Urgent Rat Attack

[Pippa]

I have a pet house sparrow (the little brown birds that live in cities and suburbs, hence the name) that I found as a little brand new hatched baby. Giant yolk sac, head tucked way up, whole 9 yards. She's grown up wonderfully and is into her first molt. I was hanging out with her by her cage when she got onto a little perch that is on the outside so she can hop out of the cage. It shifted when she landed so she took off and landed on the, yep you guessed it, rat cage. 4 of my rats are interested in her if she lands on one of the cages (which I highly discourage as I do not want her to lose a toe) but one of the like to charge over and try to eat poor little Pippa. Today I couldn't get over to her fast enough. One of the rats shot over and Pippa being the big little bird she is started attack the rats face and stomach. Rat sticks her paw through the cage and grabs a handful of feathers off of Pippa's head. I grabbed my screaming little baby and calmed her down but now she has a bald spot that takes up half of her head. I dabbed a little palm oil on it (organic, sustainably harvested, human food grade) but she took a bath an hour later though I'm sure most of it stayed on. She is mid molt so she has some pin feathers starting to grow in all ready which is nice but what I'm most concerned about is the fact that rats have very sharp little claws and while there wasn't blood, I would bet there are some little mini and micro cuts in her head.

Is Blu-Kote safe for birds? I've used it on my rats before but birds are also very sensitive. And is there anything I can do to help her feathers grow in she already gets some palm oil about the size of a grain of rice and she HATES the misting bottle so I don't know if aloe vera and water would work although I do have a reptile mister that she might want to go through.

This was really long and scrambled, sorry about that but I'm really worried about my baby. I see her and feel bad although I think by now it doesn't hurt, it is mildly endearing and cute. She also just started to eat Roudybush today (and loves it btw but I bought the 44 oz bag and came home to an 8 oz sample. Grr.) she used to be on Mazuri, I don't know if that matters at all)

And one last thing, Pippa's feet turn in really badly to the point where on a flat surface, shes just hopping on the outside of her feet and they are flat. On a perch one foot is almost normal and the other can sometimes uncurl depending on the shape/size of the perch (all natural sticks from outside, no dowels) and her mood. She gets along absolutely fine and her feet never uncurled as well as a normal baby does around 4-6 days of age (we rescue and release quite a few sparrow nestlings) so she's had it since hatching I guess. I don't really care or notice it now but if there is something we could do, it would be nice to know.

Thank you in advance for any answers. It's hard enough to be essentially writing the book on captive sparrows since there is no info anywhere! Thanks again but sorry for being scatter brained. :/





*Neither of the rats in my avatar are a culprit, they live next to Pippa and don't really mind her. They are the good rats.

 

[birdle]

no advice as I don't know much about wild birds or if you even want to take her to the vet but if your birds are out COVER THE RAT CAGE!! just with a sheet or a towel so this can't happen again, or something worse. good that your baby seems to be unharmed.

 

[Pippa]

I'll block the cage best I can (hindsight is 20/20) but I also hope that Pippa will not be tempted to fly to their cage again. We have an Avian vet minutes from our house which is quite nice in case of emergency (like if her head gets infected) however I do deeply worry that something will happen sometime and they won't take her because she is considered wild


Aanndd I just read the FYI about posting here. sorry bout that. I would not mind a bit if a mod wanted to move it to Healthy Highway

 

[birdle]

hmm yea I'm not sure about taking her to an avian vet. not sure what they would do but you could always try and call

 

[iamwhoiam]

Have no advice for you re: the rat attack but you may want to call a vet and talk to him/her as suggested by lukeykee(lillian). As for feeding, my sparrow, Spee, gets Volkman Avian Science Super Finch seed and Mazuri Insectivore. Why did you switch from Mazuri to Roudybush and which Mazuri were you giving Pippa? As for the feet, you can try some massage and exercise. Just a little bit each day. Can't guarantee that will help but it's worth a try. As for info on captive sparrows:
Starling Talk: The Care and Feeding of Injured and Orphaned Starlings

Although it is called Starling Talk there is a sparrow discussion board and also general info care and feeding of sparrows.

