Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hopefully somebody responds cause nothing has been posted on this forum since July.
What can you tell about the overall health of a bird based on its appearance? How should the feathers look? It seems to me that pet shop birds often have feathers that don't lay evenly or flat and almost look greasy.
Also wondering how you keep their nails trimmed? I hear that sandpaper perches are bad(though I admit that I used them once, it was ok, but I took them out). I tried to clip my bird's nails once but they are very thin and black and I cut into the quick, luckily it wasn't bad. What other options are there for keeping the nails short? I've heard of a "pedicure perch", what is that, is it safe, and does it work?
Thanks in advance for any replies!

Feathers should be smooth and not fluffed out. They should look clean and not greasy. Eyes should be clear and no crustiness. Nares should be clean and no draining. Bird should seem active and not lethargic sitting in bottom of cage. Does not need to be hyper but should show some response to people around. Feathers may have an uneven look if there has been a recent molt or if there are many new pin feathers/blood feathers coming in.

As far as keeping nails trimmed. Sand paper perches can be bad and cause damage to the bottoms of the birds feet. Although if you offer one sandy/concrete/hard type perch for nail trimming and also have other perches available such as rope perches, natural perches, comfy perches etc so that the bird/s is not always forced to sit on the sandy perch then it should not cause any real problem and may in fact help the nails.

We do trim our birds nails with a dremel, we have tried using some of the clippers sold for birds or other animals but have found it causes more agitation in the bird due to the pressure on the nails. With the dremel it is more about sound than pain although if not careful it is possible to grind too deep and cause bleeding, if you can get your bird used to the sound and sight of the dremel before actually using it then it goes a lot easier. For very minor trimming or very tame birds we use a regular nail file weekly to keep the nails down. When first bringing a bird into the rescue we get a full workup done by the vet and he goes ahead and does grooming at that time, after that we do all the nail trims ourselves and the birds go to the vet for wellness checks or if signs of illness.

If I didn't answer your questions or if you have any more let me know and I will be happy to go on

thankyou, that was very helpful! I wasn't sure before how to tell whether my bird was healthy or not. There's no way I can catch him, even though I let him out of his cage for aleast an hour a day, I have him trained to go back in his cage when I tell him to so I've really never needed to catch him. I think I'll get him a rope perch and a sand perch to help out him feet.
Thanks again!