FINCHforum

Are there things we can supply for birds to land on that keep their toenails worn down so they don't get too long?

Cement Pedi-perches really help my birds. I have one in every cage for both the finches and parrots.

I never tried the pedi-perches but would have if I hadnt come across this little trick by accident. I removed the plastic feeding dishes and give all seed and other foods in a flower pot "dish". Its rough clay and does a great job keeping the nails and also the beak trimmed down. It wont wear nails down that are already long and needing to be trimmed but it will keep them from getting long once trimmed. You can pick them up at Lowes for a buck in the garden section. You can rub your thumb across them and choose the roughest ones.

Great idea!

I have been using these for the longest time now, for my eggfood.
4/$1, at the dollar store.
I do have pedi perches in every cage, just never thought that these may be helping as well

The clay pot dishes are also great for keeping the beak trim...if you have one bird that is reluctant to use a cuttle bone then put the birds favorite food in a thin layer in the dish, cover with a thin layer of seed and let them tap through to get what they want, the tapping wears the beak down.

One of the shaft tails beak was so long, I wanted to trim it. Instead I took the crock away put the dish in and the long section trimmed down.

How do those hold up in the dishwasher after repeated hot water washes? That would be the non-glazed type, right?

They started off glazed Liz, but once you put them through the dishwasher once you can peel the glaze right off
I have had some of them for over a year now, still holding up fine. Except for the 2 that I dropped

I have the glazed also but soak it in a mild bleach solution with the other dishes, scrub and rinse well , air dry overnight and it has held up. The heat in the dishwasher must have something to do with the coating coming off. I love the ceramic dishes because they have some weight to it and can't slide across the cages as easily as the plastic ones.

Oh that's true Cindy. Quite often I have to put my whole arm in (with a spoon) to capture the runaway plastic lids that hold my eggfood as they get pushed around and to the back of the cages sometimes.

They must jump and slide in them like a kid on a Slip and Slide.

cindy wrote:They must jump and slide in them like a kid on a Slip and Slide.

I swear they use them as surfboards!

I use the unglazed (the rougher the better) and usually handwash since its faster but I have run them through the sanitary cycle on our Bosch (160 degrees) with no adverse effects.

The larger sizes work ready good as bird baths also.

The dish is a cool idea.
I just picked up a few at Home Depot.
I have a few gouldians with overgrown beaks and claws that need regular trimming.