Eating droppings.

stickyfeet · Snr Member Joined: Oct 04, 2008 Posts: 66

The Kakariki has been eating old dried droppings he finds. I usually try to clean up after him but sometimes he finds one up high on a shelf that I've missed.

I've tried to read about coprophagia in birds and have learned that this sometimes signals a mineral deficiency of some kind. I feed him fruit and veg, a cereal mixture made of wheat and flax with a squashed raspberry to make it more interesting, plus millet and sunflower seeds as treats. He also likes to eat pepper seeds. In the last couple of weeks I have noticed a decrease in activity and I have become more aware of the eating of droppings.

I read Vitamin D through full-spectrum light is important for calcium absorption. He avoids light and prefers to play in dimly lit areas. His appetite seems less too. He feasts on millet and other garbage but is not eating his vegetables until I lock him in a small room with nothing to eat except the vegetables. He has lost all interest in fruit which used to be his favorite thing. He will only eat it if I give it right to him even though he has a bowl in his cage with fruit in it.

I wonder if I need to be supplementing his diet. The vegetables I give him are mainly spinach, peas in the pod, carrot, corn and broccoli. I'm also wondering if he needs to be spending more time in his cage eating instead of screwing around in the apartment eating old droppings and staring in the mirror.

To summarise: Eating poop, ignoring good food, spends too much time looking in the mirror and has become quiet. Flies if I chase him but goes right back to the mirror. Has he become obsessed with the mirror? Would he rather stare into the mirror than fly around and eat?

P.S. I should clarify... Sometimes I feel bad making him go to his cage when I go out, and since he likes it in the bathroom so much I put his dishes in there and shut him in. When I get home, berries, vegetables and seeds are strewn all over the bathroom in a horrific mess. So I'm sure he is eating and playing while he is in there. When I am home though, he has become uncharacteristically quiet and will not go to his cage to eat his fruit and veg. This phase, I feel, is connected with his obsession with the mirror. And he eats his droppings so I'm worried about minerals.

JimP · Snr Member Joined: Aug 24, 2006 Posts: 39

My guess is the eating of poop is a mineral deficiency, and looking in the mirror because he wants a mate

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

Eatting old dryed poop is normal in most parrots....And it is a sign there could be a mineral deficiency...
If he has a good varied diet shouldnt be an issue

You may also like to get some 1/2 burnt charred wood log.

stickyfeet · Snr Member Joined: Oct 04, 2008 Posts: 66

Charred wood, eh? Could you clarify this? Like a piece of wood from a stove or something?

The little guy seems full of beans this morning. I left him locked in his cage today until I saw him eating his vegetables. This might be the way to go. I think he is so eager to get about his business with the mirror he doesn't stay in his cage to eat. Thinking about it now, if he is as old as I think he is, then he's basically experiencing adolescence. I guess when I was a teenager I spent most of my time doing the human equivalent of bobbing up and down in front of the mirror and ignoring Dad. And my Dad did the human equivalent of locking me in my cage until he was sure I ate my vegetables!*

*please note: my father did not lock me in a cage or force me to eat anything and I did not bob in front of a mirror. I was employing a metaphor

Steptoe · Site Admin Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 4550

stickyfeet · Snr Member Joined: Oct 04, 2008 Posts: 66

And the bird will eat the charred wood... I'll try it. My dad always used to tell me to go and find a stick he could hit me with. I would always come back with the thinnest, lightest stick I could find. He never did hit me with it though. I got a rolled-up newspaper every now and then. Mostly he just chased me around with it. He wasn't a big hitter.