I caught Pico eating his cuddle bone today. His beak gets quite long because he won't eat anything hard. I put a cuddle bone in his cage hopeing he would sharpen his beak with it. Would it hurt him to take the odd nip out of it?

My vet said yesterday..."cuddle bones are not nessary if your bird is on a pellet diet. The pellets contain the correct ammount of vitamins and minerals and the cuddle bone is a calcium sorce and if the bird has the cuddle bone it will ingest to much calcium." he told me to pitch all my cuddle bones out so that is what I've done.

But every vet is different so maybe a phone call to yours and ask his/her opinon on them.

Mine said "It can't hurt to have it in there, they don't eat it if they don't need the calcium." So- I guess that's the opposite opinion. But she wasn't 100% sure if QPs in particular need them, so she was thinking better more than less calcium.

I was just worried maybe it would hurt him. Iv'e tried to get him to eat pellets -he does eat some but I also give him Parrot seeds because he won't eat just pellets. I think whoever owned him before fed strickly seeds. He is a rescue. He would starve if I didn't offer him both.I guess he is trying to groom his beak with it which is good. It's costly getting it trimmed all the time.Thanx for your advice. It's much appreciated.

Does he have a cement perch? That's what mine loves to rub her beak on.

He has 2 different sizes. He sleeps on one and dosen't bother with the other one. I wish he would use them.

I was told to steer clear of cuttle bones, as they could possibly contain mercury. I was told to pick up a mineral block, which I did.
Poppy doesn't seem to like it much better! He isn't too interested in either.

Now I'm really confused... Should I or shouldn't I? I guess I'll wait and weigh all the pro's and con's.I did give him a mineral block but he didn't use it at all.

I dont think they actually swallow chunks as in truely eating them. They bite them off in pieces and get some dust on their tonque and swallow that. I sometimes scrape some off onto food. It may help to keep beak filed down. I dont think you need to worry about the mercury.

Thanx that puts my mind at ease.You are all so helpful. Thanx again guys.

maybe this will help:
http://www.mcnews.com/bt/detail.aspx?aid=1...0&category=

My vet said that in general although quakers and all birds need calcium that they get the calcium they need when on a diet that is pellet based ... Also not needed when offered foods rich in calcium. If however you aren't really sure how much of their pellets they are consuming then cuttle bone or a manu block which offers nine minerals including calcium can't hurt them. (making sure it is natural)

My quaker is a pellet junkie so I don't offer cuttle bone but he does have a manu block.

He said that a hen would need it for egg laying because she may need more then what the pellet diet can offer because of the extra calcium needed in egg laying..

We use mineral blocks instead of Cuttle Bone. I remember reading that there is a small chance that birds who really like to totally chew and destroy Cuttle Bone, can swallow small pieces of the hard backing. The concern being that those tiny pieces will be sharp like shards of glass and may cause damage to the crop, esophogus, or stomach.

Our Conure, Loco, would really tear them apart including the backing, so it was decided we'd go with the mineral blocks instead. Loco, is really the only one who chews them up. He goes through a good sized one every month.

Pete has a cuddle bone, although, I honestly do not see him using it. He has a cement perch that he rubs his beak on all the time.

Christine

I just bought Pico a large mineral fruit flavored block and put it on the top of his cage. He goes out most of the day and plays on the top. He hasn't touched it yet. I sure hope he does to help with his beak.t is a real pain getting it trimmed every few weeks not to mention costly.