marley has a back toenail that tends to grow in a circle, it can be quite short but still curl around to almost touch his toe. its just the way that nail grows. well, i've had issues with my boy-child so i've been unable to trim the toenail. well, today he managed to get it curled into one of his chains that hang over the cage, he actually doesnt have small link chains inside the cage for this reason. so i get the whole toy down and disentangle him. nothing like trying to resuce a pissed off caique.
so i get him calmed down and decide 'he's gonna hafta let me trim at least that one nail.' so i get the clippers, i use human clippers on him cause they're easier to control, get the styptic pencil -- just in case, and get marley. now me and the fids often play under towels, sheets, blankets, whatever. so i begin playing and cover him, then i grab that toe, give it a snip, and before anyone knew what was going on i was back to playing with the towel. it was absolutely perfect!
then i thought, hey, wonder if he'll let me trim anymore.
so i continue playing and trim three more nails that have a bit of a sharp tip to them. he was so cute just laying on his back in my hand and letting me play with his toes.
his nails stay pretty good for the most part, between him grooming them and his concrete perch. well, then skittles waddles up to see what's going on. so i ask him if i can snip a couple nails and as i snip, he just looks at me. it just tickled me to death that we are getting better and better at the grooming without restraint.