Morana Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Well, as some know, my Zak LOVES shreddable toys! :-) Since now, it meant give him any piece of paper or a birdie bagel and you'll have a happy, happy bird. Well now, you'd still have a happy, happy bird but now this happy bird EATS paper and cardboard!! :-((((((((( I'm totally miserable! Zak is banned playing with all his favorite toys and I have one sad bird. It just happened literally one day. Yesterday he was just shredding and throwing instantly everything on the floor and another day he was taking just little bits out of paper/birdie bagels/tea boxes, making little balls off of it and swallowing them. What should I do? Why the hell did it start? What do you see and I don't? I need any input because now we are both really miserable! :-( I'm going on trip tomorrow and of course I wanted to leave him the whole cage filled with birdie bagels, paper toys and other stuff and now he is stuck with just 3 toys that aren't eatable to him (for now) and he doesn't like 2 of them. So, Zak we'll be even sadder without me and all the toys. Help guys! How much can this swallowing stuff hurt him? How can I rehabilitate him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Are you SURE he is eating/ swallowing it? My birds LOVE it, they appear to eat it, but mostly shredding is what they are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray P Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 My grey and amazon do the same thing and it looks like they are eating it , but they are not. Is he eating his regular food and treats ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Well, he definitely changed the way he is shredding. He used to chomp of a bit, no matter the size of the piece, and throw it instantly away. Now he is biting the smallest bits, rolling them in the beak and as I watched him, my nose against his beak,he makes that motion where he swallows and he doesn't spit anything out and rarely I can see something shredded on the floor. I watched him for few days now and today it dawned on me that he is doing it on purpose! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Yes he is eating normal as always..He sure is not hungry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I truly doubt that he is eating it. It does appear that way at times, but they really are letting it drop out of therir beak at some point in time after they have rolled it into a ball and chewed on it for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Well, here is the video and I really haven't seen him throw it away at any point. Let me know what you think. http://s220.photobucket.com/albums/dd240/evilzlo/?action=view¤t=MOV02269.mp4 The question is, what if he is eating it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 Oh, and I forgot to mention!!- One day (that's how it started) I saw Zak puke (2 times!!) a bits of paper. Both were slimy so I started to suspect something might not be OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovethatgrey Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 I have a feeling that he isn't swallowing anything at all even though it may seem like it. I used to worry about that too. They're very smart and tend to know what is edible and what isn't. My Emma loves shreddables. I'd rather see a destroyed toy than an untouched toy. Anything untouched is a waste of my hard earned dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koekie Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Maybe I'm wrong, but I think he swallows it because the paper is gone. And that is exactly how my bird eats. IF he eats it, it could be dangerous if he eats to much of it. I wouldn't hang it in his cage, and find something else. Maybe hang a carrot in his cage or branches of willow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingy Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Do you notice a change in his droppings or do you see any paper mixed in it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 10, 2012 Author Share Posted January 10, 2012 He is pooping a LOT lately. I have the vet checked the droppings and everything is fine. I must say that I haven't really watched myself that closely.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) Wow, in that video it does indeed look as if he is swallowing the paper. If he is, it could certainly impact his crop. You were correct in not giving him paper any longer if that is true. Edited January 11, 2012 by danmcq Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawL Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) I agree, it looks to me that he is definitely swallowing his paper! Definitely could be very hazardous to his health, so you did the right thing by removing his shreddable toys. I know it wasn't easy on either of you I think the carrots and willow were a good suggestion... maybe also an edible perch? Something along those lines that he can shred and eat. It is going to be hard for awhile on the both of you, but hopefully you will find something new that he will enjoy destroying AND can eat as well. Edited January 11, 2012 by DawL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingy Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Baked sweet potato chips, dehydrated fruit or vegie leathers, mini ears of dried corn are pickables that won't spoil especially the mini ears of dried corn. I picked some up that could be eaten as is or placed in the microwave for plain popcorn (about half stayed on the ear so it was fun to pull apart) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share Posted January 11, 2012 So guys, do you think there is a way to make him stop? Any thoughts why he would have start eating it in a first place? