So, I grow lots of plants, and it's pretty much inevitable that sometimes soil gets on the floor. To my amazon's enjoyment - he loves eating it. I generally try to stop him - I have concerns of, for example, aspergillus.
I've recently been thinking about B12, however. Virtually all higher animals require it, and none can produce it on their own. It only takes tiny quantities, and the body stores it for many years, but it is required. Higher plants cannot produce it either. Only some types of bacteria, and possibly fewer types of algae, can produce it.
Different animals have their own ways to get it. Carnivores get plenty from meat. Ruminants have sufficient bacterial populations in their rumens to produce it. Some other herbivores like horses have a special intestinal pocket that is believed to have with sufficient bacterial populations to produce it (most animals cannot get sufficient from their intestinal flora). Things get more complicated with other animals. Most "herbivores", for example, still consume insects along with the food they eat. Even gorillas, often thought of as strict vegetarians, still eat grubs and the like. Also many animals practice geophagy and coprophagy. The bacterial populations growing in feces and soil produce B12.
Is there actually any B12 in parrot feeds? I mean, you look at the ingredients and unless they include egg, which mine's doesn't, there's rarely anything you'd expect to provide B12. So if I'm keeping his cage clean of feces and preventing him from eating soil... am I depriving him of B12?
I've recently been thinking about B12, however. Virtually all higher animals require it, and none can produce it on their own. It only takes tiny quantities, and the body stores it for many years, but it is required. Higher plants cannot produce it either. Only some types of bacteria, and possibly fewer types of algae, can produce it.
Different animals have their own ways to get it. Carnivores get plenty from meat. Ruminants have sufficient bacterial populations in their rumens to produce it. Some other herbivores like horses have a special intestinal pocket that is believed to have with sufficient bacterial populations to produce it (most animals cannot get sufficient from their intestinal flora). Things get more complicated with other animals. Most "herbivores", for example, still consume insects along with the food they eat. Even gorillas, often thought of as strict vegetarians, still eat grubs and the like. Also many animals practice geophagy and coprophagy. The bacterial populations growing in feces and soil produce B12.
Is there actually any B12 in parrot feeds? I mean, you look at the ingredients and unless they include egg, which mine's doesn't, there's rarely anything you'd expect to provide B12. So if I'm keeping his cage clean of feces and preventing him from eating soil... am I depriving him of B12?
