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Post by Hannah on Oct 3, 2016 10:01:31 GMT -5
Ollie's never eaten poop before but today I was sitting across from him eating with him and I gave him an apple, he turned around in his perch and ate his poop. Is this because I gave him more pellets then seed today? My vet said to give him 80% pellets.
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Post by julianna on Oct 3, 2016 13:13:13 GMT -5
Personally I do not know why they would eat their own poop. The vet has given good advice to feed at least 80% pellets. There are so many other foods that you can also try which are human food and good for them as well. Many fruits (not citrus), lots of veggies and bits of grained bread or small pieces of a cracker. Oscar loves a small marshmellow now and again as well as pasta.
I would certainly ask your vet why your QP is doing this. Is some nutrition lacking in Ollie? I would certainly find out and have this stopped as quickly as you can.
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Post by aaron on Oct 3, 2016 16:35:23 GMT -5
They have a cleaning instinct, where they will pick up dry (only dry) poop and crumble it in their beaks, without actually eating it. Cupcake does this a lot. I don't think she's actually eating it... her diet is really quite good so I can't imagine it is based on a deficiency. But it's obviously pretty hard to tell.
At any rate, whether she is eating it or not, it's seemingly harmless. She's been doing this for ages.
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Post by cnyguy on Oct 3, 2016 20:54:18 GMT -5
They have a cleaning instinct, where they will pick up dry (only dry) poop and crumble it in their beaks, without actually eating it. Cupcake does this a lot. I don't think she's actually eating it... her diet is really quite good so I can't imagine it is based on a deficiency. But it's obviously pretty hard to tell. At any rate, whether she is eating it or not, it's seemingly harmless. She's been doing this for ages. Ralph will do that sometimes too, if I'm too slow to get around to cleaning his cage. That's usually what's happening when a parront suspects their parrot is eating poop, though it may be possible that a parrot does actually eat some. If it's certain that Ollie is actually eating his droppings, that's something to discuss with his vet, who can probably find a solution, and maybe even a reason for it. |
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Post by biteybird on Oct 4, 2016 2:21:17 GMT -5
Bonnie does this too - at least, she picks up dried poop and breaks it apart with her beak before pushing it out of her happy hut (if she has pooped in it accidentally during the night). So it's possible that Ollie is not actually eating it (?).
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Post by zim on Oct 4, 2016 2:32:18 GMT -5
Yoshi does the same thing as Bonnie - cleans the dry poop from his happy hut.
On a side note, something that's made me curious for a while is why Yoshi can go a week without pooping in his happy hut, but then it's like he stops caring and poops a lot in it.
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Post by biteybird on Oct 4, 2016 3:23:37 GMT -5
Bonnie used to have a bigger happy hut & used to poop in it all the time. After I put in a smaller one she doesn't do very often. I think it's because when she "backs up" to poop her rear end mostly clears the edge of the smaller hut, which she couldn't do in the larger one.
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Post by zim on Oct 4, 2016 6:12:12 GMT -5
I know Yoshi can back up far enough to poop off the back edge, I've seen him do it. And in the beginning he was very good about it. Then as time went by, it seems like he goes through phases of not caring, or not trying. His cage is covered at night, and he hasn't decided to go in there during the day time that I've seen in a long time, so I haven't actually got to see if he's trying or not.
The only way I even know he uses it is because he's always in it when I uncover him of the morning. And on the rare occasions I'm late getting him to bed, he will climb in it and wait.
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Post by Hannah on Oct 4, 2016 10:13:09 GMT -5
I think he might've been cleaning it because he didn't eat it, it kinda fell on the ground, I think he might've been upset since I added a new toy and it was in front of his cuttlebone so he wouldn't go near it but whenever he eats he rubs his beak on the cuttlebone.
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Post by julianna on Oct 6, 2016 13:36:23 GMT -5
Holy Smokes... I had no idea that Quakers would do this. I have never seen Oscar do it but hey.... if all the other quakers are doing it... I guess it is harmless and part of the cleaning instinct. You see... on this forum you learn new things every day.
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Post by haim on Jul 15, 2018 7:06:57 GMT -5
my parrot doesnt eat his own poop but he just puts it around his mouth and i cant kiss him like it he comes to try and kiss me wtih poop in his mouth its werid
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Post by dinucci on Jul 16, 2018 6:17:55 GMT -5
Never seen buddy do this. I mean,I keep his cages and play area clean as I don't work anymore so I'm afforded the time to do so.
But on a side note,it seems like the ones who do are just doing their own kind of housework.
Buddy doesn't have a happy hut because he defends it to the point of being a jerk the second I put it atop his cages. It's more of a barrel shaped thing which he thinks is a potential nest I actually have 2 in with his seldom used bin. The other is a triangle hut that I had inside his cage but he scowled at me for putting it up and never used in the 4 months it was hanging there..I have only one of my white socks that he snuggles up to.
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Post by Kiwi on Jul 19, 2021 17:32:33 GMT -5
I thought my kiwi was eating her poop also
But the more I watch her she just chips dried on poop off and grinds it up in her beak,
I do keep her cage extremely clean because kiwi does this,but I have to remove her from the cage because she protects her home
She does not like me cleaning it
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Post by ellisael on Jan 5, 2022 2:35:43 GMT -5
I have been asked this before and I also believe, like some of the earlier responders that it is a function of cleaning instinct. Sometimes even some questions like the tendency to do what might seem shocking to human culture is only so far as wondering how many spoons of sugar in tea
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Post by heatherg on Jan 19, 2023 16:35:05 GMT -5
Seems to me that since Quaker parakeets live and roost in their nest year round, they would need to have some way to reduce buildup of droppings? They use the same nest for a long time. If they didn’t “clean” it then it would get fouled.
Other parrot species do not roost in their nest cavities year round (with some very few exceptions) so perhaps that’s not needed.
My Quakers have all been VERY PARTICULAR about their cages, and Willow is also particular about his perching basket. Strange to watch a bird scrape dried dropping off of cage wires. They seem to be very deliberate.
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