Keep the Sandpaper Out of the Bird's Cage

If ever there was a bit of pet shop paraphernalia that was useless and potentially dangerous it would be the sandpaper perch covers and cage bottom sheets. They are touted as useful for wearing down the nails of budgies, canaries and other small caged birds. In truth, all they do is irritate the birds' feet and empty the owner's wallet!

As part of his normal preening activity, you should notice your bird nibbling his nails occasionally. This, along with the normal perching and climbing activity your bird should also be exhibiting, is enough for a normal, healthy bird to keep the nails at an appropriate length. Occasionally I will trim the sharp points off my birds' nails if they seem to be catching in nesting material or soft furnishings around the house.

A sandpaper perch cover only serves to give a rough place for the bird to perch. At best this is unnecessary, and at worst may predispose the bird to bumble foot (a sore area on the weight-bearing surface of the underside of the foot and subsequent infection). The sandpaper floor covers are the same. I also worry if your bird is like my lovebirds and shreds the paper at the bottom of the cage -- it can't be nice to accidentally ingest!

If your bird's nails appear to be overgrowing, there are a couple reasons this could be happening. A parasitic infestation or painful condition could be altering the bird's preening routine. Malnutrition - either due to not being offered the right food, competition for food, or selective feeding - can also cause nails to overgrow.

The best types of perches for your bird are natural branches. These can either be collected from your own fruit trees (i.e. apple, cherry, pear trees), or they are commercially available at good pet stores with bolts and washers to connect them to the sides of the cage (see photos – these are the perches from my budgie’s cage). The benefit of these more natural perches is the variation in diameter which allows the bird to choose where he is most comfortable; they also allow him to exercise his feet and vary the pressure points throughout the day. They also look nicer than plain wooden dowels or plastic perches! A branch that isn't attached at both ends will also swing/sway a bit when the bird lands on it mimicking tree branch movement in the wild and helping with balance and muscle coordination.

The floor substrate you should use will depend a bit on the activity of your bird. If he spends time shredding the paper, then paper kitchen towel or plain, unprinted paper will be best. If he never goes down to the floor, you can use newspaper or similar. I encourage my clients to change the paper regularly (as often as daily sometimes) to monitor the droppings – their number and consistency – and maintain good hygiene.

Let’s only use sandpaper to tidy the ends of our natural branch perches; it has no other use in a bird’s cage!