eating newspaper

Question
QUESTION: hi!
i have a baby budgie and whenever i go to school, he would always hop down to the bottom of the cage and starts eating the newspapaer. i have th type of cage that has bars on the bottom but he always somehow gets to reach it.i know that it is really unhealthy and can cause severe death but i dont know how to stop her. do you have any idea how to stop her from eating newspaper?
thx!
ANSWER: Hi Katelyn,

Shredding of newspaper is actually very normal behavior for any parrot. Usually it is a nesting behavior and would indicate that your bird is no longer a baby. He is either a teenager or a sexually mature adult. I doubt your bird is actually eating paper. You would have noticed paper parts in the poop if he was. There are several good reasons to use paper to line the bottom of cages; it is easy to clean daily and is relatively harmless to birds. The ink is non toxic (safe for kids.)

Other than making daily cleaning a little more difficult this behavior should not be harmful to your bird as far as ingesting the paper.

Are you sure your bird is a male? The only problem I see with nesting behavior is with females who go into overdrive and produce too many eggs. The over production of eggs can be deadly. If you have a female you want to take steps to reduce any signals that send your bird into breeding mode. You can do this by increasing her dark uninterrupted sleep time from 10-12 hours to 12-14 hours every night, and limiting access to any perceived nests or nesting material.

Birds do need to shred things in order to be physically and mentally happy. Make sure you are providing appropriate budgie toys that your bird can destroy.

I encourage you to continue to learn more about your bird's natural behaviors. My website has links to several excellent resources.

Jennifer
www.feathersandscales.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hi again!
but my bird is a parakeet and it is a girl. i could see paper shreds but not all of them. plus, parakeet is really young, for she is only a child and is going through molting time.could parakeets die if the eat the newspaper? if parakeets are starting to grow to a  adult, will anything happen to their beaks?

Answer
Hello,

Budgies are considered adults by the age of 9 months. The behavior of shredding paper means your bird is or is close to adult age. The first molt happens around 4 months which in budgies years would their teenage stage. I'm sorry but your bird is no longer a baby bird.

If you are concerned about the health of your bird you need to take her to an avian veterinarian. Actually eating paper would not be good. However I have never seen a bird actually eat the paper. It is a normal and healthy activity for parrots to shred anything they can. I would be more concerned about a bird that does not shred toys or paper.

Depending on the color mutation of the budgie you have, you can usually tell their sex by the color of their cere. Boys have a blue cere, females are brown. There isn't a difference in adult or baby beaks.

I will end with my previous recommendation that you continue to learn about normal budgie behavior and care.

Jennifer
www.feathersandscales.com