Scary moment with a toy for Psy

Abbayarra

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May 29, 2018
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Hello all!
I few days ago I had a really scary experience. Even the most innocent item can be very dangerous to a parrot.

Let me set the scene.

Psy is our 4 year old Ruppell's. He was on the floor and I was with him. I had a ball of string, not really thin, but not thick either. He had the string in his beak.

He was whipping his head around and the string went up and over his head and wrapped around his neck. I don't know how he did it but that startled him and he started to run away from the string which tightened the string around his neck like a noose.

Fortunately I was there with him and I was able to grab him and hold him against me with my hand. My wife then ran and got the scissors as I could not get it loose and cut the string. Once we did that we were able to loosen and remove the string.

Even an innocent toy like that can turn deadly. We were lucky and he is completely fine. I think we were more shook up than our bird.
 

SailBoat

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Anything is one of the most common toys and as a result the on-going story. One has to be so very careful with Parrots. They seeming can turn near anything into some deadly. Great to hear that you and the Mrs. were available.
 
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noodles123

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man- scary! Thank goodness you saw it and intervened quickly!
 

Laurasea

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I'm so glad this went well. We have to do careful with them and rge trouble tgey csn get into.
 

Scott

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Glad this turned out well for Psy!

I can relate a story of "freak" incident. Went through a phase covering some of my birds at night. One of my young Goffins chewed a hole in the fabric, drew a a section into the cage. Somehow forced his head inside the hole and become stuck. Luckily I heard the fluttering and quickly cut the material away and saved him from strangulating. That was the last time they were covered!
 

wrench13

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Parrots can turn even the most innocent looking object into a killing one because they are so curious and relentless in play. My lil 'Zon got a toe stuck in a link on a toy chain once, only reason I know is he started screaming !
 

SilverSage

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Yikes! Yes it boggles the mind the ways these guys can figure out to get hurt!


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Jkohnen31

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Write so glad it ended up ok. It’s scary how easily something bad can happen


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ILOVEKIWI

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Dec 15, 2020
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My lil 'Zon got a toe stuck in a link on a toy chain once, only reason I know is he started screaming !

My kiwi did too. It was a very scary experience, Kiwi was perfectly fine after but what was terrifying was that I regarded it as "safe" and people told me how much their birds enjoyed the toy and never had any problems.

Luckily with online school and studying (never thought I'd say that lol help) I'm with him about 95% of the time, so he's always being supervised. Anyways that's not going to happen anymore hopefully.

No idea how kiwi managed to get his toe stuck in it in the first place it isn't exactly easy.. Anyways got more bird proofing done and I think everything is kind of a danger no matter what so I think just supervision is the best safety precaution. (with of course regular bird proofing and well common sense that's pretty important too:rolleyes:)
 
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Abbayarra

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The funny thing was that Psy is my wife's bird and he never lets me hold him, he always bites my hand if I try to hold him. He will let me pet him on his head.

Yet this time I stayed completely calm and he calmed down as soon as I held him. He still will not let me hold him, but during this incident he let me hold him.
(on a completely different note what do you do if a flock of wild ducks have set up shop in the back yard? They are coming up to the back door and they are scaring the heck out of Psy.)
 

noodles123

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Jul 11, 2018
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Umbrella Cockatoo- 15? years old..I think?
I'd give the ducks a name and associate them with positive window-looking experiences and treats. "Oh look! it's the Duck Ducks! They are so nice and fun!" (insert cheesy, over-enthusiastic voice here) and treat. Visit the window when they are there and use the same phrases to talk about them when treating. Make it part of a positive daily ritual with repeated phrases and see if that helps.
 

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