My parakeet is obsessed with eating a wooden toy. I am afraid something bad will happen to her.?

Question

I don't want to take it out because I have done something similar to this before and she got depressed over it until I put it back. I have even gotten her favorite banana calcium to coax her out of eating her wooden toy. PLEASE HELP She is going crazy over it staying up all night and sleepoing all day.

She already has a mate and several other friends so she's definitely not lonely. Plus nothing has changed in her life for about 8 months. She has not even expressed an interest until her toy for several years until now.

Jus in case it helps anyone she is 7 years old and has a Harrisons diet. Plus she is bery healthy according to her doctor.

Answer 1

It is very normal for hook bill birds to chew on wood. I wouldnt worry about her doing it, but have you tried the hard plastic toys? I know they love them too and because they can see in color and maybe you can find her something that is bright in color to attract her attention.


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Answer 2

Hi!
That can be quite frustrating when birds do those things. I do understand, I have 18 feathered fruit loops, and I love them all!
Have you tryed replacing the wood toy with soft plastic, or a toy with a bell? Most of the time birds don't eat the wood, but that's not 100%. To be safe, try one of the other toys. Parakeets love toys that tinkle and are interactive.
I have known of many parakeets, and other types, that become super-attached to certain toys or objects. If this seems to be a problem, consider switching the item with their favorite treat, and let them have some down time away from the toy. AS you give the treat, remove the toy and put it out of sight for a while. They might be a little excited for a bit, but should calm down in a short while. Just keep the offending toy outta site. I hope this helps you.
Birdee

Answer 3

she is diffenately obsessed. but it could be a list of things. as she has gotten older she will be prone to many things. she might need a vitamin boost in water or food. supplementing the parakeets with fresh veggies and fruits is a very good thing. putting 3 or 4 toys in the cage and then moving them around every 4 weeks so not to get bordom is very important. birds are highly intelligent so bored causes lots of problems and obsessions even with other birds around. human campanionship is important to. they need 1 to 2 hours aday with their people. millet is a favorite treat with keets too

Answer 4

hens seem to fixated on certain toys like this one to chew when in breeding condition, this is when the cere (the coloured bit on the beak) is a very dark brown and noramlly crusty looking too. Sometimes rearanging the whole cage will help settle this behaviour down. Continually chewing will not hurt them, their beaks are made to do this all day every day of their life.

At age 7 she is way too old to breed safely, most stop hens at age 3. I know you have made no comment about breeding but I'm stating it here for others that are reading and in case someone with no knowledge says to breed her to stop this.

Answer 5

If you want her to sleep at night, put the toy in with her only during the day, she may complain the first few days, but she will get used to it.
It's mating season, she may be feeling a little hormonal and frusterated and is taking it out on the toy.
I think you should leave her alone, well play with her and stuff, but don't stress about the toy.

Answer 6

Oh gosh.. you WANT her to chew on toys.. this helps keep her lil' hookbill in shape ! :) Your budgie is probably happy as can be with that toy!

She's not sharpening her beak.. she's wearing it down out of habit and instinct. If your bird didn't have things to chew on, her beak could end up with problems! Their beaks keep growing.. even though they look like they're just there like our teeth are.. they're not. They keep growing and they need things to chew on to wear them down.

Seriously., this is a good thing. More than likely she isn't "eating" it either.. you'll see the shavings on the bottom of the cage. However, if you DO see her actually eating it, I'd toss the toy and replace with favorite foods or whatever makes most sense to you. In all my years around birds, I've never seen a bird that was obsessed with eating wood.

Don't worry - she isn't losing sleep.. she's happy :)

GOSH NO ! Don't take the toy out unless you replace it with another. But if they REALLY like one specific toy I leave it in there. They CAN and will probably get depressed if you take away something that is dear to them. My senegal parrot.. he sleeps on a perch next to my bed. On the perch above I once threw a t-shirt on and it dangled down by the lower perch he is on. He cuddles up to it at night. If I take it away., it takes him absolutely forever to try and get situated to actually go to sleep! If I come near him too quickly he'll peck at me. It's his safe secure spot and it's his buddy.

However, usually you should have TONS of toys.. and rotate them in and out of the cage so they think tiz a new thing to play with.. it keeps their brains active and not so bored. My senegal has about six toys in his cage.

If it starts getting expensive, you can get untreated wood at the lumberyard cut it up into lil' pieces, drill holes, put on a chain.. there's all sorts of toys you can make! You can even color it with food coloring dyes! Ask around to make sure you're using the right kind of wood though. Some can be harmful or deadly to your bird. And don't use sugars or whatnot to color the wood., this can encourage the bird to actually eat the wood.

I have a senegal parrot.. he doesn't really care for chewing up wood.. but he plays with these little pastic beads all day. And my African Gray? Freaking.. you put in a 2x4 and it's gone at the end of the day LOL. - well it's not gone.. it's just piled up in a huge pile at the bottom of his cage. Good for kindling I guess.

Every bird is different, but it sounds like you have a SUPER healthy and active bird - very good!

And don't coax her away from it.. give her more! :)

If you ever have any other parrot kinds of questions, feel free to email me or something. I love birds and they're loads of fun. Love to help out anybody with questions best that I can.

P.S. Don't put so many toys in the cage that they can't flap their wings though. Not sure what size cage you have, but yer birdie needs to be able to stretch out his wings all the way in both directions and flap without anything being in the way.

Answer 7

Yor parrot is bored........................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is as simple as that. Try giving her other things and give her treats, but I wouldn't worry too much about her chewing her toy, it is just something that they tend to do. My mother has a lovebird and all she wants to do is chew up her waterbowl, and when we changed it to a metal one she literally flipped her lid, and kept throwing the water out and screeching until we put her plastic bowl back. When she was bored with the water bowl she turned to chewing her perch, but we weren't allowed to remove that bowl.
While she is happy chewing her toy leave her.

Answer 8

Go to the pet store and get them a CUTTLE BONE and take all the wood out of teir cage. I had some birds die from eating wood they couldnt digest out of their crops. Dont take a chance get a cuttle bone and remove all the wood.

Answer 9

Are you certain that the parakeet is not just sharpening it's beak?

Answer 10

well it won't do the toy any good but it really sounds like it's trying to sharpen it's beak