Snap Hook Safety Warning!!!!!!

Hi all,

Gizmo during one of his many showoff moments nearly ended up with at best a broken leg!!!

I was watching him do his usual morning acrobatics, upside down playing with his foraging ball, which is hanging from another toy, I was laughing away at him, when he managed to get his ankle caught in the bottom loop of this Snap Hook. He had basically put his leg though all the way, and then slipped his leg down into the bottom loop. As he pulled back his joint was not able to fit through the loop at the bottom.



As you can imagine, hanging upside down with his joint now locked into the lower loop, he began to panic. It was only through sheer luck that I was standing at the cage at the time and managed to get into the cage quickly and hold him upside down and settle him enough to enable me to release him.

To release him required pushing the hook back down his leg (away from the joint before sliding the leg back through the narrow part. As you can imagine no panicked bird is going to do anything but pull the leg, and at least with Gizmo's ankle joint size, there was no way he was going to be able to release that leg without severe damage, and I doubt he could have done it even if he broke the leg, so had I not been home he would have been hanging upside down until I returned (which is a very sickening thought).

To Gizmo's credit, although clearly panicked he was only softly biting on my hands as I worked to release him. He was clearly panicked as even Pebbles in the other cage began sounding the alarm with a ear defining shriek.

The irony is that I had swopped out the original hanging hook as it wasn't stainless steel, thinking this one would be safer for him.

Fortunately he is up to his usual antics, swinging upside down etc, so no damage done.

Just thought it was worth mentioning, I would hate to say nothing and have it happen to another bird. The snap hook is 5cm x 2.5cm.

Now for me to determine how I am going to secure his toys so I can get them back into the cages.

Cheers,

Camo

I'm sorry you and Gizmo had such a traumatic experience. I'm so glad you were there and able to rescue him. Accidents like that happen so fast, even with toys we think are safe. Thank you for posting.

camo said:

Just thought it was worth mentioning, I would hate to say nothing and have it happen to another bird. The snap hook is 5cm x 2.5cm.

Now for me to determine how I am going to secure his toys so I can get them back into the cages.

Click to expand...

Why not just turn the link upside down, so the release bar is on the bottom rather than the top? That would obviate any future concerns about joints/ankles sliding into smaller/tighter spaces.....


Good luck.....

weco said:

Why not just turn the link upside down, so the release bar is on the bottom rather than the top?

Click to expand...

I had considered that as a solution and if it was Pebbles cage, I wouldn't hesitate, but Gizmo thinks everything in his cage is a toy, including the fixtures and fittings. I went to this snap design on his main toys as I did have simple screw on type hooks, but he either undoes them, or tightens them so you need to get a pair of pliers to undo them...lol.

Thinking again though, you may be onto something. I might try flipping it and squeezing the chain around it, so he can't work it around. Thanks for the suggestion.

Cheers,

Camo

You don't mention Gizmo's specie, but while it would require you to keep a couple of 4"-6" Crescent wrenches handy, there is a way you can pretty much insure screw type quick links stay screwed down.....you'll need a bottle of nail polish and a toothpick.....when you're ready to hang a toy (before you install the link) unscrew the threaded nut completely & put a large drop of nail polish into the threads, the air in the threads will cause a bubble, use the toothpick to pop the bubble & let the nail polish flow into the threads, hook up your toy & screw the link together tightly.....the little bit of polish that squeezes out the top will dry in 30-45 minutes, but the polish inside the threaded nut will take longer, though your bird will not be able to get to it.....if you do this early of a morning & leave your bird out until bed time, the polish on the threads will have setup further down from the top & by morning, when busy beaks might try to play with it, it will have set.....

Unless your bird is a chem-head, any residual odor from the polish will be gone also.....