Brittany Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Pepper is a seemingly happy bird, and a pretty one at that however her tail is being ruined. I am thinking she picks at it while we are all at work, but we leave her toys to play with.. and I leave her out of the cage because my brother is here & he sometimes hangs out with her. She is molting we believe, and has been very itchy lately so we are going to the vet soon. I dont know if that has anything to do with it but I want her to stop ruining her tail =( Help! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tycos_mom Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Does she get lots of baths? Are you sure she's chewing it and not just getting it caught on her toys or in the bars of her cage? If she is molting her tail feathers may be just old and getting ready to come out soon so new ones will grow in. I ;m sorry I guess I asked more questions than giving you answer. I know that a few good baths will encourage her to preen more and that will help to get her tail looking good again. Mabie she's just trying to help the molting process and pulling on her tail feathers to see if they are ready to come out and breaking them while she's trying to pull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 It does not look like plucking to me. But, it does look as if the tail feathers have been damaged from rough play or they have been barbered by her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brittany Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 Ok, thanks guys. I just wasn't sure. And to answer your question yes she gets lots of baths. She gets a bunch of them whether she likes it or not haha in addition to her giving herself baths. We think her one perch she sleeps on is too close to the other one and it hits her tail feathers. So we're going to do some re-arranging! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhorje Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Koko plucks her tail feathers out too but they don't look as bad as yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brittany Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 she used to have a beautiful tail. i am really thinking its the perch placement tho. so hopefully now that we are moving it.. her feathers will be better:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Well sometimes it happens and I hope the new perch placement will make all the difference, time will tell. Just don't fret over it even if it turns out she is plucking her tail feathers as that will only make it worse. I am sure she will have a beautiful tail again soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 I saw an improvement when I moved Whisper's perch. Her tail used to look awful. She has molted and has all new ones except for two of them. Wouldn't you know that the worst looking one she still has not molted. They damage them playing and climbing around on the cage. When the feathers get old and brittle it is easier to damage them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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