 

[Pippa]

Thanks for the info! I switched her to Roudybush because I heard it was much better than Mazuri and the birds I've seen on it have gorgeous feathers while hers are kinda dull. Plus, her molt is taking a lot longer than the wild sparrows outside my house so I assume it's diet. I had been feeding Mazuri Small Bird Breeder as it was what was available when we were weaning her as she refused to eat seeds but did like human grade hulled millet, we then decided to put her on pellets and Mazuri was the right size and what we saw first. (She can now hull seeds somewhat and loves millet sprays but doesn't like to eat seed unless she thinks it's a treat and even then she mostly spits it out) TOPS was my first choice but I think crumbles would be too big.
So far she seems fine but if it gets bad I'll go to a vet or at least call.

 

[SandraK]

Don't know where you are in this big world we live in but I have 2 suggestions for the rat cage. If you can find plastic carpet cover (the hard kind in strips) you might be able to have a length cut to put on top of the ratties cage. This way, if Pippa does fly over and land on top her tootsies and anything else will be protected from any ratty paws. If you're in the U.S., some hardware stores (True Value) carry hard acrylic sheets and you can have a piece cut to cover the top of your ratties cage(s). I'd recommend an overlap regardless of what you do choose. I've used both on top of all of my fids cages - it minimizes the damage to feet and toes - specially since most fids will take a shot at any toes/feet within reach on their cages.

 

[Bokkapooh]

You're going to want to tank your rats or have them outside of the room she lives in. When she becomes an adult, she'll have a lot of sass. And this wont be the last incident.

I also had a female house sparrow, Sapphire. She was a sassy girl!

 

[Pippa]

I think we'll be moving Pippa into this closety room thing in our basement. Or maybe convert a regular closet. She already is very sassy, can't wait for her to get older.
It will be fun. I didn't realize so many people had sparrows. I'm surprised more don't though. They are very fun. People like hookbills more which I understand but imprinted sparrows are kinda like parrotlets or budgies, IMO, don't like snuggled that much though. She will be in her cage or out of the room away from the rats until we get her her own little room.

 

[Pippa]

Also, are there any flightsuits/harnesses small enough for a sparrow? Or is there a way to make one? Like out of thick string or leather strips? I take Pippa out a lot and she never flies far but I don't want to lose her. Especially since she does have feet deformities, is oblivious to pretty much everything when she's playing in grass or dirt, and hates other birds with a passion, and likes people. If she went to find someone for food and they didn't like birds, I don't really want to think of that. I am a BIG worry wort when it comes to her. And a chatter bow as you can tell. I'm working on that

 

[Bokkapooh]

I think the aviators small harness will fit a hkuse sparrow. But I'm not sure.

But when you say convert a closet into her room, or a basement closet, Im a bit worried. Why? Sounds kind of lonely and sad.

 

[Pippa]

Well right now she's in the dog room which has our dogs in it when they eat and aren't outside or upstairs, it has the rats, our chinchilla, and Pippa. We have cats and Pippa gets very stressed from the sight and scent of cats. We might be able to convert a curio cabinet, like replace glass with cage wire and she wouldn't be able to see the cats much but unless that happens, a closet would be best I think. Much bigger than a flight cage.

 

[iamwhoiam]

How much does your little sparrow weigh? I wouldn't recommend using a harness on her. I would also be very careful with taking her outside. If you want to do that then take her out in a cage or a carrier. JMHO As for putting her in a closet, I understand that you are looking to keep her safe and not stress her but a closet is not the best solution. Perhaps there is another room you can keep her in that the cats don't have access to and maybe a room without the rats and the chinchilla.

If you want to give seed a try again you can try the Volkman's. When Spee, my sparrow, was weaning he would not eat any of the seed mixes I tried but then I got a bag of Volkman's and gave him some of it he ate it right away. I also give him mixed vegetables, although he only seems to like corn. He also likes Granny Smith apples, cooked egg white and Mother's oatmeal cookies (only a very small piece given infrequently). Post a photo of Pippa when you get a chance.

