Parakeets are lovely birds that rank among the world’s most popular pets. Do you know that there are social and intelligent birds?
In captivity, they thrive on attention and are utterly dependent on the care given to them. Even though taking care of them does not seem difficult, it is vital to check on them frequently. Poop is a crucial factor in figuring out whether your bird is healthy or not.
You may have noticed that your parakeet eats its poop. Are they usually like this, and should you be worried?
Continue reading to learn the answers to your questions.
Is It Normal for Parakeets to Eat Their Poop?
Eating feces is known scientifically as coprophagia. In some animal species, coprophagia is natural and necessary. The presence of this undesirable trait might raise eyebrows.
So, is budgies’ poop toxic? No, not at all. Your parakeet will not get sick or have health issues from eating its feces. This behavior, however, might be a sign of less obvious problems.
Parakeets frequently can be seen eating excrement in the wild. Coprophagia is a way for wild parakeets to meet their nutritional requirements because it is essential for survival in environments with few food resources.
Why does it raise concern in tame parakeets but not wild parakeets?
5 Reasons Why Parakeets Eat Their Poop
You should be aware of some potential causes of this behavior before attempting to stop the bird from eating feces. This will enable you to address the underlying issue and may prevent the parakeet from acting in this way in the first place.
These are the reasons your parakeet thought about consuming its waste.
1. Your Parakeet Could be Bored
When you are bored, you can do many things, but one of them is not to eat your feces.
A bored budgie will entertain themselves by chewing on and eating anything, including waste. Parakeets require a lot of mental stimulation every day due to their high intelligence.
If you do not provide the bird with something to engage in or keep them busy, they are more likely to eat poop to pass the time.
2. Lack of Sufficient Nutrients
Nutritional deficiency is one of the leading causes of your parrot eating its feces.
Because they are not getting enough of certain essential nutrients from their diet, parakeets may opt to eat their waste. They might believe that consuming their waste will help them reclaim some of those nutrients.
Coprophagia is a serious issue for pet parakeets because it refers to an unhealthy diet. They only receive food from their owners, and without nutrient-dense intervention, they risk becoming ill or dying.
Sometimes, nutrient deficiency has little to do with diet. Other explanations for this nutritional deficiency include little sunlight exposure.
3. High-Stress Levels
Another factor contributing to parakeets’ switch to eating their waste is environmental stress. If your parakeet’s cage has changed, it has moved into a new room, or it has an antagonistic cagemate, it will exhibit stress symptoms.
Parakeets under stress will require more calories and nutrients than other birds at ease in their homes. Your bird’s energy reserves will be depleted more quickly than ever due to this increased awareness, insufficient sleep, and increased heart rate.
The bird may eat feces if it cannot make up for this energy shortage through food or if it decides not to eat.
Eliminating the initial source of stress is the best way to help your parakeet reduce stress levels.
4. Its Cage is Dirty
If the parakeet thinks the environment is too dirty, it may occasionally try to throw the dried waste outside the enclosure. They might eat the recently excreted waste when conditions are inadequate to keep the area clean.
The parakeet is wise enough to realize that adding more fresh poop will only worsen matters. To help keep the environment a little bit cleaner, they might decide to dispose of or eat the poop.
If you start to notice this, you have to clean the cage more frequently.
5. The Parakeet is Sick
Your parakeet should stop eating poop once you have had an opportunity to try the other options for resolving the issue. The parakeet may have a health issue if you discover that all of the previous problems have been eliminated, and they still behave in this way.
If your parakeet is sick or suffering from a disease, it might feel inclined to eat its waste. When this occurs, it is necessary to take the parakeet to the veterinarian for an examination.
Final Word
Parakeets only engage in coprophagia in dire circumstances in the wild. Wild parrots parakeets depend on their ability to locate other food sources eventually.
Although there may be other causes for your parakeet eating their poop, it is not common for them. When you observe your bird behaving this way, it is important to identify the underlying cause before deciding how to get the bird to stop.
