Dry poop!!!

[Gary M.]

Hi there..have just joined.
I have a 8week old Linnie. His cage is spacious( a double decker " Vision" cage. I’ve noticed that my linnie doesn’t tolerate being smudged with his baby meal,or even when he has a drink and a bit of water drips from his beak! What he does is wipe his head,face and beak evetywhere in his cage..and that is super!! He even lets me know when he needs to poop..after being calm in my hand while being petted,he becomes agitated and I bring him in his cage and he does his business!! Super!
Now, to my question. Since the past week I’ve noticed that he nibbles,and maybe eats, his dried poop. Have recently seen him(yesterday),what seemed to be, hI’m eating fresh poop on one of his rope perches!! Now,normally in older birds or animals this behaviour is a sign that something is lacking,mineral wise, in his diet ,but this would not be the case with such a young bird that is weaned to seeds. I am I nuts or he just trying to clean up his living quarters!!??? I change the bottom every two days now with a clean sheet of wipe-alls.
Does anyone have a bird that does this? At such a young age,this worries me a bit ....this would be a TERRIBLE habit to pick up!!!...and wouldn’t be so good for his health.
Can someone help me out with this...am open to all suggestions!!

 

[Ember-Tiel]

My cockatiel ate a lot of her dried poop when she was younger which resulted in her crop getting an infection, so its definitely not a great habit to pick up.

Make sure you clean his cage's grate whenever you see a lot if dry poop, and make sure you are giving him cuttlebone and minerals beacuse he might be lacking in vitamins and is trying to get them from eating his own poop.

Hopefully this helped.

 

[budgieluv3]

With vision cages the food bowls are at the bottom of the cage, so she might be mistaking food for poop when she is young. Try to find stainless steel food bowls that mount, I have these ones.... Living World® Stainless Steel Small Animal Dish | small pet Feeders & Water Bottles | PetSmart . Good Luck!

 

[Maggiebird]

Like @Ember-Tiel said try cleaning the poop before your bird can see it so he doesn’t try to eat it.

 

[Gary M.]

My cockatiel ate a lot of her dried poop when she was younger which resulted in her crop getting an infection, so its definitely not a great habit to pick up.

Make sure you clean his cage's grate whenever you see a lot if dry poop, and make sure you are giving him cuttlebone and minerals beacuse he might be lacking in vitamins and is trying to get them from eating his own poop.

Hopefully this helped.

Thank you for your insight but a lack of minerals at 8 weeks probably isn’t a probable cause but I WILL be cleaning up more often so that he breaks this habit. Haven’t seen him doing this since my last cleaning.

 

[Gary M.]

Like @Ember-Tiel said try cleaning the poop before your bird can see it so he doesn’t try to eat it.

Thank you for the suggestion and that is exactly the decision I took! I will be cleaning more often until he breaks this habit. today he was more busy spinning his new rope covered ring!! What a clown this guy is!

 

[Ember-Tiel]

Thank you for your insight but a lack of minerals at 8 weeks probably isn’t a probable cause but I WILL be cleaning up more often so that he breaks this habit.

Whoops sorry! I must have skimmed over the 8 weeks part.

Nice to know your bird is doing well, hopefully he won't be eating his poop anymore.

 

[Gary M.]

With vision cages the food bowls are at the bottom of the cage, so she might be mistaking food for poop when she is young. Try to find stainless steel food bowls that mount, I have these ones.... Living World® Stainless Steel Small Animal Dish | small pet Feeders & Water Bottles | PetSmart . Good Luck!

Now that’s a good idea !!...and very plausible because some seeds end up on the bottom of his cage...but, I did catch him try to pick poop and his spiral robe....I cleaned fresh poop on it twice because of this. I’ll be look into getting the small stainless dishes. Thanks again for the suggestion

 

[Ember-Tiel]

Now that’s a good idea !!...and very plausible because some seeds end up on the bottom of his cage...but, I did catch him try to pick poop and his spiral robe....I cleaned fresh poop on it twice because of this. I’ll be look into getting the small stainless dishes. Thanks again for the suggestion

I've heard steel food containers also grow less bactiera in them then plastic ones do, so investing in them should definitely be a good choice.

 

[Gary M.]

Now that’s a good idea !!...and very plausible because some seeds end up on the bottom of his cage...but, I did catch him try to pick poop and his spiral robe....I cleaned fresh poop on it twice because of this. I’ll be look into getting the small stainless dishes. Thanks again for the suggestion

Meant...spiral rope!

 

[budgieluv3]

Now that’s a good idea !!...and very plausible because some seeds end up on the bottom of his cage...but, I did catch him try to pick poop and his spiral robe....I cleaned fresh poop on it twice because of this. I’ll be look into getting the small stainless dishes. Thanks again for the suggestion

No Problem!

 

[Gary M.]

Now that’s a good idea !!...and very plausible because some seeds end up on the bottom of his cage...but, I did catch him try to pick poop and his spiral robe....I cleaned fresh poop on it twice because of this. I’ll be look into getting the small stainless dishes. Thanks again for the suggestion

I was checking Amazon yesterday and the smallest I found was8-10 onces......think I will check out a local restaurant equipment store here where they might have some small stainless service bowls, you know the kind they might use for sauces or condiments. I’m quite handy at building things so I‘lol make a thick steel wire rack that will fit on to his cages held with butterfly screws and washers.
In my spare time I am building him an amusement park...16” x 20” with a whole lot of natural and built perches ,climbing ropes,bridges and multilevel perches. He is too young for the moment because all he thinks about is flying off...he is presently in training. Have a good day now!
( for his flight adventures I clipped just the tip of his wings to slow him down...he’s funny because he flies in circles around me and has a hard time finding a spot to land...and that is normal...he’s learning!)