# Silas got stuck in a mouse glue trap this weekend...



## SilasBB (May 30, 2010)

Hi guys, I just wanted to share my story here so that anyone else who has the misfortune of encountering this problem will know how to deal with it in the least traumatizing way for the bird.

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This weekend, I had Silas, my 9.5 year old cockatiel out at our trailer. He was flying around inside the trailer and landed in a glue trap we'd forgotten about that had been set to catch mice. This particular glue trap was one of the "humane" traps that you're supposed to just put the mouse outside with warm water on top of the glue to release the mouse. What it neglects to mention is that warm water alone will not remove this glue, as it is not water soluble.

Silas landed in the glue trap, and his tail feathers (all of them!) and 2" of the tips of his wings were coated in the glue as he flailed to get loose before I got to him.

I covered his head with a nearby towel, and then wrapped it around his body so I could hold him without being bit, and then gently removed the glue trap. I then ran a warm bath and let Silas run around in the bathtub. By this point, his tail feathers were stuck together in one big long clump, and his wings kept sticking to his tail.

I got on the phone, and called EVERY vet in the area. It was a Sunday, so a lot of them were closed, but I finally found an emergencies vet who was open and able to help me.

First, she advised me to leave him in the bathtub for about 20 minutes to allow the glue to soften, and then instructed me to wrap him in towel so he couldn't flail, and then work vegetable oil into the glue soaked feathers. The vegetable oil allowed me to gently separate the feathers and work some of the glue out.

I was then instructed to use DAWN brand liquid dish soap to remove the vegetable oil from his tail feathers and wing tips, being careful not to get any on his face or in his eyes.

Once I had all the vegetable oil and dish soap out of his feathers, we wrapped him in a towel and let him squirm around a little to dry him off as well as we could, and then let him go back in his cage to continue to dry out.

It's been 24 hours, and he's still a little damp, but the ordeal left his wings and tail fully intact without any feather loss. He's a little irritable, but no more so than normal after bath time, and we expect him to be perfectly okay, though I plan to make a vet appointment this week just to have him checked out and be positive that he's okay.

The entire ordeal, from start to finish, took about 2 and a half hours, as I wanted to be positive that I had all of the glue and dish soap out, and wanted him to be as dry as possible before putting him back in his cage, and it took the vet a little while to call me back with instructions on what to do.


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

Oh man thats scary! Im glad hes okay though.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

What an ordeal but at least you guys got through it!


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## KateBascombe (Sep 27, 2010)

I work at a petstore and we had a hampster get loose and get caught in one of those glue insect traps. It's a similar idea to the mousetraps, we ended up just dousing the poor things' feet in "pink solution" shampoo (it's used to remove sap in dog's coats) and letting him wiggle himself loose.


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## ClementinesCage (Apr 30, 2011)

How awful! Thank you for sharing, though.


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