Keet Loves to Chew

User Question
Hi, I'm sorry if this question has already been asked by I looked all over your site and could not the answer!

We have a parakeet that is about five years old. He has always been wonderful, hand trained, and well behaved. Well, about a month and a half ago, he suddenly feel ill. Our vet thought he might have the flu or some other virus and but him on antibotics. Well, it was pretty bad for a while, but he pulled through. For about a month, the vet had us keeping a blanket over him three-quarters of the way all day long. We have just now taken off the blanket, and while he does chirp, he doesn't seem to be the same bird.

But what is very strange is that he suddenly now has taken to chewing his wooden perch. I mean, at this rate, he will be literally be through it in another week or two. He did this to a wooden ladder that had been in his cage his whole life also. So I guess my question is, is this normal? Is this dangerous? I mean, I took out the wooden perch and replaced it with a plastic one, but the perches only seem to come in wood for this particular length. Have you ever heard of such a thing? I had thought maybe it was because he was lonely under the cover, but he still continues now that he is out and we are with him. And from what I can tell, he isn't necessarily eatting the wood, but rather I find the little pieces of wood on the bottom of the cage. Also, he has access to a cuttle bone which he completely ignores.

Okay, well thank you very much for your time! And thank you for this wonderful site!

Lisa's Answer
Wait, your keet loves to chew so you took away his chewing things! You're cruel! :) Give him all sorts of wooden things to chew on. Lots of keets love to chew, especially as they get older. That's how parent keets made holes to sleep in. Wood doesn't have nutrients in it :) They chew because they like to chew, not because they want to ingest wood bits.

Try giving him lots of chewy foods too like celery and broccoli!

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