Conures With Socks

It's not surprising that parrots, or birds in general, don't wear socks. How would they perch, and wouldn't their nails get caught in the fabric?

If socks weren't so ergonomically challenging, Bug could use some in the winter--sometimes when he steps up, his feet are cold. And then I feel bad that his whole, small torso's shivering. Occasionally he steps in his poop, so the socks scenario gets further complicated. Toed socks with grippy bottoms like those slippers one can buy?

His species is from South America, where birds don't need footwear if you live in the jungle. Sometimes he stands on one foot, the other tucked into the electric green of his vent feathers. Whether he lives in the land of snow or tropics, I am pretty sure that behavior wouldn't change. Up here, however, it probably serves to warm his little phalanges.

My own socks, my favorite Smart Wools, have taken a turn for entropy this winter. I've lost about half my pairs to the Rift Phenomenon: the heels wear out where the thicker heel stitching transforms to the thinner vertical material at the back of the heel. Which then equals: a hole.

I can't seem to throw these broken socks away. They cost a lot but I don't darn, like my grandmother did. Wouldn't the repair create a line/scar that would rub the skin like a too tight pair of shoes on the heel, where you'd have to wear a bandaid?

And sometimes Bug bites my socks and creates his own new holes.

I guess we are between a sock and hard place.