Saturday, September 27, 2014

Preventing Accidents and Illness For Your Pet Cockatiel

A pet Cockatiel standing by the open cage door. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Cockatiel, Nymphicus hollandicus and Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus fighting on a perch. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How to Prevent Accidents and Illness in Your Pet Cockatiel

Preventing accidents and illness with your cockatiel just takes a little forethought. When purchasing a treats and toys carefully look at them as you would for something you were buying a younger child. Not all birds' toys are created equal. Consider if metal or plastic parts will come loose with your cockatiel is playing with it. If your bird is particularly aggressive with toys you will want to make sure you purchase toys that do not have parts that will come loose when stressed by the bird's beak.

You also need to look over any environment that you plan to let your cockatiel loose in .

You will need to look at the room with the eyes of a small curious child who happens to be able to fly and climb. Make sure doors and windows are shut. Make sure the family cat is out of the room. Cabinets and tight enclosed areas should be covered to avoid having your curious bird get stuck in them. Your bird may have issues with windows if they are not used to them. Pull the shades; until you know your cockatiel knows that the window is not an open door to the outside. The best rule of thumb is to never leave your bird unsupervised for even a short period of time.

Preventing illness in your pet cockatiel really centers on cleanliness. You need to change the papers in the bottom of the cage daily. You should once a week the bottom tray; should be washed with a mild soap and hot water. Some people advocate using disinfectant. Strong fumes can be dangerous to your bird, so only use strong disinfectant in another room and rise the tray several times to make sure your cockatiel has not exposure to the chemicals. When you wash the tray weekly; also wash toys, food dishes, and removable perches. If you bird has made an obvious mesh on a perch just wipe it off with a damp paper towel during your daily cleaning. It is a good habit to rinse water and food dishes and dry them out every time you feed. Daily eminence makes weekly clean up a breeze.

Your bird benefits from bathing as well. The best thing to do is simply put a shallow bowl in bottom of the cage for a half hour a couple of times a week. Most cockatiels will bathe themselves. Some people bath their birds with the sprayer in the kitchen sink. This is fine if your bird will not take off and get into trouble in the middle of a bath and you can absolutely control the water temperature. Water that is too hot will kill your bird. You also must be sure the room is free of drafts when you bath your bird. An alternative to a shower is a spray bottle bath. These are fine if your cockatiel is not stressed by the spray bottle as many birds are.

Feeding your cockatiel a good diet, accident prevention, and cage cleanliness will assure that your bird suffers from very few accidents and illness. It is also a good idea to provide you bird with some climbing toys to be a proper amount of excursive when you can not have them outside the cage. Change the drinking water often especially, if you have more than one bird in the cage as no one wants to drink toilet water and they will contaminate the water dish over the course of the day.

Your bird can live a healthy life for years with a little common sense and effort on your part.

Monday, September 15, 2014

How To Give a Cockatiel A Bath

Cartoon of 2 birds talking about a bird bath. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nymphensittich-Hahn-Wildfarben (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Green Naped Lorikeet in a Bird bath in the Children's zoo at the Saint Louis Zoological Park, St. Louis, Missouri (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most cockatiel owners know that cleanliness is essential and wash their bird's cage and accessories on a regular basis. But did you know your feathered friends benefit from a cockatiel birdie bath as well?

Cockatiels came originally from semi arid regions , but still in the wild they have been seen bathing and preening in small pools of water. Cockatiels get a regular bath from Mother Nature in the form of rain as well. These birds then preen with a bit of oil they get from a gland underneath the base of their tail. Cockatiels spread the oil with their beaks.

There are many options that a cockatiel owner can use to give their bird a bath. One is to use a shallow bowl. The bowl should be heavy enough to avoid accidental spills. There are red clay bowls or deep set plates that people use to catch excess water under potted plants. These red clay bowls are available at most garden shops and work very well in the bottom of most cages as bird baths. You simply place this bowl with room temperature water in the cage every few days for about a half an hour and your cockatiels should bath themselves.

Some people like to spray their cockatiels with the kitchen dish sprayer. This is fine as long as you check to water temperature before you shower your birds. Many cockatiels prefer this method of bathing, but there is risk involved. If you keep your bird loose , and go to wash a pan with hot water the bird may tragically burn itself trying to steal a shower. Definitely wash dishes when your birds are securely in their cage , if your cockatiel views the kitchen sink as his private bird bath.

Plant misters and other spray water bottles can be used to give your cockatiel a shower.
Buy one specifically for the purpose and do not recycle an old spray bottle that may have contained cleaning chemicals. Plastic spray bottles inevitably absorb small amounts of the chemicals that that once held. Repeated exposure to even small amounts of toxic substances can cause your bird to become ill.

My younger son showers with his birds. This is fine for a positive interaction time with your birds , but you must be able to deal with taking a luke warm shower to avoid scalding the cockatiel. You should also remove shampoo and soaps from the shower that your bird may get into . Remember , that bar of white ivory will look like a cuddle bone to your bird in the shower. You also must avoid drafts to keep your bird from becoming ill. Showers with you cockatiel are probably left as an occasional treat for your bird and not something you should do on a regular basis.

Finding the right method to allow your cockatiel to take a bird bath is one of the essential care you will provide your bird to keep them happy and healthy. Observe you bird bath and preen when you can. Excessive preening can be a sign of a physical problem or stress that can be dangerous for your bird. It is a good idea to know what your birds beauty routine looks like so you can note any significant changes.