New to this site - just took in a female Eclectus parrot!

Hi everyone!

My name is T.J. This looks like a great site for bird owners! Last week, the day after Thanksgiving, I unexpectedly took in a 4-year-old female Eclectus parrot. Long story short, my aunt is a probation officer who put someone in jail last week for selling a lot of drugs and they were going to be putting everything of his in private storage, except for the bird he kept in a small pet carrier for three years - they were going to send her to a bird rescue to find her a home. My aunt just happened to tell me the story about her and how she had to put away her client and she was telling me how she felt horrible that this beautiful parrot was going to a tiny bird rescue in the area and she wasn't sure what would happen to her. I saw a picture of her and for whatever reason immediately felt the need to take her in. My aunt was able to pull some strings, and the day after Thanksgiving, I took in a young, beautiful-seemingly expensive bird for free.

I unfortunately didn't have very much time to research owning a bird, let alone an exotic parrot, so I immediately bought her a nice cage off of Craigslist for a nice price to at least try to help her settle in. Over the past week I've fallen in love with this bird so much. I can't get over how beautiful she is, and how friendly she is to me. She's very timid, but I can hear her mumble "hello", "yeah", and what I think is "pretty rosie", which looks like it means Rosie will most likely be her name. I realize I've made a commitment for at least the next forty years of my life after researching the Eclectus parrot, but at the same time, I have a few questions I was hoping perhaps someone out there would be able to answer for me, or at least point me in the right direction of the answer before I find her a veterinarian that will be able to check her out and hopefully give her a clean bill of health.

First off, as strikingly beautiful as she is, her breath really stinks! It smells like baby vomit. :52: I've read online that many large birds have an odd smell on their breath because of their diet and their dry mouth not washing it down, but I just wanted to make sure this was normal for a bird her age. Also, she seems to have no balance at all. Whenever she climbs something, she always seems to almost fall, scaring herself, which sends her in to a wing-flapping frenzy to regain balance. I've noticed when I put my finger near her to have her step up, when she puts her foot up, the bottom of her feet is bright pink with no scales or "tread" on them. I can't imagine this is normal for a bird because birds have scaly feet that help them stay perched still without worrying about sliding. I may be completely wrong with that theory, but the bottom of her feet do worry me, but maybe since she's still just a few years old, over time it will build up?

Lastly, she seems to sneeze kind of a lot for a bird. I've been around other small birds like cockatiels, parakeets, and even a conure and rarely ever see them sneeze, but she seems to sneeze about once every ten minutes. I have a large apartment that is very, very clean and free of dust or dander. I worry she may have a cold or an allergy, or I can just be over-exaggerating everything and she may be fine. But, like I said, I have yet to find a vet that sees birds in my area to take her in and make sure she's okay and see if she needs anything. From reading the forums on this site so far, everyone her seems extremely friendly and VERY helpful, so I'm really hoping someone out there can help out someone who made an impulse decision, but I don't regret it one bit! Just want to make sure my new pet is going to be healthy for many years to come. Thanks in advance everyone - goodnight!

As you would with any animal recently coming into your house, you need to take this bird for a 'wellness' exam at an avian vet... Just google the ones in your area...

I don't know anything and Ekkies, but I do know that cockatiels sneezes a lot... I think they like the sound it makes.

I'm so rude!

Welcome to the forums...

Hi TJ & welcome to the forum. Also welcome to Rosie.

Alarm bells are ringing for me regarding Rosies health. First what is her diet like. If she has been on a poor diet & is sneezing a lot, there is the risk of Vitamin A deficency. You can start to correct this by giving her green leafy veggies. Have a read through this link it will give you some great ideas on what she should be eating.
diets


Her feet maybe smooth because she hasn't had various size perches to exercise her feet. Using natural tree branches are much better. Their feet are not usually as scaly as the top of the foot but yes her pads could be worn down because she has only ever had a smooth perch.

