Safety Concern (495 views)

[lauraloveliness]

I can't actually remember / go back to my history and check because i completely restarted my computer over. I believe it was on a forum or some parrot site that said not to leave the full cuttle bone in their cage because the hard backing to the cuttle bone breaks off sharply and if they eat it it can rupture in their stomach. The person who posted i think had a parakeet or a cockatiel and it happened to their bird and now they grind up a little bit of it and put it in their food.

Does anyone know if this is actually true or not. LIke do i need to be concerned at all or anything.

[Casey]

personally, i think this is a freak occurrence, i would not be too paranoid over it, but remove the cuttlebone and replace it when it needs to be changed. i have cuttlebones in my cages without problem.

though, check them for sharp edges. a friend of mine had her tiel have a nightfright and cut herself on a sharp edge of one and bled to death. so make sure you check them regularly for sharp edges and file them down or replace them if you need to

[tielfan]

I've never had any problems, but I've often heard that the back side of the cuttlebone has sharp edges that can cut the bird's esophagus if they swallow a large piece. So if I don't like the way the edge of the back looks, I pry it off with the tip of a sharp knife. This works fairly well, but it would be tedious to take the entire back off.

[Shelly]

when i hang my cuttle bones, i put the hard side against the cage so the softer side is availible to the birds