picking at feet

[saxypanda]

My new lovie Marley seems to pick at his feet ALOT. I examined his feet and saw nothing out of the ordinary.. could they just be dry or could somthing else be going on?:( :(

[Elle]

Lovebirds are neat freak. they can spend a lot of time cleaning a body part and can become obsessive about it. If you don't see anything on its feet such as sores, cuts, scabs etc, I would not worry about it too much. If you however notice that your lovebird is picking the skin off its feet, it means time for a vet visit.

Bird can chew their nails like humans do. It can be caused by nervousness or boredom. You can offer a toy or a treat when you bird is picking to distract him.

Now, if your lovebird is also scratching a lot, and I mean not only the feet, it may indicate dry skin or parasites such as mites. For the dry skin, you can simply spray your bird with water and aloe vera. Takes a piece of aloe vera plant and juice it into a water bottle. Add fresh water, mix well and voila. This will sooth the dry skin. For mites, I heard of a simple test to do. Place a white sheet on the cage at bed time and if you see tiny spots on it the next morning, it would indicate mites. That's easy to fix too. You would need to take your bird to the vet. I was advised the treatement is very simple.

You can spray your lovebird even if the skin is not dry. The aloe vera is very good for them at any time. I would just make sure I use the real aloe vera and not the stuff in a bottle. The activity is in the actual plant not in the processed parts. This is true for most herbal remedies. There are a multitude of compounds that can't be duplicated and the activity is in the plant itself.

[shylevon]

Bird can chew their nails like humans do. It can be caused by nervousness or boredom. You can offer a toy or a treat when you bird is picking to distract him.

Elle, people chew their toenails when they are bored???

Can't say as I've ever been quite that bored.:)