Parrot eating WOOD !!!

[Rujvir_G]

Hey guys, ive been noticing Ollie ( my senegal ) eating wood. He tears off some of it from his wooden toys and holds it in his hand and I pretty sure he chews it and swallows some of it!!! Is this harmful? Why could he be doing it. Or is it natural for parrots? Please tell me asap. Thanks!

[GMV]

Please read this!
If this is happening please stop it ASAP!!! there have been many cases of birds dying and wood splinters showing up in the necropsy! You don't know what the wood is made out of and it can cause many different harms by the paint, tree type ECT. the toy could be coated with a toxic and sometimes Fatal paint. and it would be awful if they ingested a splinter into their crop!
PLEASE do not let your bird have that toy (or any wooden ones) for a long time if it is swallowing the wood!!! it could easily have terminal consequences. I would also take him to the vet ASAP to make sure on an X-ray that he is not having digestive or Gastro-Intestinal issues caused by the wood. this could be very serious.
Some birds do weird things like this for different reasons. I have not heard of birds eating wood in the wild. and as sick as it is, some company's make FLAVORED wood.(it makes me sick)
Best of luck!

[Rujvir_G]

Thankyou sir, I have removed the toys. But he seems to be liking wood idk why, cuz he's tryna eat his wooden stick he sits on, im gonna get a vet check soon.

[cml]

So what kind of toys does your parrot get gmv?

[Wolf]

Please read this!
If this is happening please stop it ASAP!!! there have been many cases of birds dying and wood splinters showing up in the necropsy! You don't know what the wood is made out of and it can cause many different harms by the paint, tree type ECT. the toy could be coated with a toxic and sometimes Fatal paint. and it would be awful if they ingested a splinter into their crop!
PLEASE do not let your bird have that toy (or any wooden ones) for a long time if it is swallowing the wood!!! it could easily have terminal consequences. I would also take him to the vet ASAP to make sure on an X-ray that he is not having digestive or Gastro-Intestinal issues caused by the wood. this could be very serious.
Some birds do weird things like this for different reasons. I have not heard of birds eating wood in the wild. and as sick as it is, some company's make FLAVORED wood.(it makes me sick)
Best of luck!

Not to make thing difficult, but could you provide me with a link for this information, please.

[cml]

I think gmv is incorrect, hence my earlier reply, but please do as Wolf said and provide some references for that statement. Ive never heard of wooden toys being dangerous, they are considered the safest toys.

[GMV]

I'm not saying all toys are dangerous, but some CAN be if they are 'misused'
Almost ANY animal that has a splinter in its Small intestine or especially crop can spell danger.
I personally believe that you should NEVER let your bird eat ANYTHING that you do not know what it is made out of. I may be sounding too cautious, but i think that there are far to many dangers of actually ingesting toys that are made for purely chewing...

here is are some websites to back me up here.
http://www.parrotrescuecentre.com/resources/toy-safety/
http://theworldofafricangreys.weebly.co ... -toys.html

[GMV]

So what kind of toys does your parrot get gmv?

My parrots get whatever toys they don't ingest. it depends on the Individual bird IMO.

[Wolf]

Neither of the provided link said any thing about there being wood splinters showing up in necropsies of deceased birds.
Please don't embellish things in this manner.
Yes, there is some risk of a parrot ingesting wood and thus splinters, and it is a very good idea to watch your bird when it plays, and usually destroys its wooden toys to see if it is eating the wood or if it is just chewing it up and spiting it out. If it is ingesting the wood, it is a good idea to remove that item, it could have been flavored, especially if it had been dyed. I think that you will find that if your bird is eating the wood and it has not been treated and is just normal bird safe plain, undyed wood that the bird is likely hungry or has a vitamin deficiency. and if that is the case you need to correct that and see what happens.
Wood is considered to be the most natural and safest of toys that you can supply for your birds.

[Wolf]

Hey guys, ive been noticing Ollie ( my senegal ) eating wood. He tears off some of it from his wooden toys and holds it in his hand and I pretty sure he chews it and swallows some of it!!! Is this harmful? Why could he be doing it. Or is it natural for parrots? Please tell me asap. Thanks!

Kiki, my Senegal, loves to chew and destroy wood and she quite often holds pieces of it in her foot and chews it up even smaller. It is very difficult to see for certain, when she does this, if she is spitting all of it out or not. I had to place her on the kitchen table and watch very closely before I was satisfied that she was spitting it out, or at least enough of it that I could not tell the difference and I work with wood doing wood carvings.
I do think that it is probably normal for them to swallow a very small portion of the wood that they chew up this fine, but if you think that your bird is eating it just trade toys with the bird, as it is always better to be safe.