I havent had Charley out recently but today he was walking around on the carpet for the first time in weeks. He had a lot of trouble with his toe nails getting caught and he was not able to walk properly so he realy wasnt happy and headed back to his cage. I put a sheet down and tried him on that but same thing happened, his nails caught and he seemed awkward. I checked his nails and they do seem to be a little longish although I cant say I really took much notice before so cant say if this is a recent thing. I decided to clip the biggest one with a pair of tiny nail clippers, it worked well (was very careful to only take the tip bit that curled over, he has white nails so easy to see where the blood starts).

 

However it was quite difficult to hold him, hold his little foot out and clip so I didnt bother to do anymore. I then found on this site that it is not really necessary to clip their nails, and feel I should now leave them alone. What do you think?

 

THey are not OVERLY long and dont seem to bother him in his cage, it was merely that he couldnt walk on the carpet (which he could some months ago!), but dont know if that's such a problem since he doesnt do that much anyway. He's quite happy to stay in his cage and jump onto my hand for a cuddle now and then. He has branches for perching and I've made sure they are different sizes and shapes.

 

SHould I just leave his nails alone unless he seems to find them awkward at some stage? OR would it help to get him one of the "cement" perches??

 

What do you think??

You can clip them if you want but make sure you have the powder or something to stop the bleeding incase you clip to short.

 

An easier way is for someone to hold him wrapped up in a wash cloth so he can't wiggle and you can pull out his foot to clip the nail OR when they hang on the side of the cage if he doesn't move you can clip that way too.

 

I personally don't clip Merlin's nails but he doesn't walk around on the carpet only on his cage, on the desk and on me .