Is sleeping on a rough perch safe for my Dexter's feet?

When putting together Dexter's cage, I put in a rough perch for nail grooming. This is the perch that he has chosen to sleep on. I suspect he may have chosen it because it's the highest perch. I would have placed it in another part of the cage, if I knew at the time that birds often choose a sleeping position nearest the top of the cage.

Is it safe for his feet to spend so much time on this perch? Should I switch it out with a different perch in the same, high position? If there's nothing to be concerned about, I'll leave it be since he clearly likes it, but I don't want him to end up with sore feet.

Here's the perch he has:

My grey sleeps on his Polly corner perch, at least I think he does (he's covered at night). His feet are fine. He has many other perches and he gets a lot of out of cage time as well. Just make sure you check the bottoms of his feet regularly for any pink/red spots.

I've heard that you shouldn't use grooming perches as roosting perches. I believe that this is because a parrot's feet may become sore or inflamed if they spend extended periods of time sitting on grooming perches. I personally prefer using rough textured, natural perches as roosting perches. Below is a link to the ones that I have purchased. To answer the other part of your question, yes, most birds choose the highest perch in their cage as their primary roosting perch.

https://www.parrotrescuecentre.com/shop/natural-timber-perch-adjustable-x-2

Angel choose a perch that is someone rough when she sleep...its not so much rough, but its like a thin metal bar supposed to be used to hold a food dish. I have no idea why she wants to sleep there, but thats the spot. Her foot was getting a red spot on it, so i put some vet wrap around the bar to make it larger and softer. The spot went away.

So i would say, if you could change the setup where the bird wouldn't be sleeping on it would be best. At worst it will change nothing. At best you might avoid some problems developing in the future.

Thanks for the feedback and advice.

My husband and I decided last night to get Dexter a new cage. The one he is in would be considered *just* big enough for him (I was planning to get a conure when we bought the cage, for whom it would have been a mansion) and we have the room for a larger cage. I was hesitating because of the cost and the fact that I will probably lose a bundle trying to sell the smaller cage, but decided to go for it anyway. Nothing is too good for my baby.

When I set up the new cage, I will certainly not be putting the grooming perch in a high position. Lesson learned! I'll have to buy a couple of additional perches for the new cage anyway, so I'll be sure to look for something good for his feet to roost on, and put that one highest!

My BFA's primary perch is a Polly's Pastels and has been for all 15 years of his life. It has not been an issue at all.
My Senegal's*perch of choice is also a Polly's Pastels and has also not been a problem in the 10+ years she has had the perch.
My conures have also been using a Polly's Pastels more than any of the other perches in their cage for about 10 years without an issue.

Do you want me to go on and list the 14 birds my friends and relatives have that have also been using a Polly's Pastels perch for many years w/o issue?

The number of birds I've known to have issues caused by a Polly's Pastels perch is zero.

Is it possible that one of these perches could cause issues? Sure.
Is it likely? No.

Before I started using Polly's Pastels as primary perches in all cages, I was clipping nails on one bird or another at least once a month. Now I do it so rarely that I couldn't even tell you how long it's been since the last time I had to clip a birds nails. That alone makes the perches worth every penny and the nearly non-existent risk.

DexMom said:

Thanks for the feedback and advice.

When I set up the new cage, I will certainly not be putting the grooming perch in a high position. Lesson learned! I'll have to buy a couple of additional perches for the new cage anyway, so I'll be sure to look for something good for his feet to roost on, and put that one highest!

Click to expand...

Lesson learned?
One person saying "I heard that..." with nothing at all to backup the claim, teaches nothing and is not something to ever base a decision on. Especially when multiple other people are giving you the opposite information based on real world experience.

I am not saying that you should give the bird the perch. I'm just saying that you should make an educated decision based on the evidence you have.

As long as he has other options, he'll move if it hurts him At nighttime, Kiwi typically sleeps on his swing, but he often naps on his pedi-perch during the day My mom's 2 amazons and dad's goffin have them too, have for many many years, all like them, use them and not a one has ever had a single issue with them.

Rockford said:

Lesson learned?
One person saying "I heard that..." with nothing at all to backup the claim, teaches nothing and is not something to ever base a decision on. Especially when multiple other people are giving you the opposite information based on real world experience.

