Human mouth bacteria

I was looking at parrots on youtube. One person said that you should never share food with your parrot, as you could give it E. coli bacteria. I must admit my thought was "If you have fecal bacterias in your mouth, a sick parrot will be the least of your problems", but it got me thinking never the less.

I often share my food or drink with my parrots.

Obviously E. coli is dangerous for all of us, so always make sure to clean my hands after a bath room visit, not only for the parrots but for the humans as well.

Do you know of any "normal/safe" human bacteria, which would be harmful to parrots?

Bad! Yes!!
Cats, dogs gerbils, humans…all mammals… carry a type of bacteria in their bodies that is referred to as “gram negative” bacteria. It is present in our body fluids and we are equipped to deal with it in normal amounts. Birds, however, do not carry gram negative bacteria in their bodies and are not prepared to battle it.

But, our vet says the risk is minimal!

We deal with it by letting the bird take from the uneaten side if taking from a plate and by giving him a clean utensil. Oliver used to like a bite of my apple, and since he had many infections we worried about germs, so I would cut back a bit but leave it attached by the skin so he could rip it off himself, which he liked. I think it gave him a sense of conquest - he wasn't just accepting food, he was TAKING WHAT HE WANTED! Just had to use our imaginations to get him to want the right things.

Food, drinks and KISSES should never include actual contact with parts that have been in your mouth. My biggest issue with the Salt bird, he loves to give kisses and he is so darn fast that a bit of this beak sometimes gets inside. Bad Salty!

Many birds have a fascination with the human mouth. I suspect this is derived from the frequent "beaking" they do with each other they often view their humans as part of the flock.

Our saliva is indeed problematic!

I see people letting their birds pick their teeth. Never did like the idea, I always thought it was nasty.
The lady at the local bird store lets one of her customers do that with a couple of the birds in her store. I cant bare to watch.

Fully agree with all the excellent Posts on this subject.

We follow the separate dish, food, etc..., but, as stated above, the 'I took it from you' reality of most Parrots can make it difficult at times.

We work long and hard at the dry kiss, and work at keeping it high on the bill. As with Salty, our DYH Amazon can get one in from time to time.

Love the idea of cutting a section and allowing the Parrot to both win and be safe!!!!

Open mouth with teeth contact, No Way!!!

My biggest problem with Jet is he likes to steal food out of my mouth or hand. Think a chip on the eay in or a chip I took a bite off of. I discourage it and have nearly stopped it. One trick is to take a clean bite and hold it near like 2 inches from my mouth and pause giving him time to safely steal it.

ACK!
I finally MADE myself read this. As usual, I think back to so many foolish and risky behaviors I did, and somehow I got away with it.
Thanks for the awareness.
Yeah, the Rb and I only have dry lips-to-beak "bonks", accompanied by his 100-decibel kissy noises... que romantico! And with his steady diet of hot chiles, I definitely get the worst of that! His capsaicin-laced beak is a real test of my love.

Well I don't really exchange saliva. But i will let them have a sip of a glas of my drink. I would think I am old enough to I keep my saliva in my mouth and I pour the liquid in my mouth.

As for food, I usually take a piece of with my hands, but some foods, it's difficult to divide, there I will bite off a piece for them. A small part of it will have been in contact with my teeth.

I usually kiss them on the bare skin patch on their face instead of their beak (as much for my safety, as Sugar once when loosing his balance gave me an involuntary lip piercing), however Sugar will try to steal food out of my mouth, but I don't let him (if I see him going for the mouth).

It sounds like that that should not be a problem. I guess I have just thought that since the birds I have had has never been ill, they're safe, but now as I for the first time have a baby macaw, she might be more vunerable than the adult macaws.

True 'dat Gail. Salty snuk a kissy in one time right after chowing down on a Ghost pepper laden batch of chop. WOWEEEE is that stuff hot!! Yet one more reason not to allow his beak near my mouth. Plus that f'er is getting sharp!.

Love HURTS!!!!!!!!!!!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhnZ19sbxps"]Joan Jett - Love Hurts - YouTube[/ame]


*cue Joan Jett*
OMG the Rb and I are so OLLLLLD!