nail trimming issue

So I have a rescue Amazon who has been traumatized by being toweled and has made a lot of progress with me since I haven't toweled her. I'm starting to look suicidal from her nails on my forearms though and definitely need to get her nails trimmed a bit. She won't let me near her with an emory board... or anything in my hands for that matter.. and I'm worried that if I towel her to get her nails done, we will have to start over on "fixing" her behavior. Any advice?

I'm assuming that you haven't been to your Avian Vet yet, as that would have come-up during that visit. Please set-up that New Parrot Vet Visit and include the Nail Cutting as part of it. I am more than able to trim nails, but let our CAV be the 'Bad Person' and I save our Big Bad Amazon from the Bad Vet!!!

The process of toweling can be very stressful because rarely is it preformed properly. It is very important to remember that Parrots are very connected to our emotions. So, it is very important to control our responses when our Parrots begin to become Stressed.

There are methods of greatly reducing the build-up of Stress when your Parrot is around a towel or is being toweled. But at this point, you really need (as you know) to be working on developing your relationship /bond.

She actually was seen by an Avian vet, and it made things much worse for a long time... It was like she still blamed me for it... Plus our avian vet costs $75 for a visit and tacks on another $30 for nails and beak... to deal with the same issues, it's just not worth it. They also won't just do her nails, I HAVE to do the wellness check up too

Hi
I did a search on nail trimming on this forum and found lots of good information.....I can't remember who posted what but I took the advice and bought a new perch for Baby....rough one to sand down her nails. My husband could flip her on her back and trim her nails...she would growel and make a fuss but he could do it........little trauma for her but that is not something I can do with her. I would be bloody and would be too traumatic. I have also seen a suggestion of concrete perches... good luck!

Miss Captain is a biter. She's gotten a lot better since we took her in, but I can guarantee you that there is no way we could hold her and do it without her causing contusions and crushing bones. Amazons have a bite to them.

What seemed to work, since I just kinda went for it... I wrapped her in my hoodie instead of a towel.. it smelled like me and she loves snuggling in it... so i wrapped her in that and we had a couple tries before she flew off and we covered her on the floor and clipped her nails and then pretended like we saved her.. seems to have worked...

moral of the story: jacket (and lying) worked. she felt safer. she has still been sweet afterward..

don't know if she'll ever trust that hoodie again though :\

My Alex got the same way with his nails. A changed all his perches for the ones with shell or sandpaper covering them. I put the roughest by his food. I also started to train him to climb the side of the cage when he was inside and let me touch his nails as he held on to the bars. First with my hands, then an emery board then nails clippers. I used a clicker and treats to do this and a target to get him to climb the cage and stop. I was able to trim and file his nails within about a week. He was completely untamed at the time and would have bitten me to the bone if I'd tried when he was out of the cage!

Over time I've swapped the perches and he has a sandpaper one by his food and one to sleep on, everything else is softer. The only downside is that because he wipes his beak on quite a rough perch by his food it doesn't look as gorgeously shiny as it would if the perch was softer. I'm still playing around with perches though so I might move this one and see what happens. His nails never get sharp now. I do the nail clipper thing about once a fortnight, but I don't actually have to trim them, it's just to keep him used to it in case I have to in the future.

It wouldn't be an instantaneous effect, but have you considered offering one or 2 cement "pedicure" perches to his cage? They really do help keeping nails (and beaks!) trim. We have to clip Kiwi's wings more often than his nails because he likes his cement perch and it keeps them from getting needle sharp longer. Just be sure they aren't the only perches in the cage

This would be a long term solution... but it worked a miracle for me.

Yes, the textured perches can be great.

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.

I've added a pedicure perch to my amazon shopping cart lol. She has a certain perch she always sits on to eat and sleep and replacing it with the pedicure perch would probably be perfect. Thank you guys!!