# Eating wood



## FairyFreak12 (Jun 8, 2012)

How on earth can i get my teil to stop eating her wooden perches?!?!! its been going on for around a month and no matter what i do she WONT STOP. its really scaring me, i dont want her to choke on a splinter. she is actually swallowing it, not just shredding it and i have a shredder toy but she only plays with the bell. i recently bought an edible perch that she is supposed to be able to chew on but she is afraid of it so im working on getting her used to it. please please please how can i get her to stop eating wood?!?!


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## Bird Junky (Jul 24, 2012)

Hi Give her some wood to chew. The safe trees are listed on here somewhere
Or buy a length of wood, (Pine) & cut it up into handy lengths for her
to enjoy....B.J.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Are you sure she is eating it? I really think if she was truly eating the wood for a month then she would have some kind of GI blockage by now. I bet she is just chewing it and it looks as if she is eating it. It is perfectly normal for them to chew their perches. I would not worry about it. 

If you want to redirect her attention from perches to toys, then I suggest buying wood toys. If she ignores them hang a sprig of millet beside it so she will know it is there and may pay attention to it.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Eating wood actually appears to be a natural behavior according to http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=16205 on the feeding ecology of wild cockatiels:



> Of the birds studied, there were pieces of charcoal in 29 percent of all crops,
> mineral items in 13 percent of all crops, plus dense woody material in many of
> the crops. It could be postulated that the intake of charcoal was to de-toxify
> other items the birds eat as part of their normal diet. This could be for
> ...


But the purpose of wood-eating isn't really known, and it seems to be less common in pet cockatiels than it is in wild cockatiels. It's possible that she has some kind of dietary or digestive issue that she's trying to self-correct, and there might be a better way to correct it.

I don't know what that corrective technique would be. But if this was my bird I'd start working on dietary improvements - encourage her to eat pellets and/or nutriberries if she isn't already doing it. I'd particularly focus on the pellets since they're soft and easy to digest. Offer soaked or sprouted seeds and grains if she isn't getting them already, since they're easier to digest than hard seed and soaking reduces the phytate content - instructions at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=9019

I would offer SMALL amounts of a good-quality mineral grit to help her grind her food, and small amounts of bird charcoal to help with any detoxification/indigestion issues. Don't let her have access to so much grit that she could impact her crop with it, and go easy on the charcoal so it doesn't absorb a lot of beneficial nutrients along with anything else that it's soaking up.

If you took her to the vet for some blood work it might help identify any deficiencies.


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