Frog & Chickpea
New member
- Feb 21, 2023
- 4
- 1
- Parrots
- Female lutino budgie (Lanala) and female Green-Cheeked Conure (Echo)
Hello bird people!
Ever since we got our GCC home, we've been noticing her being a bit clumsy on her feet. Upon a closer look, we've noticed that her primary digits, the shortest toe of her back toes on each of her feet, seem a bit off. They look a little too short, and the nails on these specific toes also appear to be growing in too rounded. Due to this, she doesn't seem to be using this specific toe on either of her feet correctly - when she perches, these tend to end up either pointing forward or resting on top of the perch rather than gripping it from behind and supporting her balance. The problem is quite symmetrical on both feet.
She doesn't seem to have any issues climbing, and the toes tend to sit about right when she sits on flat surfaces, although the nail still seems too rounded. Grabbing, holding and picking up objects isn't an issue either, and she walks just fine on both perches and flat surfaces, it only seems to bother her balance a bit.
I was wondering if anyone had seen anything similar before, or know what could be the cause?
Her age is somewhere in the range of 6 months to 1 year, and we are wondering if this is something she might grow out of?
(Most of her nails are a little too long as we are aware, but we are taking nail clipping and filing slowly to ensure positive experiences with it, especially as she is so young and it is very new. We are taking a little clip of one or two nails every few days currently.)
Would it be advisable to use our electric file to help gradually and gently shape the too rounded nails on the shortest toes to a more straight shape?
I've tried to attach pictures where the issue is as visible as possible, but it can be hard to catch properly on camera. I hope it will suffice!
Hoping someone has some experience or advice.
Love, Echo's mum
As a sidenote, the cage seen in the background of the photos isn't hers, but our budgie's - so don't worry about the bar spacing being too small for her.
It's just her favourite hangout spot!
Ever since we got our GCC home, we've been noticing her being a bit clumsy on her feet. Upon a closer look, we've noticed that her primary digits, the shortest toe of her back toes on each of her feet, seem a bit off. They look a little too short, and the nails on these specific toes also appear to be growing in too rounded. Due to this, she doesn't seem to be using this specific toe on either of her feet correctly - when she perches, these tend to end up either pointing forward or resting on top of the perch rather than gripping it from behind and supporting her balance. The problem is quite symmetrical on both feet.
She doesn't seem to have any issues climbing, and the toes tend to sit about right when she sits on flat surfaces, although the nail still seems too rounded. Grabbing, holding and picking up objects isn't an issue either, and she walks just fine on both perches and flat surfaces, it only seems to bother her balance a bit.
I was wondering if anyone had seen anything similar before, or know what could be the cause?
Her age is somewhere in the range of 6 months to 1 year, and we are wondering if this is something she might grow out of?
(Most of her nails are a little too long as we are aware, but we are taking nail clipping and filing slowly to ensure positive experiences with it, especially as she is so young and it is very new. We are taking a little clip of one or two nails every few days currently.)
Would it be advisable to use our electric file to help gradually and gently shape the too rounded nails on the shortest toes to a more straight shape?
I've tried to attach pictures where the issue is as visible as possible, but it can be hard to catch properly on camera. I hope it will suffice!
Hoping someone has some experience or advice.
Love, Echo's mum
As a sidenote, the cage seen in the background of the photos isn't hers, but our budgie's - so don't worry about the bar spacing being too small for her.
It's just her favourite hangout spot!
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