rdmiller@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Ruth D Miller) (05/01/91)
Three days ago I read an article on bird toys--safe and unsafe-- in the latest BirdTalk, thinking it did not apply to me: how would our lovebirds hurt themselves in their papertowel tubes? Then 2 days ago I came home late from a banquet and noted that Cinnabar (Fischer's lovebird) was hanging on his knotted hemp rope. Well, fine: I hung up my coat and did a few things and came back 5 min's later to see he hadn't moved. On closer inspection he had a cotton string wrapped around his neck and was stuck! I had hung a TP tube in the cage weeks ago, by stringing it on this string and knotting both ends to the roof of the cage. He had long since chewed up the tube but the string was still there. IF there hadn't been the rope knot to hang on he'd have been in real danger. I grabbed a towel to hold him in and untied the string: fortunately he'd only been caught 2 hrs at most. What if it had been all day?! MORAL: make sure there's nothing in the bird cage a bird could possibly hang himself on, or tangle his toes in!! (a much chastened) Ruth