My lovebird is missing a toe
Les Chrobak
Hello.
Only two days ago I bought a blue-maked lovebird. He appeared just fine
and healthy at the time.
Yesterday I let him out for the first time and noticed that his middle claw
on his left foot was missing. Then, to my horror, I realized that not only
was the claw missing but the toe was much shorter than is should be.
My question is whether or not this is common? Was the toe partially
severed? Or could this be a birth defect?
The store (Petsmart) say they never heard or seen this before, and have
offered to take the bird back. I don't know what to do. Will he still
make a good pet?
To top it off the book I bought "Taming and Training Lovebirds" by Risa
Teitler, has a picture on the front cover of a lovebird with what appears
to be 3 severed toes.
What gives?
Les.
kerf...@vsdec.npt.nuwc.navy.mil
> My question is whether or not this is common? Was the toe partially
> severed? Or could this be a birth defect?
When lovebirds fight, they often bite each other's toes off. Some wild
caught birds also lose toes if they are caught by applying glue to a
branch they perch on. However, your bird is almost surely domestic bred
since it is a mutation. So, it was probably in a fight.
Birds missing a few toes make perfectly good pets. They can be
troublesome to use as breeding stock, but as nonbreeding pets, they do
just fine. Since the bird is defective, you shouldn't pay full price for
it. However, now that you have the bird, you may as well keep it. It is
not a catastrophic problem.
Ian Kerfoot
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Nasreen
In article <01bc8106$257765e0$45c0...@MyHost.McMaster.CA>, "Les Chrobak"
<chr...@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca> wrote:
>
> Hello.
>
> Only two days ago I bought a blue-maked lovebird. He appeared just fine
> and healthy at the time.
>
> Yesterday I let him out for the first time and noticed that his middle claw
> on his left foot was missing. Then, to my horror, I realized that not only
> was the claw missing but the toe was much shorter than is should be.
>
> My question is whether or not this is common? Was the toe partially
> severed? Or could this be a birth defect?
>
> The store (Petsmart) say they never heard or seen this before, and have
> offered to take the bird back. I don't know what to do. Will he still
> make a good pet?
>
> To top it off the book I bought "Taming and Training Lovebirds" by Risa
> Teitler, has a picture on the front cover of a lovebird with what appears
> to be 3 severed toes.
>
> What gives?
To my unproffesional knowledge, this is not "normal". Whether or not it's
common, I'm not sure. My lovebird has all her claws and toes are fine. If
you've just purchased the bird, you should take to the vet anyway to make
sure it's healthy and ask the vet about this.
-Peg
>
> Les.
Jerry Huff
I saw some love birds with missing toes at the place I purchased my love bird and was told that the mother had bitten them off.
In article <01bc8106$257765e0$45c0...@MyHost.McMaster.CA>, "Les Chrobak" <chr...@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca> writes:
|>
|> Hello.
|>
|> Only two days ago I bought a blue-maked lovebird. He appeared just fine
|> and healthy at the time.
|>
|> Yesterday I let him out for the first time and noticed that his middle claw
|> on his left foot was missing. Then, to my horror, I realized that not only
|> was the claw missing but the toe was much shorter than is should be.
|>
|> My question is whether or not this is common? Was the toe partially
|> severed? Or could this be a birth defect?
|>
|> The store (Petsmart) say they never heard or seen this before, and have
|> offered to take the bird back. I don't know what to do. Will he still
|> make a good pet?
|>
|> To top it off the book I bought "Taming and Training Lovebirds" by Risa
|> Teitler, has a picture on the front cover of a lovebird with what appears
|> to be 3 severed toes.
|>
|> What gives?
|>
|> Les.
|>
NITESTAR95
after the parents send the kids out of the nestbox, they are trying to get
them to leave!!! after that, the kids are often treated as trespassers
when they come back to the parents cage or bother the parent bird wanting
to be fed. if the kid persists, the parent bird may nip him. and if the
damage is serious enough, the bird may lose a toe.
don
Jayne in Bundaberg.
"Les Chrobak" <chr...@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca> wrote:
>Hello.
>Only two days ago I bought a blue-maked lovebird. He appeared just fine
>and healthy at the time.
>Yesterday I let him out for the first time and noticed that his middle claw
>on his left foot was missing. Then, to my horror, I realized that not only
>was the claw missing but the toe was much shorter than is should be.
>My question is whether or not this is common? Was the toe partially
>severed? Or could this be a birth defect?
>The store (Petsmart) say they never heard or seen this before, and have
>offered to take the bird back. I don't know what to do. Will he still
>make a good pet?
>To top it off the book I bought "Taming and Training Lovebirds" by Risa
>Teitler, has a picture on the front cover of a lovebird with what appears
>to be 3 severed toes.
>What gives?
>Les.
love birds are very teritorial when they are in an avery and i would
say that when the bird came out of the nest he may have had a few
fights with some of his relitives before he was taken out to the
petshop. love birds can live quite normally without toes and if you
love him keep him.if you find it hard to live with a toeless bird you
should replace hime as soon as possible as it dosnt take long for them
to bond with humans.as long as you can see he has all his feathers and
he stands straight i would say he would be normal.
i have several lovebirds in the avery without toes and their ofspring
are normal.they can wage some fierce wars and i would say your bird is
a survivor.only the other day i took one of my peachfaces out of the
avery for several days to nurse his toes as the others had bitten
them,i put him back in the avery several bays later and they ganged up
and killed him in several hours,i was horrified that they can be so
vicious good luck with your new mate..
Bye for now.
Jayne. ja...@tpgi.com.au
Visit my Webb Site: http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/shelton/pets.html
Jayne in Bundaberg.
"Les Chrobak" <chr...@muss.cis.mcmaster.ca> wrote:
>Hello.
>Only two days ago I bought a blue-maked lovebird. He appeared just fine
>and healthy at the time.
>Yesterday I let him out for the first time and noticed that his middle claw
>on his left foot was missing. Then, to my horror, I realized that not only
>was the claw missing but the toe was much shorter than is should be.
>My question is whether or not this is common? Was the toe partially
>severed? Or could this be a birth defect?
>The store (Petsmart) say they never heard or seen this before, and have
>offered to take the bird back. I don't know what to do. Will he still
>make a good pet?
>To top it off the book I bought "Taming and Training Lovebirds" by Risa
>Teitler, has a picture on the front cover of a lovebird with what appears
>to be 3 severed toes.
>What gives?
>Les.
WDavis4337
unfortunatly lovebirds that are missing toes is very common. some of the
times this is a birth defect. most of the time it is due to the extreme
teratorial nature of these birds. if any retailer says they never seen
that before than they should educate themselevs better. in the meantime
contact a local breeder to purchase a future bird. if you have any more
questions fell free to ask. i have been professionally working with
parrots both as a breeder and as a behavior counsulant
for many years. good luck.
ps. your love birds pet quality will not be affected because of his
missing toe