Her breath could be off because of her diet, my eclectus have a sweet honey kind of smell, but they get heaps of fresh fruits & vegs. But also she could have some infection going on there.

A normal Vet would be able to take swabs & see if she has any bacterial infections. If there is a major problem i am sure they would consult with an Avian Vet if there isn't one in your area & is to far away.

If there is anything else I can help with just ask.

Thanks for the quick responses! She looks healthy, but I know birds do a great job at hiding their illnesses. She refuses to eat any vegetables or fruits for some reason. I bought a huge five-pound bag of food that you scoop and weigh yourself at a bird store outside Philadelphia which has a whole variety of things in it, including dried fruit, and she just throws it away when it's in her bowl. When I give her fresh veggies like spinach, lettuce, celery, carrots or tomatoes, she doesn't want anything to do with it. Fruits are the same way - I've tried mango, strawberries, pineapple, grapes and kiwi. It does worry me a bit, and I'm not sure how to get her to eat them, so I'm sure she's got a vitamin deficiency. I'm still looking for a bird vet in my area and once I find one, I'm going to take her in and get her checked out to see how she's doing.

I appreciate your help so far!

Hi TeeJay.

While I don't know anything about Ekkies I do have experience with smaller parrots. If she isn't interested in fruits or veggies it would seem to me that her previous owner never gave her these, therefore, she doesn't have a taste for them. Sadly, she has probably had a horrible diet and it could very well have had an effect on her overall health. I would suggest a cooked food for her to get her open to new foods. Something like what you see here:

Cookable Bird Food

You can always top it with some seed to get her interest. These foods are generally accepted and could make up for her unwillingness to eat raw veggies/fruits. I know that these foods are not cheap and it's always a gamble as to whether your bird will like it or not, but it sounds to me that you have really committed to your new pet and would do what is needed to make her healthy and happy.

As far as the sneezing is concerned, it sounds like it could be an upper respiratory infection. If she has had it for a long period of time it can get rapidly worse and even cause death. It's treated very simply with a liquid medicine prescribed by a vet. Like you mentioned birds instinctively try hard not to show any signs of sickness, so by the time they start showing signs/symptoms you have to act fast.
I understand that it may be hard to locate an avian vet in your area, but there must be one within driving distance. You could always call a local vet and explain your situation and see if they may know of one to direct you to. I would do this asap. The fact that her breath is that noticably bad also worries me, as well as the balance issue. Those things alone are not good signs especially the combination of the three.

Please let us know if you're able to find a vet and what the outcome is.

Good luck!

Don't know if this helps, but I found this avian vet. It says that it is only 36 minutes from the location you provided.
Aston, PA - Gloria J. Goodman (Avian & Exotic Animal Med) - 610-494-2811
Welcome!!

the other posters pretty much have it covered but im just gona add that eclectus have a intestinal track almost twice as long as other parrots so they need extra fiber
here are some websites with a good eclectus diet
Laurella Desborough's Eclectus Center
Laurella Desborough's Eclectus Center
Birds n Ways - Eclectus Diet - Eclectus Forum September 1997 Pet Birds, Pet Parrots, Exotic Birds
hope i helped and THANKYOU for caring about this bird and giving him such a wonderful home!

MissyMe83, IMO the diet you posted is not really a good start for eclectus parrots. She really needs to be eating the raw foods that are rich in the vitamins she needs. Once the food is cooked the vitamins are cooked out of them.

TJ if she is used to a seed diet, try taking that away & sprout her seeds or look on line to obtain sprouting seed mix for parrots, they will usually eat that & being sprouted is far better than the dry seeds. Once she starts to eat that you can start to chop up other fruits & veg in little cubes & mix that through the sprouts. By the sounds of things she is reasonably healthy but if you have had time to check out the eclectus diet i posted I am sure you will be able to turn this bird around.

By the way check out her droppings if she has green poops with the urates or urine part tinged green instead of clear there is every likelyhood she has liver disease.

