Lovie Likes Dirt

[spork92]

Lately my female lovebird Marley has taken an interest in my house plants, more specifically the dirt. She is a fussy, set in her ways bird who wont eat anything besides her seed and avicakes. she won't even try new things, so I find it odd that she is "trying" dirt. I don't think she eats it, just grinds it up and drops it. she has a cuttle bone and a mineral block in her cage, so what is up with this behavior? I am discouraging this because I'm afraid there is fertilizer in the soil that will harm her but she has gotten a hold of some dirt once or twice.

thanks

[wilkiecoco]

kiwi also like dirt - i have no idea why :confused: he went through a phase where he would sit on the houseplants, which were on the non-toxic list - climb down and eat the soil. i remember someone saying it was not a good idea but i can' remember why. he has grown out of doing it, thankfully, but it took a while.


Does anyone know why it is dangerous for them, or is it????

[Tango's_Mom]

Does anyone know why it is dangerous for them, or is it????

Two main things
1) Potting soil is bacteria heaven, the moist, rich environment, coupled with the warm temperatures inside makes an ideal culture medium, and is therefore plentiful in bacteria. Ingesting some of these bacteria could make your lovie very sick.

2) Most household type potting soils are full of fertilizers, and other chemical "plant foods" that could be very harmful for your birds.

There may be other reasons that I haven't thought of, but these two alone are plenty good enough for me.

[mewant1]

What about a fake plant? Mine discovered how much fun it would be to tear one apart?! any ideas on the safety of that? I assumed it would be a nono due to the unknown metal underneath the plastic at the very least so I've removed it.....but they really had a lot of fun destroying it!

[Janie]

For some reason I'm having trouble getting my "search" to work at the top of the forum but it is a great tool when looking for past information (previous threads). The "dirt" discussion and the "fake plant" questions have been asked before. Unfortunately, I can't remember what the final advice was on either. I think I remember something about fake plants and glue that would be used in making the plant that would not be safe for our birds to chew on. As far as the dirt issue, Jenna has done a good job with info. regarding that.

Try using that "search" above and maybe you can come up with those old threads. I don't know whether my computer is acting up but if I can find them later, I'll link those threads if you can't find them.

[wilkiecoco]

i typed in soil, and got a great site listing the reasons why birds should not eat the soil.

unfortunately, i do not have any idea to post the link. if someone can tell me how, i would really appreciate it.

until then, type in soil, go to thread marked A Few questions by Kenny, and scroll down to get some answers.

[Janie]

Robyn, you must have used Google or Yahoo search. I'm talking about the "search" area at the top of THIS forum! :D This search feature will pull up former threads from this forum that have discussed the topic you want to search. But, if you want to link something from the Google, etc. just go to the place you want to be (like that website on soil) and then go to the top (http) and highlight the web address and then go to "copy", click on that and come here, type your thread and go back to the same section where you copied and click on "paste." I have a Mac and when I do this the place I use to copy/paste is in the "Edit" section but I have no idea how it works with a PC. What you really need is a kid to help you. I threatened my youngest son a few years ago that if he didn't teach me some computer basics, I'd lock him in his room for a year. Worked like a charm! :D

[wilkiecoco]

janie - it was the search on this forum! using the search icon next to new posts, i typed in soil, and the threads with that subject came up. i did not, and still do not, know how to pull them into my post so that others can get to it directly.

i had already tried to copy and paste the heading, but that didn't work. so how do you get a link to a previous thread to my new post??????

[Tango's_Mom]

Ok I looked up the thread, here is the link

http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/community/showthread.php?t=6061&highlight=soil

[wilkiecoco]

thanks jenna!!!!:clap:

[Tango's_Mom]

np, in future all you have to do is copy the web url straight from the address bar, then you paste in your post with [ url] in front of it and [ /url] after it so it looks like

[url ] pasted url from address bar [ /url] with no spaces within the brackets

[wilkiecoco]

thanks again jenna!!! as i've said before, my kids think i am a total dweeb when it comes to computers. >o :(

[Janie]

thanks again jenna!!! as i've said before, my kids think i am a total dweeb when it comes to computers. >o :(

Robyn, I'm telling you that one of the best things about having kids these days is that if threatened properly they will teach you how to do things on the computer. :D I made my youngest son sit with me, show me how to do it and then I'd write it down and do what ever it was 10 times till it came naturally. He didn't want to help but I really did force the issue. :whistle:

[wilkiecoco]

janie - i think that's the key - bribery or threatening, in a nice way of course :roll: now i just have to find them.....................

"kids...did i ever tell you about the time mom stayed up all night while you were sick" ;)