I just read an online lovebird forum post that discussed the danger of fleece huts and toys using rope/string. Pet birds can ingest these fibers, which get permanently stuck in the crop, eventually necessitating crop surgery.
My lovebird has a hut made from felt. Is felt a dangerous material if he ingests its fibers? Are jute and sisal fibers safe? Thank you in advance for your response!
Hi,
The dangers of these huts goes well beyond the materials. It is true if they ingest the fibers, which many birds do, the fibers are not digestible. But the fibers rarely stop in the crop, and continue to a point where the digestive system is impacted at a point where it is inoperable and the bird dies. Any of the soft materials can be ingested. The other issue with giving your bird a hut, tent or any type of house or nest is that it will trigger the bird’s hormones when the bird is too young to be breeding. With a young female, it can trigger egg laying which can put her health at risk. It can cause her to become a chronic egg layer which can require expensive hormone treatments to stop her from laying eggs. In captivity, they do not get the environmental signals to stop, and some female birds keep laying eggs until it kills them. Hormonal lovebirds also get very territorial and will start attacking anyone who gets near the cage. Male birds can end up with a prolapse from straining because they want to mate, and females can also suffer from this. There is no cure for this and the bird requires lifetime health care. Lovebirds and other parrots do not need a bed or nest to sleep in. This isn’t natural for them. In the wild, a nest is only used once a year during breeding season. Your bird might like this hut, but there are a lot of things our birds would like that aren’t good for them. So if it has a hut, it’s time to take it away. Do not replace it with anything other than a high perch in the cage. You can hang some toys there to give him something to get behind when he sleeps. In the wild he would sleep high in a tree, so a high perch is a much more natural sleeping solution.
As for the harder ropes made from sisal or jute, those are usually OK and a better option than cotton rope. While most birds do not ingest soft rope or string, those can cause entanglement, choking or the nails can get caught in them.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
