How long before the toe tapping ends?

[Jeepnman]

I noticed Bella had a mark on her foot Tuesday. I thought maybe she got it stuck somewhere while we weren't at home. Wednesday she started toe tapping and wing flipping. I'm not sure if the two are related, but I was wondering how long before it stops. Her daily diet consists quinoa and lentil sprouts with some type of green and fruit. (I am currently working on another batch of chop). My wife gives her part of a corn cob at lunch to keep Bella occupied while my wife tried to enjoy a quiet lunch. We give her almonds, pellets, and sunflower seeds for treats. Since the toe tapping has started, I stopped with the pellets, corn, and grapes. I was wondering how long before the toe tapping and wing flipping stops? She seems better, but is having an episode as I type.


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[Birdman666]

I noticed Bella had a mark on her foot Tuesday. I thought maybe she got it stuck somewhere while we weren't at home. Wednesday she started toe tapping and wing flipping. I'm not sure if the two are related, but I was wondering how long before it stops. Her daily diet consists quinoa and lentil sprouts with some type of green and fruit. (I am currently working on another batch of chop). My wife gives her part of a corn cob at lunch to keep Bella occupied while my wife tried to enjoy a quiet lunch. We give her almonds, pellets, and sunflower seeds for treats. Since the toe tapping has started, I stopped with the pellets, corn, and grapes. I was wondering how long before the toe tapping and wing flipping stops? She seems better, but is having an episode as I type.


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That varies from bird to bird, and depends on whether or not you have guessed right, and removed the source of the trigger food from the diet. The excess of what ever vitamin/food is triggering it has to leave their system. Until that happens you get the toe tap/wing flip routine, and they can't control it.

This is one of the frustrating parts of Eckie ownership. If I had to guess, I'd say it was the corn.... I'd cut out the pellets entirely, especially while this is going on. Eckies who get toe tap should not get fed pellets in my opinion.

 

[Anansi]

While pellets and corn are often the culprits when it comes to toe tapping, this doesn't guarantee that they are the cause in this particular instance. In fact, the cause could also be a deficiency rather than an excess of nutrients. Calcium deficiency, for instance.

I mention the possibility because it doesn't sound as though there is enough variety in what she's eating. Try throwing some carrots, pumpkin and sweet potato in there as well for Vitamin A (Vitamin A is VERY important.), and dandelion, broccoli and crushed (and boiled) egg shells for Vitamin C. Here is a great site to visit for more ideas on different kinds of food for your ekkie. Check every sub-category, as there is a lot of valuable info in there regarding what is safe to eat, nutritional values and so on. Good stuff. fruitandveg

Now, all that said, it could very well be something of which she is eating too much. I'd say keep her off the pellets, corn and grapes for at least a week. If there is no change, chances are they are not your culprits. At that point you'd pick another food from her regular diet. I doubt the problem will be with the greens. It's possible, but less likely, so I'd save them for last. (Btw, dandelions should definitely be a mainstay amongst your greens)

Quinoa is an excellent food and a nutritional powerhouse, but it also is rich in protein. Complete protein. This is not a bad thing in and of itself, as I definitely recommend quinoa as a food for ekkies. Complete protein is actually a good thing. But some ekkies are more sensitive than others, and sometimes there can just be too much of a good thing. You know?So I would try eliminating quinoa next. If that does indeed prove to be the causative agent, it does not necessarily mean that it needs to be entirely removed from her diet, however. It may just be a matter of degree. So if removing it entirely from the diet causes the toe-tapping and wing-flipping to stop, start experimenting with adjustments. Instead of making it a daily staple, you could cut down to two or three times a week. If you still see a recurrence, further cut the frequency until you find her point of tolerance.

An excess of blueberries has been known to cause issues as well. You never mentioned them specifically, but I thought I'd mention it in case those are among the fruits that you feed her. Again, blueberries aren't bad. In fact, they are among the most nutritious fruits that you can give a parrot. (Far beyond some of the more nutritionally light fruits, like grapes and corn.) But, like quinoa, too much of a good thing...

Sometimes it can be tough pinning down a cause for the dreaded toe-tap and wing-flap. Just be very organized and systematic about which foods you remove each time. And also do some research as to which foods provide which nutritional content. Because the answer may not be one particular type of food so much as a grouping of several foods with the same nutritional values. So serving several types of food all rich in protein, for instance, could pose a problem... whereas only one or two of those foods at a time might've been fine. You know what I mean? Which is why knowing nutritional content is important, here. If certain frequently served foods are redundant in their nutritional offerings, you might want to remove them at the same time for testing. If that group proves complicit, then you could try reintegrating one at a time. If one or two from the group at once doesn't pose a problem, then you know to rotate them rather than serving together.

