Eating Everything

[jamerson0199]

My Sun Conure chewing up his toys and perches. He appears to be eating the wood. What do I do?

 

[weco]

It may look like he's eating the wood, but he's probably not.....conures like to cew things up...some more than others, but its just something they do...tear things apart.

My Patagonian conure had me very worried several years ago...she'd begun removing the pieces from a zipper & I thought she had eaten, but after X-rays didn't show anything that wasn't supposed to be in her, we figured she'd dropped them somewhere...she also likes to chew wooden toys, but buttons & zippers are her favorites.....

 

[Kiwibird]

I seriously doubt he's actually eating wood, though it may appear he is. Some parrots like to chew wood (especially the soft stuff they use for toys) into absolute splinters before they spit it out. Their beaks are amazingly dextrous, and they have a kind of control with them we simply do not with our mouths when it comes to chewing. Kiwi does this from time to time and it looks like he's eating it, but he's really not. Since wood isn't digestible, you would be able to see splinters in his poo if he were actually eating it.

Excessive chewing is actually a very common hormonal behavior, and actually isn't a bad thing (there are far worse ways they can express they are hormonal). I would suggest giving him more chewing things (more wood toys, newspaper, toilet paper rolls ect...) to keep him distracted from his hormonal urges in a positive way before he decides to start chewing fingers instead.

 

[Lintini]

My BCC is on me right now ruining my jacket zipper and dropping it on the floor. Little turd. He's now moved to the hood. They just love ruining everything they can! Petri my peach front mix has completely destroyed his ladder! He hardly plays with his toys but loves to chew up his perches and of course the really nice ladder. Bleh.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

I love showing houseguests Pritti's clothes -- They are like swiss cheese, filled with holes. He has a bunch of big cotton t-shirts, some towels and sheets that are for under him on my shoulders or on furniture, etc. Now if only he would do his own laundry.

He grinds wood into dust, so it's hard to see unless looking hard for it.

 

[antoinette]

Your bird is doing what birds do ... chewing wood
Observe your bird carefully and you will notice he is actually not eating the wood but basically spitting it out.
I to was worried when Mishka began chewing wood, observed his for ages, never had a problem.