# Danger of Cork Perches



## Teddscau (Jun 27, 2012)

Hey guys, I just thought I should share a frightening experience I had with two of my girls last night.

I'd been out for supper, and when I got homeI discovered Samantha, Rumi, and a couple of the other boys had been gnawing on a cork bark perch which was in the aviary and had apparently been doing so for a good part of the day

Rumi started sneezing and wouldn't stop. She started rubbing her nose on the bars and perches, and kept scratching her nose with her foot. All the while, she keeps sneezing. 

Then I look over at Samantha who's sitting on her swing. She, too, is digging at her nose with her foot.

I guess they'd gotten a bunch of dust in their noses from shredding the cork, and now they couldn't stop sneezing. 

Luckily, the sneezing and scratching subsided after a few minutes, although it was obvious that they were still feeling yucky. Rumi had her eyes closed and was resting in an uncomfortable spot, and Samantha was hunched right over on her swing. I put some eucalyptus oil in the diffuser for them, hoping it would help open up their airways. I also removed the cork bark perch from the aviary.

They are completely fine now and are acting as if nothing happened. Things could have turned out a lot worse if one of them had had an allergic reaction to the dust.

From now on, if they want to shred something that gives off dust, I'm going to supervise them and limit their amount of time with it.

Please be careful with everything in your budgies' cages and aviaries.


----------



## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Robyn,

Thank you for sharing the potential dangers posed by cork perches in a budgie's cage or aviary.

As cork is easily shredded, it would probably be preferable for members to consider using natural wood perches rather than those made of cork.

In addition to the dust particles causing respiratory problems, ingestion of cork particles could also pose a serious danger of crop impaction.

I'm so  glad to hear Rumi and Samantha are fine now.

Best wishes!*


----------



## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

Good to hear your girls are feeling better now Robyn . Thank you for posting this info!


----------



## jean20057 (May 31, 2013)

*I'm so glad to hear that everything turned out ok! I saw the title of your thread, and was like, "oh no, this was learned because of tragedy", but I really relieved to see that your girls are fine now. Awesome warning thread! You just never know what could pose as a threat to these little guys!!!*


----------



## Pegg (Jun 7, 2011)

I'm glad your budgies are alright. 
Thanks for the information on cork perches. I wont be buying any.


----------



## Teddscau (Jun 27, 2012)

Yeah, it was really scary. I didn't think they would react like that! I mean, you're always reading about how awesome cork perches are. They're fun to destroy, are gentle on the feet, etc., but you never read about the potential danger. When I saw how they were reacting when they went back in their cage, I thought they might actually end up hurting themselves while trying to get the dust out of their noses!

I'm really relieved that they got over it. You definitely have to watch your parrots with any new items they get, and maybe even take the new perch or toy away when you aren't in the room. Even toys they've used safely for years can become a sudden hazard.


----------