Anyhow, I hope this all helps. Please keep us updated, and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

 

[Jeepnman]

While pellets and corn are often the culprits when it comes to toe tapping, this doesn't guarantee that they are the cause in this particular instance. In fact, the cause could also be a deficiency rather than an excess of nutrients. Calcium deficiency, for instance.

I mention the possibility because it doesn't sound as though there is enough variety in what she's eating. Try throwing some carrots, pumpkin and sweet potato in there as well for Vitamin A (Vitamin A is VERY important.), and dandelion, broccoli and crushed (and boiled) egg shells for Vitamin C. Here is a great site to visit for more ideas on different kinds of food for your ekkie. Check every sub-category, as there is a lot of valuable info in there regarding what is safe to eat, nutritional values and so on. Good stuff. fruitandveg

Now, all that said, it could very well be something of which she is eating too much. I'd say keep her off the pellets, corn and grapes for at least a week. If there is no change, chances are they are not your culprits. At that point you'd pick another food from her regular diet. I doubt the problem will be with the greens. It's possible, but less likely, so I'd save them for last. (Btw, dandelions should definitely be a mainstay amongst your greens)

Quinoa is an excellent food and a nutritional powerhouse, but it also is rich in protein. Complete protein. This is not a bad thing in and of itself, as I definitely recommend quinoa as a food for ekkies. Complete protein is actually a good thing. But some ekkies are more sensitive than others, and sometimes there can just be too much of a good thing. You know?So I would try eliminating quinoa next. If that does indeed prove to be the causative agent, it does not necessarily mean that it needs to be entirely removed from her diet, however. It may just be a matter of degree. So if removing it entirely from the diet causes the toe-tapping and wing-flipping to stop, start experimenting with adjustments. Instead of making it a daily staple, you could cut down to two or three times a week. If you still see a recurrence, further cut the frequency until you find her point of tolerance.

An excess of blueberries has been known to cause issues as well. You never mentioned them specifically, but I thought I'd mention it in case those are among the fruits that you feed her. Again, blueberries aren't bad. In fact, they are among the most nutritious fruits that you can give a parrot. (Far beyond some of the more nutritionally light fruits, like grapes and corn.) But, like quinoa, too much of a good thing...

Sometimes it can be tough pinning down a cause for the dreaded toe-tap and wing-flap. Just be very organized and systematic about which foods you remove each time. And also do some research as to which foods provide which nutritional content. Because the answer may not be one particular type of food so much as a grouping of several foods with the same nutritional values. So serving several types of food all rich in protein, for instance, could pose a problem... whereas only one or two of those foods at a time might've been fine. You know what I mean? Which is why knowing nutritional content is important, here. If certain frequently served foods are redundant in their nutritional offerings, you might want to remove them at the same time for testing. If that group proves complicit, then you could try reintegrating one at a time. If one or two from the group at once doesn't pose a problem, then you know to rotate them other than serving together.

Anyhow, I hope this all helps. Please keep us updated, and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Thanks for all the information. I did forget to mention I do offer carrots almost daily and I will be making a chop today. I will leave out the grapes and corn for sure and hopefully they will be the culprit. The pellets will have to go all together.

 

[coopedup]

Once again, y'all are a wealth of information. SOOOOOO glad I found this site. Ten stars************

 

[jtidwell]

There's some (scanty) evidence that lack of calcium may be related to toe-tapping. I've been making sure my toe-tapper's diet includes leafy greens and almonds, both of which have a decent amount of calcium. Also the occasional serving of tofu.

On the other hand, my avian vet points out that there is absolutely no high-quality research on Ekkie toe-tapping, and therefore no well-grounded advice to give. You just have to vary the foods systematically until you can identify a correlation.

Good luck!

 

[Birdman666]

Yeah, but this bird gets a selection of almonds regularly, which leads me to suspect that's not it.

With any Eckie that gets toe tap, I recommend doing a food log. Write down everything you give the bird, and if it suddenly starts or stops with certain foods you get your BINGO moment...

 

[Jeepnman]

Yeah, but this bird gets a selection of almonds regularly, which leads me to suspect that's not it.



With any Eckie that gets toe tap, I recommend doing a food log. Write down everything you give the bird, and if it suddenly starts or stops with certain foods you get your BINGO moment...

I'll start doing that. She has probably had more corn, pellets, and grapes than usual. Grapes have been on sale lately and a couple of pellets always help to get her back in her cage when we need to run the kids somewhere.