

oh wow thats so cute! What a dude XD

 

[BirdyMomma]

Oh, he's soo cute!!!

 

[Terry57]

That fist bump is hysterical...love it! As for the pinkness on his foot, I have no idea How does it feel to the touch? At least it doesn't seem to hurt him.

 

[MomtoPercy]

Terry, it feels just like the rest of his foot. Maybe a tad smoother. But it is not hot or scaly or anything like that. And he never 'fiddles' with it so I am sure it doesn't bother him. I can kick myself that I didn't ask the vet about it when I had him there for his check up. The vet did however look him over very thouroughly and pronounced him in "excellent" conditon so perhaps I'm just stressing because I've noticed it more often with the current 'wave' training

 

[LoryLover]

That's so cute! You've done great in teaching him! That pink spot on the bottom of his foot could be a callus... you know how kids get them when playing on the monkey bars. My bird recently acted like her foot was sore and I took a close look and noticed a spot similar to Percy's and that's exactly where her foot was tender. She had been spending some time in her outdoor cage so I replaced the perches in it, with various diameter ones. The callus disappeared in a few days. If you have a larger diameter perch where the bird can relax their foot and not have to grip it all the time, that's what I try to do. Also the type of wood the perch is made of can aggravate the foot too if the bird spends too much time on it.

I noticed a spot on the wall near the curtain rod in the pic where Percy is doing the wave... no "one" has been up there chewing away, have they?

 

[MomtoPercy]

I noticed a spot on the wall near the curtain rod in the pic where Percy is doing the wave... no "one" has been up there chewing away, have they?

Well, I am still investigating that particular crime but the prime suspect has been identified... .

 

[Terry57]

Uh oh...I can hear the Cops theme playing in my head..Bad bird bad bird, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when Momma comes for you

 

[MomtoPercy]

Uh oh...I can hear the Cops theme playing in my head..Bad bird bad bird, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when Momma comes for you

ROFL!!! :

Unfortunately, like any hardened criminal, Percy is unintimidated by the cops OR mom

 

[Freespin]

I had a bunny who used to strip wallpaper XD

 

[MikeyTN]

That's tooooooo cute!!!!!!!!! Birds do the cutest things....

 

[Terry57]

Yea, there is that These kids nowadays!

 

[henpecked]

IMO you're headed for foot problems. The issue might be those dowel perches. Most of your pics that i recall are on those same dowels. he's spending too much time on perches that are the same size and shape. The red spots on his feet are because that's where his feet grip the perch. Could lead to infections called "bumble foot" and probably does cause him some pain at this point. The solution is natural perches of varying size and shape.That way he's using a different part of his foot when perching on different diameter perches. ideally his perches should be large enough in diameter that his nails only reach 50-75 % 0f the way around. For a zon that's about 1 1/2" in diameter. PM me if you need some good perches.
BTW have you seen the pedi-safe perches? They are smooth on top and rough on the side where their nails hit. Wears down the nails without wearing on the feet.

 

[MomtoPercy]

Oh no!! Thanks for the info, Henpecked. The perches you see in the photos are actually his playgym, where all are the same size. He has no dowel type perches in his cage - it is all natural woods, etc and all different sizes and textures. I was extremely picky about that and I can't believe I did not even *think* that the playgym also needs that type of perch treatment

Do you think I need to get him treatment for the foot or will changing the perches help?

Very upset at finding out how careless I have been

 

[henpecked]

I think that changing some of the perches would clear it up very quickly. Of course your doing a great job of keeping the perches clean and that also helps.

 

[MomtoPercy]

Actually, I just did a perch clean this morning!

I am so distressed by this! Thanks so much for bringing it to my attention - I will do something about it immediately (already phoned around to find out where I can get some branches to make a new playstand). I'm cross with myself too - I couldn't afford a "fancy gym" and so I followed an idea I saw online to do up a pine clothes horse as a gym. It worked very well and he loves it but now his footies are suffering

I remember he had these pink spots since I got him but the previous owner had him on horrid, thin dowel and plastic perches which obviously started the problem.

I wonder - would wrapping the bars of the gym in different thicknesses of natural sisal help?

 

[henpecked]

Wrapping with sisal would help because it would increase the diameter and give his foot more contact surface.(spread the weight out) However it would make it much harder to clean and increase the chance for infections on those "sore" spots.

 

[Turk]

Love the fist bump!!

 

[SpotsandSally]

Aww, such a cuty pie!


As for the pinkness, could be a scar. Looks like my scars - different colored and usually a different texture. He could've torn it deep at one point and it healed that way. The pink spot on his foot is odd though, since it looks like it's underneath his skin - I know some humans have burst capillaries, perhaps that's what's up with him? Similar to a port wine stain?


Edit - just saw there was a second page! The red spots on the footsies are cleared up! But the part on his hock still looks like a scar, IMO. And don't feel bad - we all make mistakes. If you have any safe trees, than just going out with some shears you can get some pretty good branches. Or perhaps, could you cage the small, flimsy branches and wrap it around the dowel a few times, so there's no more dowel showing? Could that ease him for a while?