Eating paper

[LizandShadow]

Shadow looks like he's eating paper(one of his toys) should I be concerned?

 

[roxynoodle]

It's unlikely that he's actually eating it. He is probably just shredding it up.

 

[LizandShadow]

Thats what I thought, thats what he usually does, but this time he was taking small peices-- rolling them with is tonge-- then they were gone! I'm fairly certain he ate a few peices.

 

[roxynoodle]

My Grey makes spit balls all the time but then spits them out

 

[Clueless]

Welcome to my world!

I think we must be fabulous owners of parrots since we worry like we do. My poor guys have very few toys in their cages because I'm scared to death they will get hurt in there.

Just keep a close eye on what is going on in the cage. Maybe find a way to get a colored liner in the bottom tray of the cage so that you can SEE if the paper is being shredded and spit out down there.

 

[roxynoodle]

Birds rarely eat non food items. I can't say it never happens, and amazons seem to the be the most likely to do it (at least from all the stories I've heard over the years). I bet he's just making really tiny spit balls. Merlin makes spit balls to clean the inside of her beak every time she eats. I don't know if that's a Grey thing or not, but she always does that or chews on leather lace to clean it.

 

[greybird2]

My Greys shred lots of cardboard everyday and have never eaten any.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Emmie uses wood, leather and fabric to clean his beak after eating and sometimes when he is destroying the wood and moving it around in his beak to clean it, it looks like he is eating the wood, but what is actually happening is he is reducing the little pieces of wood to very, very small slivers, almost saw dust sometimes, and then spitting them out; so unless I look really carefully at the papers of his cage, it appears he has actually eaten the wood.

The absolute best way to determine if a bird is eating nonfood items is to examine the poop. Birds cannot digest cellulose like in wood or wood pulp paper, so all you have to do is look for lumps in his droppings to tell if he is actually eating the paper. Every now and then I will find a tiny lump of paper in my hen lovebird's feces. It is usually extremely small and she always seems to pass these little balls without trouble; I guess if she can pass an eggs that is at least twenty times bigger than a paper ball, she will continue to be OK. I have seen her chewing at paper, usually newsprint, I place the wet veggies and fruit on in the morning, and I guess she is eating the paper with the taste leftover on it. I have since switched to paper plates and she has stopped chewing on paper.

 

[crystaljam]

Merlin has had paper on his toys since Day...30 (once I realized what people told me - all wood toys are GREAT for baby greys - was not true).

Knock on wood, 14+ years later, he hasn't pooped out one piece of toy.

He LOVES shredding, and I think it is a great exercise for him.

 

[roxynoodle]

Merlin has had paper on his toys since Day...30 (once I realized what people told me - all wood toys are GREAT for baby greys - was not true).

Knock on wood, 14+ years later, he hasn't pooped out one piece of toy.

He LOVES shredding, and I think it is a great exercise for him.

My Merlin also prefers shredding over wood chewing.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Birds don't have the musculature, saliva or mouth shape to allow them to "spit"; what they do is swep their upper and lower beaks with their facile tongue and just let what they want to expell from their mouth to fall out. The movements to do this look from the outside that they are just eating and swallowing, but that is not the case.

One reason why I think my birds like to chew chipboard (cereal boxes), cardboard and paper is that it is very satisfying to see the results of your destruction! Also, I have done a lot of reading about cavity breeders, which is what most parrots do, and one of the things the hens do while they sit on the eggs is chew at the walls of their nest, creating fresh bedding and making the cavity larger. Often the wood on the inside of a cavity has been killed from the chewing and has turned into dry, soft wood most country people know by the term of "punk"; and it has the resistance to chewing like normal cardboard!

This year, when I allowed Mindy and Noel to hatch Wendell and Joey, Mindy destroyed the rear wall of three cardboard boxes while incubating the eggs and raising the babies. Any time she was sitting in the nest, she was chewing that wall. I keep all the small cardboard boxes I get from shipping just for the cockatiel hens to nest in with ther dud eggs; letting them do what comes naturally while not adding to the homless bird population.

 

[roxynoodle]

Lois

Of course you are correct and Merlin can't actually "spit", but it was just easiest to put it that way

What she will do is stick her tongue out and let stuff dribble off, or she will fling it.

And her "spitballs" don't technically have much in the way of saliva, but if I showed them to any teenage boy he would say, "Yep, that's a spitball."

Love your thorough explanations though

 

[Katy]

Birds rarely eat non food items. I can't say it never happens, and amazons seem to the be the most likely to do it (at least from all the stories I've heard over the years). I bet he's just making really tiny spit balls. Merlin makes spit balls to clean the inside of her beak every time she eats. I don't know if that's a Grey thing or not, but she always does that or chews on leather lace to clean it.

