Help Me Come Up With Diet Plan

[Teddscau]

Hey guys, I'm going to just pretend I have an eclectus (technically it's for my kākāriki). Can you help me come up with a nutritious, balanced diet for a calcium deficient ekkie? This hypothetical ekkie is allergic to sweet potato and quinoa. I need a 2-week meal plan with lots of variety and nutrition. And we need to be extremely specific about which vegetables on what day, because apparently I've been giving them too many foods with oxalic acid, and not enough variety.

 

[katie_fleming]

CalciBoost can be given in water, Clay Cal can be sprinkled on food. This will help give a boost if they're deficient.

Almonds, sesame seeds, spinach, broccoli, kale, pumpkin seeds all are high in calcium.

Do you have a uvb light? I just got one for Jasper. I see you're in Ontario so def can't have your birds outside until next year, so a light about an hour a day would be beneficial as well.

 

[Teddscau]

Unfortunately, I can't give my guys spinach anymore due to oxalates (I'd been giving them spinach, Swiss chard, etc., all summer long, and it messed with calcium absorption). However, I'll definitely buy them some almonds and sesame seeds (I have squash and pumpkin seeds that I haven't been giving them).

I'll definitely have to buy some of those calcium supplements you mentioned. They do have one or two of those UVA/UVB bulbs by SunGlo or whatever it's called (I forget what they're called, but they're the ones that they sell for that standing floor lamp for parrots), and one of those Flood Pro UVA/UVB lamps with an Arcadia bird bulb in it. However, those are only above the double flight cage, and the kākāriki hardly spend any time over there. Maybe I should buy a UVB reptile bulb (one of those 4' long ones) to put in a light fixture. I know the UVB output in reptile bulbs is way too high, but I think the fixture would be far enough away from the birds for most of the UVB rays to be diffused or whatever by the time the rays reach them. They live in an aviary, so it isn't like I'm blasting them with cancer rays. Oh, right, the UV lights are on from 10 am (I think) until 8 pm.

Oh, and for the UV lights, my oldest baby, Samantha, doesn't benefit from the UVB (but she does benefit from the UVA since it lets her see a wider range of colours). Her preen gland turned into some sort of large cyst or tumour a couple of years ago, so it hasn't been producing any UV absorbing oils for her to ingest. However, everyone else's preen glands are fine.

I brought the kākāriki to the vet on Thursday (or was it Friday?), had a variety of things done including getting blood work done for Ria since she's been having focal seizures or something, and the vet phoned back today and said she has low blood calcium (which I wanted to have her tested for because of the seizure-like episodes).

I've started doing sprouts again since the budgies have been having tummy problems, and also because I can sprinkle vitamin and mineral supplements on them before serving. So far I'm sprinkling Nekton-S on their sprouts (for noobs and non-members reading this, DO NOT GIVE ECLECTUS VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS! This is for budgies, kākāriki, and a parrotlet).

 

[Uglow]

Here's a good list that has been shared here before.
nutrition
Calcium deficiency has crept up on a few of us in here.
oxalates are present in most veggie leaves to some degree but yes spinach is the worst. But beat greens and swiss chard can been high too. almonds also have oxalates btw. but you're gotta balance a bit. Lentils have calcium and phosphorus which helps with absorption. D3 is really where we need. sunlight when you can, egg yolks but you've got all the bad that comes with that. I'm not knowledgeable with bulbs and what kind so I'm no use there.

 

[skylala]

Pellets suitable for Eclectus, such as Paradise Pellets by Vetafarm, are a complete diet and give all the nutrients they need (Though not sure kākāriki have similar diets to eclectus? Pellets are good for all though, ensuring the correct pellets are used). Up to 80% of the diet can be pellets, the last 20% can be fresh fruit and vegetables and as all nutrition is provided in the pellets, it doesn't really matter what the other 20% of fresh food is, but tropical fruit would be ideal as it is their natural diet.

To improve the calcium deficiency it might be beneficial to give some egg shells or a cuttlefish bone. The pellets will correct the deficiency after a while.

 

[katie_fleming]

Speaking of cuttlebone I was told to shave it on top of their food, not to offer it as a block like for other birds.

Also I just remembered when there's a calcium deficiency you're supposed to reduce the amount of high sugar fruits being offered as it apparently also depletes the levels. I don't understand why, but the rescue told me this.

 

[Teddscau]

Thanks for the advice guys! I've cut out the higher oxalate foods, and I've started weighing their food to ensure they'll actually eat what I feed them (no more free feeding for the kākāriki). I've also started giving them more variety, and I've locked them in the double-flight cage so I can feed them foods that the budgies are sensitive too. I've ordered some supplements for them, and they should be in soon. The little brats would rather fill up on birdie bread, though . Poor kids. Dr. Yee's going to check Tiki for gapeworms this week. My gosh, I swear, it better not be gapeworms that are causing him to gag and open-mouth breathe.

 

[plumsmum2005]

Paradise Pellets - Vetafarm