Hormones??

[jhk515]

Hoping someone can give me some insight to my GCCs recent behaviour.... He's a DNA'd male, who's 3 years old - have had him since he was a weaned baby. He's been regurgitating more and more often - lately, numerous times a day - favourite places to do it are in his fresh food dish, and on any kind of fabric. He sits right in the food dish, banging his beak on the bottom until it comes out. He also has just taken to stirring his pellets in that dish - round and round, knocking a bunch out, then trying to pull the dish out of its holder, or sitting in it and stirring with his whole body while squealing. When he's on my shoulder, I frequently get the butt wiggle and little squeals. I'm assuming this is all hormone related? Is the constant regurgitation a sign of something else? Should I take him to a vet? We don't have any avian vets within a 24 hour drive, though some that see birds. I haven't seen him do so much regurgitation or the stirring ever before. Thanks in advance!

Judy

[Wolf]

I would have to say that this is all hormonal behavior the butt wiggle as you are calling it is known by another term which is masturbation. While I do not encourage this behavior, I also do vey little to discourage it either. Since he is already so hormonal that he needs to actually resort to masturbation, I figure that until his hormonal state can be improved he needs some way to relieve the stress of his frustration. The only way that I know to control this tendency to be overly hormonal is by feeding a low protein diet, making sure that they are exposed to the twilight periods of both dawn and dusk and it must be done using both of these time periods. Pellets are a high protein food and the free feeding of them has the same health risks and drawbacks as does the free feeding of seeds and this is liver, kidney and heart disease as well as pancreatitis and diabetes. Exercise can help to reduce the level of hormones in the blood, but this only referring to the exercise obtained by flying.

[jhk515]

Thanks very much for the reply. Oh! What would you suggest to be a low protein diet to feed instead? And would this only be for the time he's acting this way? And, what does it mean to expose them to dawn and dusk? Cage uncovered? Sorry for all the questions, but this is a new experience for us... I appreciate the assistance!

[Pajarita]

No, it's not just a seasonal food, GCCs require low protein all year round because, in the wild, they are mostly fruit eaters. I and some of the people in this site feed gloop and, if you search for it in the diet section, you will find several recipes and the explanation. Exposing to dawn and dusk means not turning on any artificial lights until the sun is completely out and turning them off when it's halfway down to the horizon in the afternoon so their photoreceptors (cells that 'feel' light) register the different spectrum distribution (the different color of the light at dawn and dusk) that happens then which is the only thing that turns on or off the 'stop watch' that measures day length and keeps their endocrine system (the glands) in tune with the different seasons. This is called photoperiodism and you should do a thorough search to learn about it because it's very important for birds' health as they are not supposed to produce sexual hormones all year round but only during breeding season. You bird seems to be overly hormonal (the masturbation and constant regurgitation) and this is usually caused by the over production of sexual hormones from a diet too high in protein and the lack of a seasonal light schedule.

[jhk515]

Thanks for the thorough reply! I have been using a full spectrum light for them for the past month or so, for much of the day. I'm thinking that might've had something to do with it. I read somewhere recently that they should only get about 2 hours a day, so am cutting that right back for the past 2 days, and he actually seems better today. Will check into the food, too.

Appreciate the information!

[jhk515]

Oh! Gloop is chop! He gets chop every day and enjoys it. I mix it up when I can (usually use frozen veggies). Will add more grains to it, though. I also make them birdie bread occasionally, without any wheat.

[Wolf]

I always worry about it when I hear of people using full spectrum lights. This is not because I think that this is a bad thing to do as I also use one for my birds. It is because of the manufacturers and their corporate money glom tactics wherein they repackage lights meant for reptiles in packages for bird even when they know that the light that they repackaged is harmful for the bird and can result in blindness as well as sever life threatening burns or even death. So if you are going to use full spectrum lights for your birds please make sure that the K Temp is between 500 and 5500 and that the CRI is 94 or above also that the UVA and B is no higher than a 2. Also I never put these lights any closer than 3 feet from the birds. The manufacturer claims that their lights will help the bird to produce Vitamin D-3, but The actual evidence suggests otherwise.

[Pajarita]

Also take into consideration that full spectrum lights with a Ktemp of 5000 to 5500 and a high CRI closely resemble noon light, which, in nature, doesn't last all day long. This time of the year, I turn mine on at 9 am and off at 3 pm so as to give the birds some time before and after of a 'lower' quality light.

As to gloop been chop and chop been gloop, that's the way people think of them nowadays but it wasn't so when they were first created. Chop was just chopped up raw produce that was frozen, later allowed to thaw and served as a substitute for fresh raw produce daily while gloop is 50% cooked grains/pulses and 50% frozen produce mixed, frozen and later allowed to thaw to be served as the main dish (no pellets, no seeds, no nutriberries, no avicakes, no nuts, etc) accompanied by fresh produce. If you serve gloop alongside high protein food like pellets, seeds, etc. the bird will eat too little of it. The difference is not only in the ingredients but also in the way it's used, chop been a side dish while gloop is the main course.

[jhk515]

Thanks both, for the helpful information!!

[marie83]

So if the lights don't help produce D3 then what is the point of them?