Twist in the plucking saga of Parker the Ekkie

[chris-md]

It sounds like you're doing the very best you can for Parker. It's very frustrating to see birds pluck themselves and not be able to resolve the cause. My eclectus, Oscar, barbered his original tail off. I would often catch him chewing his own feathers. An eclectus breeder suggested that he might have been doing it because feathers are a great source of protein and when eclectus are molting, which Oscar was at the time, they are deprived of protein. On the other hand, my local vet seems to think it may have stemmed from a trauma he experienced before I got him, eg his dietary needs were not met in the nest or he did not receive the correct amount of light. She averred that eclectus are more sensitive than other parrots and a trauma from their childhood can easily manifest itself later on in the form of barbering and plucking, as well as other problems.
I too was concerned that Oscar wasn't receiving enough light. I put him in an aviary outside during the day but the sun was being blocked from the cage by an ivy bush. I cut the bush back so he'd receive sun, and he did not barber his second tail. I don't really know whether sufficient sunlight played a role in stopping him from doing it, since it's merely based on establishing a causal relation, but if you think that improper lighting is part of Parker's problem, I think you should by all means investigate it.

HI keatz. Im glad to hear your Oscar is doing better! In this case I can rule out protein deficiency because he gets plenty of plant based proteins from the likes of beans and sprouts. Plus small nips of chicken on occasion.

 

[chris-md]

Stephen, you are right in that I do need to consider dry skin. The complication there is that we have had real mold issues in the past to the point we put a dehumidifier down there. It doesn't get used much since we haven't seen much mold but the addition of a humidifier could create real problems. I need to give this a good think...

 

[chris-md]

Parker is loving the light. After two days, I at least THINK I'm seeing his feathers looking a little healthier (totally admitting this could be placebo effect), slightly deeper shinier green. He's also basking a bit. In the pics below he's chilling on a small perch he typically ignores. But it's closer to the light (still a safe distance). He usually prefers relaxing on his boing over any other perch. Two straight days he's preferred spending time on this perch.

Off to a great start!

 

[Anansi]

Stephen, you are right in that I do need to consider dry skin. The complication there is that we have had real mold issues in the past to the point we put a dehumidifier down there. It doesn't get used much since we haven't seen much mold but the addition of a humidifier could create real problems. I need to give this a good think...

Ah. Well if that's the case then going with the light treatment first makes perfect sense. Is there perhaps a household device capable of measuring ambient humidity in a room?

 

[Anansi]

So glad your light treatment is off to a promising start, Chris! I'm really hoping this does the trick.

One thing, though. And this could very well simply be a trick of perspective, but in that second pic, it looks as though he's standing in the area that is NOT directly beneath that light.

If this is indeed the case, and not a trick of perspective, is it possible that he's moved to that perch to get away from the more direct glare right beneath the light?

Now don't get me wrong. If this is what's happening, I'm not trying to say the light should be removed. Just that shelter from the light should perhaps be provided in a high corner of the cage in case he gets uncomfortable and wants a break from it. You know?

 

[GreatBlue320]

Keep us posted on this, Chris!

 

[Taw5106]

Parker is working on his tan, lol! Love it! Please keep updating us.

 

[Dopey]

Stephen, you are right in that I do need to consider dry skin. The complication there is that we have had real mold issues in the past to the point we put a dehumidifier down there. It doesn't get used much since we haven't seen much mold but the addition of a humidifier could create real problems. I need to give this a good think...

Hi Chris - I have a dehumidifier in my basement and a humidifier...for the birds. I can adjust my dehumidifier and have it set to come on when the humidity gets to 60%. The humidity in my basement this week is around 25% so the humidifier runs all the time because I want the humidity around 35% at the least.

I got a thermometer that measure humidity too...I think I got it at Lowe's or Home Depot...it may have even been Walmart. Anyway they weren't expensive and I have them in two places in my basement.

Spritz that baby of yours. My Ekkies love to be spritzed.

You are doing such a fantastic job with him.

 

[Anansi]

Hey, Chris! In researching something for a member on another thread, I came across this article and thought immediately of you and Parker. http://luchaschoice.blogspot.com/2009/01/importance-of-humidity-for-companion.html?m=1

Very timely, I think, especially in light of Mary Lynn's post.

 

[chris-md]

Timely indeed! I caved yesterday and bought large room humidifier. By my reasoning, raising humidity to 40% or so should not do much to stoke more mold issues.

Plus I've been debating whether I should take him to the vet. with uv light and humidity the biggest considerations, and something I can tinker with, I figured it's significantly cheaper for me to just buy a humidifier rather than pay that bill for all sorts of other stuff. If this doesn't work I can always get him to the vet same time next year to roll out other stuff.

 

[chris-md]

Small update:

I got a large room humidifier and it's working like a dream. Actually, it's humidifying much of the house! Built in system shows consistent 43-46%, but you can FEEL it downstairs where it's no doubt over 50 consistently where it and his cage is located.

Parkers been acting funny with the light: you can see his coconut foraging toy, he's been hiding underneath it. So I covered half the cage to ease the exposure but he still sits under the coconut. So I'm not sure if he has simply found a new favorite perch or is too dim witted to move literally 2" to his left. He's also still spending a fair amount of time on his little perch in full view of the light, as in the pics above.

Hard to tell if it's all having any effect, I need to clean the cage and there are old feathers. What I can say is that in the past we would catch him chewing on picked feathers while sitting on our shoulders or couch. He has not done this since I got the light and humidifier. It was an almost daily occurrence, so 4 days no feather chewing in front of us is pretty significant. Small step at least. Still have 2 winter months to go!

 

[GreatBlue320]

Update sounds encouraging, Chris! Keep us posted.

 

[chris-md]

Grrrrr jinxed myself. Just pulled a feather out of his mouth. But still, one a week is better than one a day.

 

[Anansi]

One a week is a HUGE improvement over one a day! Especially where plucking is concerned! Chris, you're doing an amazing job with Parker. Don't let one possible setback discourage you, my friend.

Remember how ingrained plucking can be as a habit. But if this trend of improvement continues, you'll know that you've made real inroads into what, up until now, has been something of a mystery condition.

As for the situation with the light, the answer may be something of a gray area. Maybe it's not that he dislikes the light, but rather the intensity. So while he doesn't want to avoid it altogether by going under the covered half of the cage, being directly beneath it might be a bit beyond his comfort level.

So what if, instead of covering half his cage, you put a kind of covering that might mimic the natural partial shading of a tree branch over half or a quarter of the cage? You know, where light gets through, but only between certain openings? Like a mottled effect?

 

[chris-md]

You might be on to something Stephen. I'll have a peak around and see what I can come up with.

Got a pic of his hiding. The blue perch on the left is his other perch he sits on to bask.