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Ok I've read this before but I've forgotten

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ortegah

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What is up with Baby playing with her saliva? It's like a kid playing with their spit :rofl:
 

ortegah

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I've read before that it's a cockatoo thing but I forget what it means. She's currently licking the bars of the cage after bringing her saliva up to the tip of her tongue :huh:
 

catnloco

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I thought birds didn't have salivary glands??? If they do then I learned something new today. If they don't..... what is baby doing??? hmmmm
Regurgitating? Kind of early for that unless she has a bacterial infection... I am just running thoughts threw my head....
 

suncoast

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That's what I thought, birds do not have salivary glands. It's some kind of reguitation. Was she vet checked Heather, with gram stains and a mouth swab?

Ginger
 

Billie Faye

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OK, you could be having a problem starting...
I had this happen with Carlos, Harlequin,...he would bring up stuff from ????? never could find out but it wasn't regurgitation! He was using his tongue to go into the back of his throat to get it...
So, we had a "deep crop" testing done and also a test that went up into his sinus...NOTHING and nothing was showing up on the tests either...Honest..he did this for about 9 months..vet had NO IDEA of where or what it was.... but it could have been the start of an infection in those two areas is why the vet did the test....he was put out to do them also....
So you might want to tell the vet what is going on, get a sample if you can on a cotton swab and put it into plastic bag.....keep an eye Baby....no they don't have saliva:hug8:
I am soooooo corrected!!!!! Need to be hit with pillow!!!
Salivary Glands

Salivary glands are distributed in the oral and pharyngeal cavities of most birds. They may be poorly developed, as in many fish eaters, or well developed, as in granivorous species on a dry diet. Salivary glands consist of masses of secretory cells that are arranged around a duct system into which part of the content of the secretory cells is released to form saliva.[SIZE=-3]23[/SIZE] Because mastication does not occur in birds, the main requirement is for lubrication to assist the swallowing process, which is achieved by the mucinous nature of the saliva. Peristaltic contractions carry food along the esophagus either to the proventriculus directly or into the crop.[SIZE=-3]27[/SIZE]
The salivary glands of psittacines form compact glandular bodies. In the African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus) the duct systems of all lingual salivary glands open on the lingual surface, each through a single orifice.[SIZE=-3]23[/SIZE] Glandular secretions in the mediacaudal section of the esophagus, together with external water, contribute to the softening and swelling of food within the crop.
Taken from:
http://www.hagen.com/hari/docu/nutri2.html
 
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ortegah

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As soon as the paperwork gets transferred to my vet I'll get her in for a checkup. I was planning on doing that anyhow. I could've sworn somewhere that some cockatoos do this...
 

Kristy

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When I visit the bird rescue here they have a female U2 that sticks her talon down her throat and brings up whatever there is ~ I mean it is ooey gooey like thick spit I guess you could say. They can't find a thing wrong with her.....just an odd behavior.
 

ortegah

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When I visit the bird rescue here they have a female U2 that sticks her talon down her throat and brings up whatever there is ~ I mean it is ooey gooey like thick spit I guess you could say. They can't find a thing wrong with her.....just an odd behavior.
Yep that's it! She puts her tongue back and pulls up what looks like spit. Kinda like what a 6 year old boy might do :D I've read before that some cockatoos do this, but I can't remember why.
 

Kristy

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This particular Too has a very discolored talon/foot because of this (she does it a lot) and it is keeping her from finding a home and I found out the hard way she is also rather bitey.:eek:

Heather I just remembered this birds name was Baby, might it be the same bird by chance? Did she come from WI>>>
 

Ashley

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my cockatoo hasnt started to do this yet..i have never heard of it
 

ortegah

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This particular Too has a very discolored talon/foot because of this (she does it a lot) and it is keeping her from finding a home and I found out the hard way she is also rather bitey.:eek:

Heather I just remembered this birds name was Baby, might it be the same bird by chance? Did she come from WI>>>
Well she doesn't use her talon, just her tongue to reach back and grab the spit. Nah, I doubt it because her name wasn't really Baby. It was supposed to be Foe or Faux or something like that.
 

Kristy

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Now there is two Babys that play with spit....lovely.:hehe:
 

ortegah

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If I can get a video of it, I will.
 

JLcribber

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Parrots do indeed produce saliva. They have salivary glands and a system of ducts, like other animals. The difference is in the distribution of these glands. The end of the tongue in (most) parrots is void of glands and is usually dry. The glands are located around the base of the tongue, all around, front and back. There are also glands in the soft palate in the roof of the mouth, near the back.

If the tip of the tongue, where it is usually dry is seen to be wet, there may or may not be a medical reason for it. It may just be that they are massaging the inside of their mouth with the tip of the tongue ( a natural behavior to clean the mouth) and the tip gets saliva on it then.

This cleaning behavior may become exaggerated if there is irritation or inflammation in the mouth, so it is always a good idea to investigate if the tongue seems wet a lot on the tip, or if there is also other behavior that might suggest oral irritation, such as a lot of yawning or mouth gaping or head shaking or pawing at the mouth with the toes.

Amanda does it all the time. IMO most of the time it's the parrot version of "chewing gum".
 

ortegah

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Thanks John! I knew I had read this somewhere :)
 

Billie Faye

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Thank you John and I feel soooooooo embarassed about giving false information!
Good Job on the correcting bad information!:highfive::hug8:
 

suncoast

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Mea Culpa, see that's what I get for being so sure I knew something. Sorry Heather.

Ginger
 

ortegah

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Not a problem :)
 
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