Conure ate tomato leave

[dburns865]

My little green cheek loves to hang out around my garden and nibble on things. I never thought anything of it but I decided to make sure everything was safe for him and read that tomato leaves are toxic. I've seen him nibble on cherry tomato leaves on a few different occasions with no ill effects(it seems to be his favorite) but he just munched on some again and after reading about that I am pretty worried. I am pretty low on cash so I don't want to run to the vet. Is this serious or should I just observe and wait?

I also posted this to the conure forum before seeing the health specific sub, I can delete if need be.

 

[henpecked]

Don't know anything about tomato leaves being toxic, but the chickens eat them often.

 

[dburns865]

Well that makes me feel better, I read a few lists with things toxic to birds and they all had tomato leaves on them.

 

[FreddyCheeks]

I would steer clear. I do believe there leaves have low levels of toxins.

Straight out of WIKI.
Plant toxicity[edit]

Leaves, stems, and green unripe fruit of the tomato plant contain small amounts of the toxic alkaloid tomatine.[48] They also contain solanine, a toxic alkaloid found in potato leaves and other plants in the nightshade family.[49][50] Use of tomato leaves in tea (tisane) has been responsible for at least one death.[48][49] However, levels of tomatine in foliage and green fruit are generally too small to be dangerous unless large amounts are consumed, for example, as greens. Small amounts of tomato foliage are sometimes used for flavoring without ill effect, and the green fruit is sometimes used for cooking, particularly as fried green tomatoes.[48] Compared to potatoes the amount of solanine in green or ripe tomatoes is low; however, even in the case of potatoes while solanine poisoning resulting from dosages several times normal human consumption has been demonstrated, actual cases of poisoning resulting from excessive consumption of potatoes that have high concentration of solanine are rare.[50]
Tomato plants can be toxic to dogs if they eat large amounts of the fruit, or chew plant material.[51]

 

[weco]

Cayenne peppers, eggplant, paprika, pepinos, pimentos, potatoes, hot and sweet peppers, tamarios, tomatillos and tomatoes are all classified as nightshade foods, foods that contain alkaloids. Alkaloids can interfere with muscle, nerve and digestive function in animals sensitive to them, including humans. Since the alkaloid substances, in the fruits of these foods is quite low, most humans don’t have a problem with them. The leaves, stalks & flowers of these plants are a different story…..the eyes of potatoes are toxic to our feathered friends, however, the cooked tuber is fine for them as is raw peppers…both hot & sweet…..as with we humans, some birds are not affected by the small amounts of alkaloids in some foods/plants, while others may be severely affected.....

Cooking some of these foods reduces the alkaloids, but does not remove them, so if a food says cook before feeding to birds...cook before feeding to your flock.....


I doubt a nibble or two of a tomato leaf is going to do much harm, but I'd take them out of your salad makings.....I've also read that different species of tomatoes bear different levels of alkaloids in their plants.....

For those of you who become concerned with this type of information, the foods I’ve noted above are just a sampling…..there are some 2,800 plants in the ‘nightshade” family…..some of the others you might be familiar with are belladonna , mandrake and tobacco.....