SnowMan

I just thought I would update this thread as it has been a few years now. Jesse is still eating wood and is in perfect health. He eats it in a very measured amount. There are certain nuts where he eats the shell as a substitute for his toothpick. He still loves his round toothpicks and generally gets one a day. He is not allowed to chew on any of the trim around the house and any attempt on his part to do so is met with my immediate disapproval! He has never had any health issues other than the initial feather plucking years ago when I was trying to intervene in his eating wood. He has been by far the most entertaining and most affectionate parrot I have ever known. He has also been the most irritating and annoying bird I have ever known. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but that is the truth. There is no way for me to begin to number his vocabulary except to say that anything he wants to say, he can say it. While he can be very entertaining when the grandkids or guests are over, he can also act like a spoiled brat when he doesn't get his way. I raised two children who came out great and never acted like a spoiled brat, so I didn't raise this bird to be that way. It is just the way he can be sometimes. I guess I will take the good with the bad. I love him and he will be my buddy for life! The reason why I am updating this after so long a time, is that should anyone else have the same problem and are searching for an answer, it will help to alleviate fear. I buy the diamond brand round toothpics which are safe for humans and they have never caused a health issue for my Grey. He eats the shell of some woody nuts. He likes peanuts but not the shell. I buy him the KAYTEE Fiesta Max which has a variety of hard shelled nuts. He likes some people food. He likes a little bit of egg white from my breakfast in the morning. He still likes his green grapes on occasion. He used to eat some green veggies but never really loved them. He now won't eat them at all. It amazes me that of all things that go into a 5lb bag of Parrot mix at a cost of $20 a bag, that my bird only eats a small portion from the mix. Seems like such a waste, but he knows what he wants, and is healthy and happy. I hope all of you are doing well and thank you so much for this forum and the help and loving support we received. SnowMan

I just wanted to update everyone On how Jessie is doing as there might be another Grey owner out there with the same problem. I eventually just gave in to his toothpick fetish and he has been healthy and happy ever since. He is in almost perfect feather and just talks and plays all day. He is by far the most interesting bird we have ever known. Almost 2 years old now and there is no way to number his vocabulary. literally hundreds of sounds, words, phrases, and sentences. I don't even know where he learns it all from. I think he invents some of things he says and does out of his own imagination. If anyone would like me to make a video of him, I would be happy to.

Everyone's comments and suggestions have helped me tremendously through this crisis. What I have been doing that seems to be curbing his appetite for wood somewhat, is to give him something else when he is asking for the toothpick. Today he devoured a quarter ear of corn and the cob. There was nothing left of the cob at all. I don't know just how much of the corn or the cob for that matter he ingested, but it did satisfy his need temporarily for the wood. He has stopped the feather plucking for now, and is starting to improve his appearance. He never did pluck himself bald, but he was looking a bit tattered. Someone on this forum suggested that he was eating the wood to get my attention, and I think there was a lot of truth to that. Sometimes it is his way of acting out to get my attention. If I don't give him the toothpick, but rather just take him for a walk or in some other way spend some time with him, then he seems to forget that he wanted a toothpick. Thats not to say, that he has stopped eating wood altogether, He still is grabbing a nibble hear and there from the perches or trim on my wall:( , but things seem to be improving, and he has not shown any signs of illness. I will have to make another video of him, just being him. He is so entertaining! He is saying something new everyday. I asked him if he wanted an apple today, and he said "No thank you!" That just floored me! I guess he learned that from me, since he has been saying " Do you want an apple", and I guess I must have been saying No Thank You to him, without even thinking about it.<br><br>Post edited by: SnowMan, at: 2007/06/24 23:03

Here is a short clip of him eating a toothpick. My first attempt at making a movie so tell me if it is too big or too small. It is a 10 meg file for download. Here is the link. http://dawsontree.com/rian/jesse.wmv

Well right now, I have both.

Yes if he were only chewing the wood, there would be no problem. He eats the toothpick, as stated earlier. He doesn't strip it off, but rather snaps off each little piece starting from the end. It use to take him about 5 minutes to eat one toothpick, but now it takes him only 2 minutes to eat it. I serve him the round kind, not the flat ones. Nothing but the best for my baby! I guess I will have to make a small video clip of him, so everyone can see that he is indeed eating them. It may take a while to figure out how to video and upload, as I haven't done that before. I think i can figure it out.

I guess that is better than letting him smoke them! It is just raining feathers around here right now, and I finally said enough is enough. He got a toothpick today, I will have to see if that stops his feather plucking. I gave him a bath yesterday the aloe kind, and he looks all pretty today, but the bottom and all around his cage is just littered with feathers. I am going to keep up the bath treatment, it is supposed to be a deterrent to feather plucking, but so far it hasn't worked.

I have sad news. He has become so depressed that I will not give him a toothpick, that he is begining to become self destructive. Last night he pulled a big long feather out, turned it on end and held it just like he holds the toothpick and started chewing on the end of the barb. Today I come home early from work to check on him, and there are several feathers around his cage. I don't know what is worse, letting him have his daily toothpick and risk health problems down the road, or having a plucked chicken for a pet. I brought him home some of his favorite grapes and he seems much happier at the moment. He likes the green seedless grapes, he doesn't care for the red grapes that i bought last time. I sure hope he doesn't keep this feather plucking up.

It is called a pine nut likely from the pinyon pine. I don't know if the shell of this nut is better than giving him toothpicks, but it sure has become a favorite of his since I took away the wood.