I'm laughing over here. I haven't even heard the word spitball since 1974.

 

[Katy]

Birds don't have the musculature, saliva or mouth shape to allow them to "spit"; what they do is swep their upper and lower beaks with their facile tongue and just let what they want to expell from their mouth to fall out. The movements to do this look from the outside that they are just eating and swallowing, but that is not the case.

One reason why I think my birds like to chew chipboard (cereal boxes), cardboard and paper is that it is very satisfying to see the results of your destruction! Also, I have done a lot of reading about cavity breeders, which is what most parrots do, and one of the things the hens do while they sit on the eggs is chew at the walls of their nest, creating fresh bedding and making the cavity larger. Often the wood on the inside of a cavity has been killed from the chewing and has turned into dry, soft wood most country people know by the term of "punk"; and it has the resistance to chewing like normal cardboard!

This year, when I allowed Mindy and Noel to hatch Wendell and Joey, Mindy destroyed the rear wall of three cardboard boxes while incubating the eggs and raising the babies. Any time she was sitting in the nest, she was chewing that wall. I keep all the small cardboard boxes I get from shipping just for the cockatiel hens to nest in with ther dud eggs; letting them do what comes naturally while not adding to the homless bird population.

I don't remember who first coined the phrase, Well, EXCUUUUUUSE ME! But it seems to fit. The hens, Mindy, so busy! Multi-tasking like the rest of us. Maybe more! I would be looking around for the bag of knitting or crocheting!

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

It wasn't a criticism, honest! I even refer to Blu's paper rolls as spit balls myself. I just thought people may like to know they are not seeing what they think they see; the bird swallowing nonfood items: and the reason for this. Sorry. No one-upsmanship intended; just info.

 

[Katy]

It wasn't a criticism, honest! I even refer to Blu's paper rolls as spit balls myself. I just thought people may like to know they are not seeing what they think they see; the bird swallowing nonfood items: and the reason for this. Sorry. No one-upsmanship intended; just info.

Awwwww...Lois, of course not. Your writing is very descriptive and useful. So realistic that I often find myself laughing. I do want to know what I'm really seeing.....ok?

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

OK. Back to the original question of the OP. Sorry for the hijack.

 

[roxynoodle]

I'm laughing over here. I haven't even heard the word spitball since 1974.

That's because you got to leave school I ended up right back, teaching there.

 

[LaSelva]

“and one of the things the hens do while they sit on the eggs is chew at the walls of their nest, creating fresh bedding and making the cavity larger”



　
That reminds me, and on the subject of the ingestion of non-food items:

In the wild baby macaws are fed pieces of wood and bark by their parents (in addition to whole seeds, fruits, flower petals, and chunks of clay). The texture is in obvious contrast to the hand feeding formula captive raised birds are fed. It’s believed that the coarse texture to the diet of these developing chicks promotes a healthier, more muscular digestive system. And that, in turn, is necessary for the effective digestion of foods they will be eating in the wild. What happens is the hard items function as a type of grit. Even though true grit, as in a piece of granite, is insoluble (clay and minerals are not). These hard items, whether for the long run or temporarily, force stronger muscular contractions so are like a work out that strenghens digestive muscles. Adult parrots in captivity, as well, ingest small pieces of walnuts or other hard shells on occasion (maybe to promote that condition?). But how amazing that parent birds in the wild know this! Not only that but the same crop samples studied show that the chicks are being fed diets higher in nutrition than what is commonly available in their habitat. So, it means the parents are also being very selective as to what they feed their chicks. They know and select only what's best for their baby's!...Lol

The above is from research conducted on on macaw chicks at Tambopata, Peru.

According to David J. Henzler, D.V.M. in his book "Healthy Diet/Healthy Bird," “grit” became something that captive parrots should not be fed because parrots that were on all seed diets (nutritionally starved) sought out minerals and therefore consumed excessive quantities of it. This caused impaction and related problems. But it would seem that some grit actually is beneficial.

I think it’s interesting to consider that clay lick use increases by macaws and other parrots right before the breeding season. Not only providing sodium or a counter to toxic food items but it seems a healthier digestive system to their young. Although, more studies on this are necessary since what is out there seems only to scratch the surface.

 

[nikolaparrot]

I'm not so sure but i thinkl that my parrot is actually EATING it.Because most of the time i see the paper in his mouth,I mean he holds it. (He picks the best one )