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 So guys, do you think there is a way to make him stop? Any thoughts why he would have start eating it in a first place? That's the million dollar question and it could not be answered positively. It is not normal for any bird to swallow items like that. They will shred them, chew them in to little balls or pieces and then you'll find small pieces laying around, as you have described. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Wow that is some video. He let you,open his beak, my birds wouldn't let me do that. Have you tried pine nuts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 I think your baby is doing just fine! Watched video. Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 I don't think he is doing just fine!! He is eating paper and cardboard! He is not fine! So without his usual, favorite toys, I saw (when I came home from my trip an hour ago) that Zak played with just one of the alternative toys I have left him:-( My father tells me he cuddled a lot but still.. I start working on Monday and don't know how will he be doing without his toys. I see he's likes playing on his boing and he is flying around quite a bit but when I'll be gone all day he won't be able to stay outside the cage and there fore he'll have less things to play with.. Maybe he warms to those other toys, but my first wish is he stops eating paper and cardboard so we can get backed to our usual games :-) Thank you all for answering:-) And Talon,it is normal at our house. I trim/clip his beak when necessary (without toweling). He is not happy about it but lets me do it. I wanted to order pine nuts at several occasions now and somehow I end up without them because the shop I'm ordering from at that moment doesn't have them. I usually buy everything together (food, toys..) because the cost of the shipping is terribly high. If someone has some good sites where I could order, pleas put them here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovethatgrey Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 try Persnickety Parrot. They sell more than food and do ship internationally. http://www.persnicketyparrot.com/Treats_c_56.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammco Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Just my thoughts.....I am not an expert but just my 2cents I have had several birds, big and small and in between. All of my birds, especially Timmy LOVE to chew and destroy! I know I have seen Timmy swallow bits of paper, cardboard, and cotton rope, and probably other things I havent seen. I am very particular about my animals but they are pretty smart too. Just like a dog eating poop....Sometimes they do wierd stuff. I dont think a bit of this and that ingested will cause too much harm. You said he is eating good but pooping ALOT, well if you ate something bad you would have the runs too! I wouldnt worry about it unless he is eating metal and drinking paint as his normal diet!! You know I am being funny, but if it were me I wouldnt worry too much, cause if bits of paper make him feel bad he is smart enough to not eat it again (like when I said many times "Im never drinking EVER EVER again") Keep an eye on the ole fella and ask the vet if he seems ill, and have FUN!! Dont sweat it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 (edited) I wouldn't worry if he would eat paper/cardboard occasionally. Like you said, they/we all do stupid things once in a while, but problem is that now eating seems constant. What ever he picked up he ended up swallowing and I don't know what is going on in this little pretty head of his. i don't wish to risk it. The thing that is somewhere in the back of my mind is that maybe something else is wrong and this eating is just a consequence-like some people eat much more when they are nervous, bite their nails... I'm thinking something else is going on.. It did turn out that he had more of Escherichia coli in his bowls but we fixed it very quickly (that is why I haven't mentioned it). And the vet said it also can happen due to stress and I'll say, not being home those last 3 weeks is stress all right. I was working so much and so long that he wouldn't see me for 10-12 hours and in the end he wouldn't eat all his food, he was waiting for me. So that is a big deal. Of course when I came he ate everything. I stayed up late just to be with him, to play, cuddle, feed him... But that has passed and he is still doing this paper thing. Could it be the echo of the problem? Maybe he didn't quite get over the stress from that period? It is funny how I connected all this things into one just now.. Should have thought of that sooner:-S And Lovethatgrey, I just figured, thanks to your link, that he already has pine nuts in his diet but I didn't know they were pine nuts! When I wanted to order pine nuts separately, they were always put in some bags and I haven't seen them in shells so I didn't figure out that I saw them before! :-) Unfortunately, Zak throws all kinds of nuts away:-S Haven't quite figure out what to do about it.. What do you guys think of Nutri -Berries? Good for offering like a treat or not? Edited January 14, 2012 by Morana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morana Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 I just saw Zak eating his TOWEL!!!! What the f*** is going on!?! Hi is breaking away little peaces (the rim of the towel), making a ball out of it and swallowing it! I'm really, really in shock right now. What else!?! I can't put everything away.. What to do..:-(((( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I wonder if it's permanent, or just a phase he's going through? I'd take away all the paper and cardboard and towels and other inedible things he can roll into balls and swallow. In a month or two, maybe introduce some paper back into the equation under carefully supervised conditions, and see if he's over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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