I am not saying that you should give the bird the perch. I'm just saying that you should make an educated decision based on the evidence you have.

Click to expand...

There are quite a few urban legends about things millions of parrots have/use/play with everyday with absolutely no issues whatsoever floating around the avian community You know, that one-off situation that happened to the second cousin of a friend of a friends bird 20 years ago where a bird got hurt (where the level of 'injury' grew like the size of a fish in a fishing story) and only has a one in a gagillion chance of ever happening again

I don't see the point of using a pedi perch as a sleeping perch. Most birds sleep loose footed so a pedi perch wouldn't work as intended. Instead I'd put it somewhere like near the food dishes to get real use out of it.

Kiwibird said:

Rockford said:

Lesson learned?
One person saying "I heard that..." with nothing at all to backup the claim, teaches nothing and is not something to ever base a decision on. Especially when multiple other people are giving you the opposite information based on real world experience.

I am not saying that you should give the bird the perch. I'm just saying that you should make an educated decision based on the evidence you have.

Click to expand...

There are quite a few urban legends about things millions of parrots have/use/play with everyday with absolutely no issues whatsoever floating around the avian community You know, that one-off situation that happened to the second cousin of a friend of a friends bird 20 years ago where a bird got hurt (where the level of 'injury' grew like the size of a fish in a fishing story) and only has a one in a gagillion chance of ever happening again

Click to expand...

Rockford said:

My BFA's primary perch is a Polly's Pastels and has been for all 15 years of his life. It has not been an issue at all.
My Senegal's*perch of choice is also a Polly's Pastels and has also not been a problem in the 10+ years she has had the perch.
My conures have also been using a Polly's Pastels more than any of the other perches in their cage for about 10 years without an issue.

Do you want me to go on and list the 14 birds my friends and relatives have that have also been using a Polly's Pastels perch for many years w/o issue?

The number of birds I've known to have issues caused by a Polly's Pastels perch is zero.

Is it possible that one of these perches could cause issues? Sure.
Is it likely? No.

Before I started using Polly's Pastels as primary perches in all cages, I was clipping nails on one bird or another at least once a month. Now I do it so rarely that I couldn't even tell you how long it's been since the last time I had to clip a birds nails. That alone makes the perches worth every penny and the nearly non-existent risk.

Click to expand...

Hi Kiwibird and Rockford,
I apologise if my post was misleading. I tried my best to make sure that my previous comment did not allude to the idea that grooming perches should not be used as roosting perches. I was simply stating how using grooming perches as roosting perches could possibly cause birds to have sore feet and that I had no concrete evidence to prove this assumption (hence why I said "I heard that..." as opposed to "It is known that..." or "It is a fact that..." In addition, I gave the user an idea of what perches I utilise in my cage to provide him or her with an insight into what I personally use - in no way did I intend to put down anyone who disagreed with me or used other perching mediums. Once again I apologise if my post seemed misleading!

My Parker often (not always though) roosts on his concrete perches. No problem at all. These perched came with him so I'm sure he's been doing it for years, like kiwis.

MerBoy, you don't have to apologize or defend yourself. I didn't take your advice as that of an "expert" posting with a gaggle of links to support it, but as more of a work-a-day bird owner with the same concerns and maybe a personal experience to lend. Thank you for sharing. Perhaps it was my phrasing in the response that led to the replies.

For the record, my "lesson learned" was more about birds choosing the highest perch to sleep/roost, than about the type of perch placed there. Maybe the place a bird chooses as their sleeping space seems obvious to long-time bird people, but not so much to us newer folks. If I knew that one simple fact, I may have considered the placement of my perches in a different light.

Thank you to the more experienced forum members for letting me know that I didn't do my bird any harm by putting the grooming perch in that position. I'm a person that tends to take on personal guilt for things that maybe don't need it attached (damned upbringing) and I'm glad that I didn't put my Dexter in harms way due to my ignorance.

All of that being said, I'll probably choose a different perch for the highest position in his new cage, just so I don't have to (needlessly) worry. If I find that he still chooses to sleep on that perch, I won't let it concern me, due to the kind thoughtful responses here. My biggest concern was that I set him up for some long-term problem by my uninformed choice of placement (I told I'm completely insecure and riddled with self-imposed guilt!)