i took the pellets off today and he seems to eat the vegies now that he doesnt have a choice. i hope he's not going to starve.

He wont starve, its ok, dont worry! You're a good mommy. Ekkies are different and take a little time to work with as far as diet. Corn, hot peppers, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, all good stuff. Just offer fresh. Pellet blends are ok as long as theres no dye in it. My boy eats a pellet blend and is fine.

I cooked some beans and vegies today for their food for the week. I cooked the 15 bean soup package (overcook the beans....lol....what do you expect from a single guy), frozen mixed vegies and frozen broccoli florettes and he ate it with gusto.

oh jeez, a single guy, and Im calling you " a good mommy"!! lol...so sorry, Mr Mom! lol

LOL.......it's cool

Here is the thread for the article I copied..(don't frequent the website but there is some good info)

Eclectus diet - Community Discussion Board

Here's another interesting article by Laura as well...

Very sick Eclectus - Community Discussion Board




In order to eliminate and/or prevent toe tapping, wing flipping and possibly eventual chewing on toes or legs, I would never feed any eclectus parrot the Harrison's diet....or any colored pellets. Once a bird has displayed toe tapping, I would avoid feeding regular pellets in future.

The special Roudybush pellets for the specific health condition is the exception.

Birds will chew on their feathers if they are in pain. It is likely that after this bird experienced the injury, that there was pain. When birds cannot remove or eliminate pain, they are known to chew on feathers, or on the offending part of the body in an effort to eliminate the pain. Once the injury was healed, if it healed correctly, the bird may have developed a feather chewing habit. I say...MAY have...we don't know.

Feather plucking is often related to an actual physical condition. Research on feather pluckers has indicated that the majority of these cases are based on some internal or external condition. The external one being a bacterial or fungal condition in the skin that irritates the bird and is itchy.
Internal conditions can be related to pain or soreness from liver problems, parasites, or other actual physical disease conditions.

The behavioral aspect of feather plucking comes into play when a bird has been 'mistreated' according to the BIRD'S interpretation of the event. Example: moving a bird from a nice big cage into a small cage and leaving it there for days on end. After about seven days, the bird can become very frustrated and pull out feathers.

I would not be giving this bird, Kathy, all sorts of 'cures' just yet. I would follow the vet's advice; it will take some time to cure the infection. For now, I would be treating it as recommended by the vet, with the Roudybush special pellets, the good diet it is already on, and Nystatin. I would ASK the vet about the Nystatin. If the bird has a fungal infection in the skin, it may be necessary to keep the bird on the Nystatin longer than is typical. How long did the vet prescribe that the bird should be on Nystatin? How is the Nystatin being administered? Can you be sure that the bird is getting the full dosage? Fungal infections are difficult to cure.

Unfortunately, fungal spores are rather universal in our world. Typically, if a bird is 'working' on its feathers and skin, it can carry fungal spores to the skin area. In sufficient numbers, with a reduced immune response, those spores can take hold. This is not unusual for birds that are plucking. Trouble is, once the fungal infection takes hold, the bird feels an even stronger need to 'work' on the feathers and skin because of the irritation of the infection.

Toe tapping is, most often (but not always), a direct result of an inadequate diet. Unfortunately, ekkies are one of the most difficult birds to keep on a healthy diet because they have an inordinately long intestinal tract due to the very, very high fiber and low nutrient diet they evolved to eat in the wild. Pellets, which normally have too much protein and too many vitamins, are really not good for ekkies unless the amount they consume is very closely monitored (not more than five a day is what most experts recommend) so free-feeding them is out of the question with an ekkie. An ideal ekkie diet is mostly leafy greens, some veggies and fruits and very little seeds or pellets. Some of them are very good eaters and some are not but the bad ones can be 'taught' to eat the right stuff. I agree with Leigh that the bloodwork will not tell the vet anything if the bird is suffering from hypervitaminosis as it can't be diagnosed by looking at a blood panel results unless it's so severe the bird's life is in danger. But toe tapping can also be caused by metal toxicity, calcium deficiency, food and chemical allergies so a vet's visit will definitely be a great help in relieving your mind that these are not the cause of the problem.

Thanks everyone. I have not seen any toe tapping yesterday and today and I have not given him pellets to at all so it might be the pellets but it's too early to tell.

Thanks again.
Jun

Even though you haven't seen any toe tapping I would still bring him to the vet.

Will do Jeanne. Thanks