Let me start out by saying, I know that grit is not generally recommended for parrots because they shell their seed and in theory shouldn't need it to grind up the food in their gizzard. I've had birds for 25 years so I'm not a newby and I read and research a lot. That being said, I have a problem child in the form of a greater sulfer crested 'too. I used to participate on here about 5 years ago, and this used to be the place to go for good common sense cockatoo info.
My girl is 6.5 years old and tends to injest pieces of her toys that she shouldn't be eating. I've seen her eating slivers of wood and pooping them out. If I give her a rope toy, she will separate out the strands, ball it up in her beak to about the size of a small seed and swallow it. I've come home from work a couple of times to find a muticolored pasty mess of regurgitated string next to her water bowl. She does this with sisal, cotton, and the stringy stuff inside the palm frond piniatas. I've tried multiple diets with her over the years. All natural, pellet, trace minerals, etc. All to no effect.
This morning I had a bit of an epiphany. What if Ariel is eating stuff out of some sort of instinctive need to ingest gravel? I know true greaters are ground feeders in australia and that a lot of aussie bird keepers still offer gravel. What do you think about offering her some gravel? Not free choice like we used to before we knew better, just a pinch maybe every few weeks.
If I wanted to do this, where would one go to find grit of a size suitable for a bird her size? I know they still make it for cockatiels, but I've never seen it marketed for bigger birds. I think Robert Palvis used to post here about giving his Wendall some grit. Hopefull he still posts here?
Thanks,
Melissa