 

[Pippa]

She is very good at eating veggies, carrot is her favorite by far. Haven't tried corn yet though. She also likes dried coconut, pineapple, and papaya a lot. She doesn't like dried raspberry that much though. I would cook for her but the amounts would be so tiny they would last forever. I have a little Tupperware that I put fresh grass with dirt, clover, and then some rocks in for her and she gobbles it up and the rocks (good size, smallest about the size of a dime or penny) end up scattered along the cage. She likes spray millet and some plain white millet but pellets are her favorite. I think because they taste like the tortilla chips she steals from me when I have them. Little bugger hops down grabs a bite and runs off again. She goes outside pretty often but I do worry. For the most part she doesn't want to fly and rarely does. She adores dust baths though and enjoys getting grasshopper legs to eat, she doesn't like the whole thing so our yard has some 1 legged and no legged grasshoppers around. I do trust her to not fly away for the most part and I know I could find her as she screams if she can't see me outside. She flies sometimes but will land a few feet away and it's only if you sit too fast or do something else that makes her feel unstable. We are thinking of putting a lock on one room door but it's carpet with a bed and the door swings in so the lock would be hard unless we replace the door knob. The carpet would mean it would only be to hang out in, not live in. And doh! Basement has mold so that nice big room (4-5 by 3-4 ft) is out. While she is aggressive enough to bite the cats, her beak is too small to hurt them enough to keep them away. If she was a caique, conure, quaker, something along those lines, I think we'd be fine. I don't know how much she weighs, I am hoping to get a gram scale for Christmas/Birthday or maybe save up and get one before hand. Would the harness hurt her or do would one be just too big? I was going to maybe make her one so I could get smaller straps. I was hoping to take her on short bike rides to this wild blueberry patch right near my house or down by the ditch on a power line access road, but I think she would hate the movement. She doesn't like to fly much so it would mostly be a precaution or for trips to a store, things like that.

 

[Pippa]

I found pictures! And a video. Let's see if I can make this work. The picture is her on my shoulder on her towel and the video is her taking a dust bath, you can the hollow she's made. I let her bathe there 2-4 times a week. She's taken 2 bathes in her water bowl but I walk in the room and see a wet birdy and a soaked cage. Her wing feathers are semi clipped there. I say semi because while we clipped them (she got very feisty when a construction crew was next door, they still are but they don't frighten her to fly now) she can still fly/land very well and seeing how much it effected her emotionally and how mad she got, I vow to not do it again. She gets around well but you can't see her feet, I'll try to get that tomorrow.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Can you house her in your bedroom? Thats where I had Sapphire while growing up.

 

[Bokkapooh]

She's sooo adorable!! Makes me miss Sapphire soooo much!

And I know you said you wont clip her again and I hope you never do. House sparrows are not hookbills and being clipped is terrible for them. They cant get around very well.

Please be careful if you bring her outside outside of a cage or harness. You're asking to lose her.

 

[Pippa]

I'm planning to make a harness for her. My dad made a huge cage for our chinchilla so I'm hoping he'll help me make one but right now it's a "no, because I will do all the work" Something about the nail gun and saw. I might be able to put her in my bedroom but downstairs is closer. Maybe I'll be able to bring her out in her cage for a few hours at a time and put her back around night time. Or have a day time/I'm home cage in the living room, like a converted curio cabinet and then she goes up in the room for night time. I'm home schooled so I have a lot of time to cuddle with her.

 

[Pippa]

Picture time! So first here's Pippa doing a nice pretty flight.

And this is her normal flight.

We're working on her waiting to fly to me instead of taking off when I set her down. She's also not flying to branch or anything like that, she's landing on my glasses. She doesn't like landing on hands and if you hold one up she loops around and lands by your feet. One of the reasons I want to get her a harness if because in the 2nd vid you can see how eager she is to come but that tapers down like you can see in the 1st (they weren't shot in order) and I don't trust her to not get bored so we only do 4-5 runs maybe 2x a week. I think she would keep coming but I do not want to risk it. You can see her tail feathers growing in from the molt.

And here are her feet, perched and flat.

They are straight hen I view them from my desktop IDK why they keep flipping.

*Edit* I just wanted to add that I'm not trying to be stuck up like "Ooh my bird can do this" or seem ignorant and think nothing is going to happen because I know that with or without a harness it will. So far I've been lucky enough for her to come back to me if she gets stuck in a tree but I know that it is tempting fate. Also, while I will certainly never again trim her wings, it doesn't effect her much. She can get height and speed but also safely descend so it did pretty much nothing physically and only took away some of her trust in me for a few days. Not a good trade at ALL

 

[Sadieladie1994]

The toenails may be a bit long which makes them curly in. More comfortable standing on side of toes than on foot with long nails. Yep, get your harness so that you will always have pippa with you, safe from flying off or to get away from a predator. I love watching you train and keep the videos coming.