A rather interesting (if not disturbing) blog post at the Worms & Germs blog describes an article in the Journal of Avian Pathology regarding tuberculosis transmission from pet owner to parrot. Is this something you should worry about? Yes!
Well, maybe.
It depends on if you pre-chew food for your parrot.
I have yet to run across anyone who goes as far as to chew food for their birds, but often get asked what you should and should not feed your parrot. The food thing seems to be a constant worry. I had a lady call me once from New York asking where she should go to buy the freshest food in the city for her bird. “You know I’m in California?” I asked. And when she confirmed that she did all I could say was, “I have no idea.” Americans are just obsessed with food in general I guess.
There are people who feed their Amazon parrots simply peanuts because their (soon to be) green giant won’t eat anything else. Peanuts are bird food right? Um, they’re elephant and people food as well, but isn’t there some saying about how working for them sucks?
I’ve also heard of folks who won’t feed their bird a single peanut because the dangers of aflatoxins, a toxin left behind by mold. Something to worry about? Perhaps, but mold is everywhere. You could kill a friend with a loaf of bread if you left in the refrigerator long enough to get a nice coating of aspergillus.
You will hear all sides of the feeding argument —from the dangerously careless to the stressed-out paranoid. My advice? Just use your common sense. If it isn’t good for us, don’t feed a bunch of it to your parrot. Ask your avian vet for a list of what is poisonous and should never be given to your bird and avoid what’s listed. Give your parrot the things you would eat if you were on a balanced diet — brown rice, lots of veggies, a little bit of fruit, a few nuts for a snack and change things up to make them interesting.
Oh… and don’t chew food for your parrot. If you want to show your love, just drop a spoonful of warm oatmeal into your friend’s bowl. To him it will taste just as good as regurgitated friendship.
I know a guy who used to let his macaw play with his tongue; like they were french kissing. This image, unfortunately, is burned into my mind. I warned him about germ transmission and the possibility of tongue amputation (plus, can you say gross?)
He ended up moving and surrendered his macaw. We found him a home where appropriate human-parrot relationships are maintained!
My scarlet macaw can the french kis
have a look at http://www.avescenter.com
Great advice about feeding your parrot. Although I’d never thought about warm oatmeal -I’ll have to give some to George tomorrow morning. Besides our Double YellowHead Amazon, we have two parakeets that live in our dining area…during the day their cage is open on the floor in front of the big patio window door – I put some “crunchies” (they like the finch size tropical colored Zupreem) on the floor and they spend their day foraging right along with wild birds they see on the patio – we have a birdfeeder out there.
what we use at home as bird food are sunflower seeds, we have lots of sunflower at home”-: