Concern About My Eclectus Female’s Weight — Seeking Advice

[Amna]

Hello everyone,
It’s been quite a while since my last post! My little girl Rudi, a female Eclectus parrot, is now 9 and a half months old. Everything is going really well — her health is great, and we’re both very happy together. She has even started talking and mimicking sounds in the cutest way!

I pay close attention to her diet and make sure she spends quality time with me every day. However, there’s one thing that’s been worrying me — her weight. She currently weighs 330 grams, which I know is quite low for an Eclectus. I can even feel her keel bone when I touch her chest, which made me really anxious.

I took her to an avian vet, who performed all the necessary tests, including a fecal exam for parasites, and thankfully everything came back normal. I also spoke with a few experienced parrot owners, and they mentioned that her weight might be normal for her activity level, since she’s extremely active, loves flying daily, and spends a lot of time climbing and playing — even inside her large cage.

Still, I’d love to hear your opinions and experiences. Have any of you faced something similar? And how were you able to help your Eclectus gain healthy weight?

Thank you so much for reading and for any advice you can share!

 

[rheashard2]

My female CAG has been under normal weight for 2 decades. Lab, vet check are all normal. The avian vet has reassured me frequently. I worry because she doesn't have the weight reserve in case of illness. She's always had high potency pellets. She eats her chop, fruit etc. My vet had me monitor weight daily for several months. This to determine her trend and not textbook norm. With that weight checks became 2x/wk and when ever I think. She's still low weight according to the textbook. She's healthy and active.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

I was just thinking about Rudi the other day and I'm happy to hear she's doing so well. I remember when she was a baby and she was adorable! You did a great job raising her.

Arent some subspecies of Eclectus smaller than others? And just like humans there's appears to be a pretty large normal weight range for parrots. I have budgies that weigh 28 grams soaking wet and others that weigh 65 grams. Personally, I've been at the bottom of or below the normal range for women my size all my life. I have small bones and naturally low body fat. I'm physically fit, eat normally, and none of my doctors have ever told me I need to gain weight. Other people- that's a different story!

The point is that some healthy parrots seem to be just smaller and lighter, too, but their parronts worry about them. Rudi's active, but even the most active captive birds are not nearly as active as their wild relatives, so maybe t9hey're lighter because they aren’t as muscular. As long as an avian vet says she's healthy I would accept that she's just petite. It may ultimately help her live a long healthy life with less risk of heart disease, strokes, arthritis, hypertension, cancer and diabetes.
You should enter her pictures in the parrot of the month contests. She gorgeous! We dont get very many female Eclectus entries.