Post by Tanna on Feb 9, 2008 12:03:53 GMT -7
I figured I would ask here, since I trust all of you guys from the past, and I imagine this is a pretty 'bird universal' question.
My white-capped pionus, Stella, seems to have an 'itchy butt'. That's the only way I can describe it... she's almost constantly doing the tail flick/shake like when she's trying to dry off after a bath, or 'biting'/preening at it(what I would call 'fleaing' if she were a dog hehe), flicking her wings, and so on. Now, she's right around 7-8 months, which is about right for a molt, and I have noticed a change in her feather patterns on her head (pionus change colors drastically during their first 2-3 molts, they look quite different as babies and adults), but because she won't let me handle her much yet (problem baby, long story, though she's improved drastically since I got her 2 1/2 months ago) I don't know if she's 'done' with the molt or not. She did lose a couple of tail feathers a week or so ago, but because of the not able to handle much problem, I can't tell if they were lost due to molting, or if they broke off, thus perhaps leaving pointy bits to make her itch.
So, my specific question. Is this something I should be worried about? She doesn't seem to be plucking the area, just annoyed by it, and I haven't been able to see any evidence of a rash or other visible irritation. Should I try to 'do' something about it, and if so, what; or should I just ride it out for now?
My white-capped pionus, Stella, seems to have an 'itchy butt'. That's the only way I can describe it... she's almost constantly doing the tail flick/shake like when she's trying to dry off after a bath, or 'biting'/preening at it(what I would call 'fleaing' if she were a dog hehe), flicking her wings, and so on. Now, she's right around 7-8 months, which is about right for a molt, and I have noticed a change in her feather patterns on her head (pionus change colors drastically during their first 2-3 molts, they look quite different as babies and adults), but because she won't let me handle her much yet (problem baby, long story, though she's improved drastically since I got her 2 1/2 months ago) I don't know if she's 'done' with the molt or not. She did lose a couple of tail feathers a week or so ago, but because of the not able to handle much problem, I can't tell if they were lost due to molting, or if they broke off, thus perhaps leaving pointy bits to make her itch.
So, my specific question. Is this something I should be worried about? She doesn't seem to be plucking the area, just annoyed by it, and I haven't been able to see any evidence of a rash or other visible irritation. Should I try to 'do' something about it, and if so, what; or should I just ride it out for now?
and we're doing fine serving our master until one month ago when, suddenly, he started to fly nervously and shake his tail and byte off his down from the tail feathers and even from his tail (butt), the sad part being that he got so aggressive when scratching with his beak that he wounded himself several times.
