EllenD
New member
- Aug 20, 2016
- 3,979
- 65
- Parrots
- Senegal Parrot named "Kane"; Yellow-Sided Green Cheek Conure named "Bowie"; Blue Quaker Parrot named "Lita Ford"; Cockatiel named "Duff"; 8 American/English Budgie Hybrids; Ringneck Dove named "Dylan"
I'm extremely interested to hear more about the 3D-Printer making him a new leg!!! If you could post updates about this when he gets it done I would be forever in your debt!
When I was in graduate school we got to see a lot of animals who were helped by 3D-Printers...There was a Greenwing Macaw who got a new beak that was actually implanted into the bones of his skull and face using orthopedic pins/screws/plates, and you honestly could not tell that it wasn't his real beak, except that it wasn't rough/scuffed-up, and it never shed itself obviously, so it wasn't flaky or anything, but other than that it looked exactly like his real beak...There was also a huge Sulcata Tortoise that was run over by a car in Georgia, and the entire top of his shell was completely crushed into tiny pieces, but there were no holes or breeches into his body cavity, so he was fine other than he had a hole in the top of his shell about a foot wide and a foot long...And they used the 3D-Printer to make a new top-shell for him...It actually "snapped" right into place because they use a scanning machine/computer that is connected to the printer, and they "scanned" his shell with it, and then a complete 3D photo of the tortoise popped-up on the computer, and then they used that to make such an accurately measured shell for him that it actually snapped right into place all along the edges of the hole in his shell...It was amazing...I actually saw them do this again later in life on "Dr. K's Exotic Animal ER", a retired doctor's pet Sulcata Tortoise that was like 40 years old and the guy had gotten as a new baby had been run over by a car, and Dr. K operated on him as his organ cavity was breeched and he had internal bleeding and organ injuries...And once Dr. K had literally saved his life, she had the 3D-Printer people come in and "scan" the Tortoise's shell, and then they came back a couple of weeks later with a plastic shell for him...They actually placed little "snaps" like are used on a jacket or on button-fly jeans, and they put those around the Tortoise's shell injury/hole, and then the printed shell just snapped onto the Tortoise...It was amazing...
I had no idea they could actually use a 3D-printer to make a leg for a parrot...That blows my mind...Can't be cheap, but well worth the money to allow your baby actually be a bird again...Just being able to perch will be a huge deal!!! Good for you, I commend you and thank you for making such a commitment to your bird...I get people who surrender their parrots to the Avian Rescue every week because "they are tired of having to clean their cages out", or "they are tired of constantly cleaning up seed shells that they spit out of their cages", or because "they bought a parrot because they wanted it to talk and it doesn't talk"...And my heart continually breaks over and over and over again, 8+ years of watching people simply dump their parrots off with total strangers and they don't have a care in the world, they could care less, for whatever stupid, silly, lazy reason...I had a couple who surrendered their 8 year-old Yellow-Necked Amazon a few weeks ago, that they had brought home as a just-weaned baby bird from it's breeder, because he has a condition where his beak continually over-grows, it has nothing to do with his diet or liver, it's just a condition where their beaks and also their toenails continually grow at a very fast rate, and it requires that the bird be taken to an Avian Vet once every month to have his beak and toenails trimmed...And they surrendered him to the Rescue because they, and I quote, "are so tired of having to take him to the Vet every month to have his beak and nails trimmed! It's every single month, and we have to put $80 on our credit card every month, and it's just gotten old and we're over it"...That's what they said to me when I interviewed them about the medical condition, so we knew what was going on and what the bird's adopter was going to have to do for the rest of the bird's life...They actually said "Good luck finding someone to adopt him knowing that they'll have to do that every single month of his life!" as they walked out of my office...I only get involved in the adoption/surrender processes when there is a physical or psychological/behavioral health issue with the bird or the reptile, and thank god because I almost followed them out the front door on the way to their car and told them what I thought...I would have been fired, but damn...
And here you are, taking your rescued parrot to get a new leg made with a 3D-Printer so he can walk and perch and be a bird again...and paying big bucks to have it done I'm sure...I'm so glad that there are people like you...
When I was in graduate school we got to see a lot of animals who were helped by 3D-Printers...There was a Greenwing Macaw who got a new beak that was actually implanted into the bones of his skull and face using orthopedic pins/screws/plates, and you honestly could not tell that it wasn't his real beak, except that it wasn't rough/scuffed-up, and it never shed itself obviously, so it wasn't flaky or anything, but other than that it looked exactly like his real beak...There was also a huge Sulcata Tortoise that was run over by a car in Georgia, and the entire top of his shell was completely crushed into tiny pieces, but there were no holes or breeches into his body cavity, so he was fine other than he had a hole in the top of his shell about a foot wide and a foot long...And they used the 3D-Printer to make a new top-shell for him...It actually "snapped" right into place because they use a scanning machine/computer that is connected to the printer, and they "scanned" his shell with it, and then a complete 3D photo of the tortoise popped-up on the computer, and then they used that to make such an accurately measured shell for him that it actually snapped right into place all along the edges of the hole in his shell...It was amazing...I actually saw them do this again later in life on "Dr. K's Exotic Animal ER", a retired doctor's pet Sulcata Tortoise that was like 40 years old and the guy had gotten as a new baby had been run over by a car, and Dr. K operated on him as his organ cavity was breeched and he had internal bleeding and organ injuries...And once Dr. K had literally saved his life, she had the 3D-Printer people come in and "scan" the Tortoise's shell, and then they came back a couple of weeks later with a plastic shell for him...They actually placed little "snaps" like are used on a jacket or on button-fly jeans, and they put those around the Tortoise's shell injury/hole, and then the printed shell just snapped onto the Tortoise...It was amazing...
I had no idea they could actually use a 3D-printer to make a leg for a parrot...That blows my mind...Can't be cheap, but well worth the money to allow your baby actually be a bird again...Just being able to perch will be a huge deal!!! Good for you, I commend you and thank you for making such a commitment to your bird...I get people who surrender their parrots to the Avian Rescue every week because "they are tired of having to clean their cages out", or "they are tired of constantly cleaning up seed shells that they spit out of their cages", or because "they bought a parrot because they wanted it to talk and it doesn't talk"...And my heart continually breaks over and over and over again, 8+ years of watching people simply dump their parrots off with total strangers and they don't have a care in the world, they could care less, for whatever stupid, silly, lazy reason...I had a couple who surrendered their 8 year-old Yellow-Necked Amazon a few weeks ago, that they had brought home as a just-weaned baby bird from it's breeder, because he has a condition where his beak continually over-grows, it has nothing to do with his diet or liver, it's just a condition where their beaks and also their toenails continually grow at a very fast rate, and it requires that the bird be taken to an Avian Vet once every month to have his beak and toenails trimmed...And they surrendered him to the Rescue because they, and I quote, "are so tired of having to take him to the Vet every month to have his beak and nails trimmed! It's every single month, and we have to put $80 on our credit card every month, and it's just gotten old and we're over it"...That's what they said to me when I interviewed them about the medical condition, so we knew what was going on and what the bird's adopter was going to have to do for the rest of the bird's life...They actually said "Good luck finding someone to adopt him knowing that they'll have to do that every single month of his life!" as they walked out of my office...I only get involved in the adoption/surrender processes when there is a physical or psychological/behavioral health issue with the bird or the reptile, and thank god because I almost followed them out the front door on the way to their car and told them what I thought...I would have been fired, but damn...
And here you are, taking your rescued parrot to get a new leg made with a 3D-Printer so he can walk and perch and be a bird again...and paying big bucks to have it done I'm sure...I'm so glad that there are people like you...
