Cuttlebone obsession and Sharp Beaks

[jettabean]

<hr style="color: rgb(209, 209, 225);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> Heylo. I have a year old Sun Conure and I've got two questions for ya.

1. She is an extreme cuttlebone junkie. Most of the time I've noticed she just breaks it up and then drops it. But I was wondering is there such thing as too much cuttlebone?? For example she's gone through 3 in a week. It slowed down a little, but in one month I went through like 6 cuttlebones till i just waited a bit before adding a new one. Normal?

2. She has an extremely sharp beak I've noticed lately. It never used to be THIS sharp, but within the last week or week and half I've noticed. I mean it is really sharp. Normally she nibbles on my ear but now its like she doesnt even half to bite it before it hurts. Its been hard to play with her or kiss her. It is very very sharp and I was questioning why this would suddenly happen and how can I help...well dull it??


Thankyou!!! #2 is real important. lol I'm worried she's gonna pierce me everytime she wants a kiss pretty soon

[CocosMomma]

Welcome to the forum! (I sort of had to chuckle in reading your last sentence.... I mean, you could get a free ear piercing of maybe open a business and she could earn a little money on the side to pay for her cuddle-bone habit!):doh::funny:

Well, I know you are waiting on Dr. C.'s response, but in the meantime, I just wanted to say hello and welcome (especially since you are from NC)!!!:wavey::beerchug:

[Geoffrey]

Another North Carolinian Welcome! This time from NCSU. I'm the resident Canary person who makes appearances when he is not too busy with school (which means I shouldn't be posting right now, I am swamped).

Have fun

[CocosMomma]

Another North Carolinian Welcome! This time from NCSU. I'm the resident Canary person who makes appearances when he is not too busy with school (which means I shouldn't be posting right now, I am swamped).

Have fun

Back to the books, Geoffrey, back to the books!:funny:

[Shirley]

Welcome!
I'm not so sure she needs a cuttle bone... we give them to cockatiels on down in size. The pellets the larger parrots eat have what they need- for example, we don't give cuttle bones to our Senegal (poicephalus)

[Ellen K. Cook, DVM]

Hi and welcome to the forums! Shirley is right-sun conures do not need cuttle bones. And, yes, too much of anything, including cuttle bones, can be a bad thing.

I think your little sunnie is looking for something to chew :scratchch It will help decrease his cuttle bone craving and dull his beak a bit to give him some soft wood to chew. There are lots of suitable toys available and I also like to give my birds small branches to chew.

Use branches from trees or shrubs that have NOT been sprayed or treated with any chemicals (pesticides, etc.) Some safe ones to sue would be poplar, tulip, maple, crabapple, apple, pear, forsythia, lilac, pussy willow.

[all4stvoyager]

What birds do require cuttlebone, if you don't mind me asking?

[Shirley]

I provide them to Cockatiels, all grass keets and budgies, canaries, finches, even parrotlets... nothing larger ... Dr. C will probably see your question in a day or two...

[jettabean]

Hi and welcome to the forums! Shirley is right-sun conures do not need cuttle bones. And, yes, too much of anything, including cuttle bones, can be a bad thing.

I think your little sunnie is looking for something to chew :scratchch It will help decrease his cuttle bone craving and dull his beak a bit to give him some soft wood to chew. There are lots of suitable toys available and I also like to give my birds small branches to chew.

Use branches from trees or shrubs that have NOT been sprayed or treated with any chemicals (pesticides, etc.) Some safe ones to sue would be poplar, tulip, maple, crabapple, apple, pear, forsythia, lilac, pussy willow.

Well she just loves it...She does have wood block, but she prefers to just chew on her leather toys or rope toys. She kinda just grinds her mouth on it, but just doesnt touch the wood really. She prefers schredding. Any ideas how to work with that?

[jettabean]

Thank you to the rest of you for the warm welcome. North Carolina is beautiful. Nice weather for da birdies and my other friends. Also have a jerk of a green cheek conure lol and a jealous half moon conure that are my parents birds. My baby is a luber...just lately its painful!!! Plus she constantly pops holes in my shirt. Another problem i kinda but not really have in control.

[Shirley]

We hang phone books from the tops of the cages, dangling into the cages, and the birds have a ball shredding those. My husband saws them in strips first, about 3 strips per book. And the school where he teaches gives him tons of old phone books each year.
Here's a pic:

http://www.thebirdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=72198

Sometimes the books last over a week, and sometimes not.

they also love the cardboard "bagels" - the size Large hoops - and chew them to pieces.

[Rifty]

What I found helped when my birds only played with shredding toys(still their favorites) rather than wood is that those toys with the wood wrapped in paper transitioned them nicely. Got them used to playing with that specific toy when they're tearing the paper to pieces then they gnaw on the wood that they're used to.

[SadennaAndFlock]

suns dont' need to have a cuttlebone in their cage..I would offer him some more soft wood toys and other toys he can destroy sounds like he needs some shreddable toys..

As for cuttlebone he can still have some, what I do with my bigger birds who would destroy a cuttlebone in seconds is I scrape some cuttlebone over their soft foods so they still get some of it.