Licking EVERYTHING?

[Thugluvgrl187]

Squeeky's new thing is to lick everything and I mean EVERYTHING. He would lick faces and stuff before which no big deal, but now he wants to lick the bed sheets, pillows, pillowcases, blankets, our laptop, my phone (Don't worry about germs as I sanitize and clean the phone everynight), TV remote etc. I'm not sure what this means. Do you think he is just going through a stage? Do you have any ideas why he could be doing this?

 

[JAM]

If he was a lory or lorikeet that's absolutely normal, for other species not sure, our lovies do a lot of licking, but mainly shredding and destroying.

 

[Thugluvgrl187]

He is acting completely normal which includes his talking, singing, and flying around the house. He even greeted me his typical "Hello" this morning. Maybe he is just being weird .

 

[Tweet]

Haha I never heard of a tiel' whom likes to LICK everything! try adding a honey stick in his cage, maybe he will lick it and get hooked!

 

[Thugluvgrl187]

Haha I never heard of a tiel' whom likes to LICK everything! try adding a honey stick in his cage, maybe he will lick it and get hooked!

The funny thing is he does have one of those square seed blocks that I added to his cage to his a few days ago and both him and Scooty have been tearing it up .

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Have you considered he is looking to take in extra salt? I provide a salt spool for my birds and they often go over and lick it or chip off a piece.

 

[Thugluvgrl187]

Have you considered he is looking to take in extra salt? I provide a salt spool for my birds and they often go over and lick it or chip off a piece.

It's funny you mention because someone at my job told me the same thing. I had always thought that salt was bad for birds though. What the salt spool look like?

 

[tozie12]

salt is a natural substance the every living thing needs to some degree. often we humans OVER salt our food. but my first thought was the same, that he needed more salt. parrot food manufacturers dont add salt to their foods. i sometimes wonder if our flocks dont get enough salt. i dont even pretend to be a nutritionist tho, so i cant say for sure. i CAN say that i let my ollie have a bit of extra sea salt, he seems to crave it.

as far as just licking? my mac, skittles, does that. he has strings of acrylic beads and he will sit and lick 'em like a kid with an ice cream. so it could have absolutely NOTHING to do with salt... maybe he's just a lil freaky.

eta: a salt spool is sold near small rodent foodstuff. its a 'wheel' of white salt with a hole in the middle.

 

[Anne & Gang]

I would see if he is deficient in anything...I don't agree with adding a salt spool...I think they start to lick things when their bodies are deficient in a certain vitamin

 

[newatthistx]

2 out of 4 of my tiels have always licked everything....I think it's like they are testing everything, kinda like a person who has to touch and feel everything with their hands......I hate that they do it because there is germs on everything no matter how well someone cleans so I'm always worried their gonna pick something up, but they haven't in several years here now, but I still worry

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

I find my tiels taste things often before they touch them with their beak. Especially if I reach out with something toward them that may be a treat. They taste it before they take it from me.

Salt spools provide salt safely in that they allow the bird to take what they need when they need it. I find in especially hot weather or when the hens are sitting on eggs or feeding babies, they visit the salt spool a lot.

Some people and dogs eat dirt when they are low on iron and people will sometimes want to lick metal when they are magnesium deficient. No vitamin deficiency I can think of causes a lust for licking things.