Wow, these responses have been great so far! Thank you very much to everyone so far - it's comforting to know that there are others out there who are kind enough to care about other people's animals and offer advice and help. Pawsfoot - I contacted the vet office you provided for me - thanks so much for taking the time to look that up! It's not right around the corner, but she does specialize specifically in birds, which I cannot find in this area. All the vets are just dog/cat only. I called and left a message because their office closed at 5pm, so hopefully they'll return my call early tomorrow and I can bring her in to get checked out.

I did forget to mention the droppings when I originally started the thread super late last night. I've read online that if the droppings have small bubbles in them, that it's a sign of an infection, and they are bubbly when she lets them out. She does go about every 20 minutes which I know is a good sign, and the color seems pretty normal, at least from what I've gathered thus far, but there are definitely bubbles in them.

I have noticed that after she eats and drinks, her breath is fine, but if she hasn't eaten or drank anything in awhile, that's when her breath smells like death. It really does smell just like baby throw up. Poor girl is a little cannibal and doesn't hesitate to eat chicken or pretty much any other type of meat, but I've only let her taste them so far because I'm more concerned with getting her to eat greens to hopefully get her back on track. I actually work at a vegetarian cafe, so I'm going to take home some bean and sunflower sprouts tomorrow and mix them in with her food to see how she takes to that. Money really isn't going to be an issue for her and I - I just want to make sure she's healthy. Thank you all so much in advance - I really appreciate it! I'll post a picture of her in a bit if anyone wants to see her. Her colors are really pretty and her eyes, nose and beak are all in good shape. Thanks again!

Here's Rosie!

Just a thought occured to me, you mentioned she is 4 years old. She is a matured bird so i was thinking she could be regurgitating food & swallowing it again. That could be the cause of the smelly breath.

The food from your work place should be great & also i wonder if she would like fresh squeezed fruit juice frozen into little blocks, my eclectus love ice blocks. A small amount of cooked chicken meat is good for her, even the wing or leg bone, a bit of boiled egg as well as the shell. But everything should be balanced & in moderation.

Is regurgitating her food what may be causing her breath to smell bad? It makes sense. I did find out she likes Sunny Delight - she started drinking it out of a cup I had one morning, but since it was very cold, every time she licked it, she shook her head like the cold was doing something to her, or something. So I'm not sure if she would like ice, but I'll definitely freeze something up and give it a shot.

I tried the boiled egg before - she wanted nothing to do with it. It's like she's a carnivore only, or something.

She looks pretty healthy to me, shiny black beak, nice feathers. Just keep doing what your doing she will soon learn to eat healthy. I really don't think there is to much wrong. A complete overhaul of her diet & she'll be good as new.

Hi TeeJay-- we're neighbors! I live like 10 minutes from manayunk. It sounds like your new bird friend is fortunate to have found you. I'd take her to the vet to get checked-- the closest avian vet is in Flourtown/Erdenheim, so not too far. I'm blanking on the name but if you need it, my email is osnyder@gmail. It will cost a little over $300 for the check up and bloodwork. The wobbiliness you describe is a bit worrisome.

Did you get your bulk food from Bird Paradise?

Oh cool, where are you from? Do you have an Eclectus as well? Flourtown is pretty closeby, but I'm going to wait on the other vet I contacted this evening since I already requested they contact me back for an appointment. It's not that she doesn't have good balance - it's just that every time she tries to walk on someone she slides and almost falls off because she has no traction under her feet at all. I'm hoping getting her new perches will fix that.

And yes, Bird Paradise it is - good call!!!

So, I took Rosie to the vet last week and got the results back from spending $200 on the tests. She told me that Rosie is completely healthy and there isn't really anything wrong with her, except that she needs to exercise her feet more because she has no traction on the bottom. So, thank you everyone for your advice and help and I'll definitely stick around here to learn more about my new pet.