lovebird question.

[badxcat]

I adopted an abandoned hand-fed peachfaced love bird about 6 months ago from petco. i have no idea how old she is, but obviously old enough to lay eggs. back in november she laid 5 eggs, but also came down with an upper resp. infection. i was given antibiotics for her and all was well.

she's started laying eggs again, this time i took out any possible nesting material that she could use, but she's laying them anyway. i figure this is normal. what's freaking me out, is that she refuses to eat any of her normal food and will only eat millet spray, mineral stick, and cuttlebone. i fed her some apple today, and as far as i can tell, she hasn't touched her food. i've been giving her water with light sugar in it and fresh fruits with high calcium content in them, along with a little grit.

my parakeet has a grape flavored cuttle bone, and yesterday she went in his cage and ate a whole bunch, then a couple minutes later, started puking it back up. her droppings are normal, her daily activity is normal, but i'm worried...

she hasn't thrown anything else up. she stays in her designated nesting corner of the cage, feathers fluffed, but she acts completely normal when outside of the cage and during the day (usually this wierd behavior only happens at night and early morning).

anyone know what's going on? hopefully i'm worried for no reason...

-catherine

[LadyLynn]

I think you should find a local bird breeder, preferrably one that breeds lovebirds and ask about the behavior, and her eating habits, and then if you are still worried get her into see your avian certified vet.

[Kaye]

First things first. Get rid of the sugar water, mineral stick and the grit. Big no-no's for parrots for the most part. :) The fresh food is great, though. You're very lucky she eats it!

I can't tell you, even from experience, why she might have thrown up (was it actually throwing up or just regurgitating?) after eating the cuttle bone. You should consult your vet about that if it happens again.

The eating thing.. I'm also not sure why she would all of a sudden turn against her normal food. Nothing has changed other than the fact that she's on eggs, correct? I'm assuming the food in her dish is pellets. Usually with my birds, if I give them seeds of any sort as an alternative to their pelleted food, they will eat it instead and not touch their pellets. When it's gone or they've eaten enough I simply take it out and they go back to their normal food. Perhaps try this once, just watch her. If she still refuses to eat her normal food, I again suggest consulting your vet.