The idea with the x ray was to see if his crop or abdomen looked dark or abnormal from a build up of wood. The xray was negative, but as you say wood doesn't show up to well. The vet didn't think there would be any vitamin or mineral in a toothpick that the bird needed to balance his diet. The wood if treated could be toxic though. I am still wondering if the bird is needing it to aid in digestion. Funny thing about this bird though, He will ask for a grape and ask for a peanut and an apple, but he has never even tried to say toothpick. He knows the word well, if you say toothpick, he will drop down off his top perch which hangs from the ceiling and run around the top of his cage all excited and beg. He also tells me now when he has to go pottie. If he does have an accident, he says uh!Oh! Poo Poo! He is learning something new to say everyday now. I love this little guy as you can tell, and am so worried about this eating wood thing, and now the shell of this nut. I have never seen him eat any of the other shells, just this one. I saw him eat it twice now. I took it away from him and examined it, and I have no idea what kind of nut it is. I will have to get a close up of it and post it. That is if I can find another one in his bag.

All right I give up. I go to the vet again, and x ray didn't or couldn't show any build up of wood in crop or abdomen. Still my vet says the same as everyone else on this board. Eating wood cannot be good for your parrot. Remove everything wood from him and make him tough it out like a junkie. It's called "intervention" he says. So three days without wood, and the ranting and temper tantrums have finally ceased. Just when I think I am over the hump and making progress, I hear something from behind me that sounds like my grey chewing wood again. I turn to look to see what he has, and discover he has found another way to defeat me. He is now eating the hard shell of a nut that I have yet to identify. It is a little black hard shell nut of some kind. I get the Veracruz parrot mix, and I mix in a pound of there fruit and nuts. I think the nut must have come from the fruit and nuts as I have never noticed it in the Veracruz mix before. The shell of this nut looks and feels exactly like wood, and yes he is eating it.

Hmm.. That sounds like a good idea. I doubt if you could see the wood from an xray, but you could see if he had a build up in his crop. I will see if I can get him back in after the holiday.

ZoesDad wrote: I will admit that his eating wood is strange, and he is a strange little fellow, but trying to remove wood from a birds environment, is like trying to remove water from a fishes environment. Imagine if you had a fish that like to swallow water. Sure it is unusual, but how do you fix it. Birds live in trees, and trees are made of wood. So is my whole house made of wood. I don't want any harm to come to this little guy as he is by far the best parrot I have ever had. We had a Ghana grey many years ago that had a vocabulary of more than three hundred words, and I think this little guy will easily exceed that. He picks things up much quicker and wants to play and interact. If you refuse him his toothpick, He will tolerate it for no more than a day, after that he will start throwing the biggest tantrum you have ever seen. If you keep him locked in his cage, he stands in front of the door and takes his foot and starts making a digging motion like he is trying to dig under a fence. He must have learned this behavour from all the puppies. The previous owner was a breeder. While he is digging, he starts whimpering like a puppy and if you don't let him out after three hours of this, it only esculates into growling. I could go on, but you get the picture. You can't treat this grey like a bird, you can only deal with him like you would a two or three year old child. I guess I will have to make a video of him. Most of the time he is very well behaved and very affectionate, he only throws the temper if you deprive him of the wood. I know it is wierd. Its been almost 6 months now, and no problem with him yet. My grey can't be the only parrot out there that eats wood. Come on people help me out here.:blush:

That was a good article. http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww58eii.htm I have had many parrots over the years, and always made it available to them, but never seen one ever show any interest in it. I finally just quit buying it, as it seemed like a waste of money. I don't know about greys, but I know horses regulate there own mineral intake and they are better at it then a chemist. Most creatures just know from instinct what they need and will take it, if you make it available to them. In the wild, greys have much to choose from, but in captivity they can only choose from what is offered to them. This little grey can tell he doesn't like something just by looking at it. You can encourage him all he wants, but he only eats what he wants and, he knows what he wants. Still if you know something is not good for your pet you would not want to make it available to him. I guess that goes without saying. Post edited by: SnowMan, at: 2007/05/22 01:34<br><br>Post edited by: SnowMan, at: 2007/05/22 02:16

FairY wrote: Thank you for the welcome, and this is a great forum. I love the way it was designed. Someone really knows there stuff! I have designed a few websites, but nothing that ever looked this nice. About the toothpicks. As I mentioned earlier, he will get wood one way or the other. This is a very determined bird. The only way you can keep him from eating wood is to remove all wooden perches, toys,etc.. from his cage and keep him locked up in this sterile environment. As soon as you let him out he will go straight for the molding or anywhere else he can get a nibble of wood. As long as he gets his toothpick a day, he is much more manageable. His former care giver didn't keep him in a cage, but had several perches mounted from the ceiling. There were numerous toys of wood hanging also. I did notice that they had the whole wall including ceiling covered with something like Plexiglas or something. I asked what that was about, and they said to protect him from chewing. So I was prepared for the chewing, but I didn't know he liked to eat wood. The reason why I give him the toothpick, is that it doesn't tend to splinter and is non toxic. I guess you might say it is the lesser of the two evils. I could break him of the toothpick addiction just by putting a little something nasty on the toothpick, kinda like when you want a kid to quit sucking his thumb. That would stop him on the toothpicks, but it would not stop his eating wood. I still wonder if maybe giving him some kind of grit or gravel for his gizzard would help. It seems like he is telling me he needs the wood. As I say, if I deprive him of the wood, he will take that toothpick before he will take a peanut or anything. This is just weird! This grey is a very active little guy and he is learning something new to say now almost daily. He isn't just talking now, but he is talking back. :huh: