At the begging of August Eddie experienced Toe Tapping Syndrome. We were devastated as it meant he's possibly extremely sensitive to everything he eats & breathes. At this time we had bought some high potency pellets & Coles brand dried fruit mix to make him apricot balls. He loved both of these new foods but the high potency pellet was not the most ideal food to buy for any eclectus parrot. I didn't read the ingredients on the dried fruit mix I bought until his toe tapping started. It had an enormous amount of preservatives, colours & additives in it. I knew some brands contained some of this but I had no idea that any brand would contain as much crap as this brand did. I immediately removed all the foreign foods from his normal diet & things went back to normal, no more toe tapping.
Around October 22nd Eddie started toe tapping again. This time we were a little stumped because his diet hadn't changed & he was on all natural foods. His toe tapping this time round was exactly the same as it was the first time. An involuntary tap of his toe (right foot) about every 20 - 30 seconds. But we noticed something else, every time he toe tapped he also wing flipped on the same side. This appeared to irritate Eddie.
I decided to give him lots of cooked egg shells & scraped some of his cuttle bone in his dinner thinking maybe it was a calcium deficiency. That was the most common cause for toe tapping. I decided if it wasn't gone the following day he'd have to take a visit to his vet. The tapping appeared to have stopped the next day. We presumed it may have been a calcium deficiency.....
A day or so after the experience I discovered from another ekkie owner that one of her ekkies also experiences toe tapping when there is a particularly hot day & the fresh food goes off very quickly & the ekkie eats some of this food. I don't remember what the weather was like when Eddie had his first experience of toe tapping but I do remember the most recent. We hit Octobers hottest day in 8 years & the following day was to top that (it did). Dave also said that day the sprouts smelt a little off. This could have been the problem.....but regardless of any of this, I know how hard toe tapping can be to diagnose & am concerned about how many other toe tapping concerns Eddie may have in the future. Because he doesn't have toe tapping now, doesn't mean he won't get it again....the fact that he has had toe tapping syndrome & knowing how hard the syndrome is to diagnose is a consern for me.
Around October 22nd Eddie started toe tapping again. This time we were a little stumped because his diet hadn't changed & he was on all natural foods. His toe tapping this time round was exactly the same as it was the first time. An involuntary tap of his toe (right foot) about every 20 - 30 seconds. But we noticed something else, every time he toe tapped he also wing flipped on the same side. This appeared to irritate Eddie.
I decided to give him lots of cooked egg shells & scraped some of his cuttle bone in his dinner thinking maybe it was a calcium deficiency. That was the most common cause for toe tapping. I decided if it wasn't gone the following day he'd have to take a visit to his vet. The tapping appeared to have stopped the next day. We presumed it may have been a calcium deficiency.....
A day or so after the experience I discovered from another ekkie owner that one of her ekkies also experiences toe tapping when there is a particularly hot day & the fresh food goes off very quickly & the ekkie eats some of this food. I don't remember what the weather was like when Eddie had his first experience of toe tapping but I do remember the most recent. We hit Octobers hottest day in 8 years & the following day was to top that (it did). Dave also said that day the sprouts smelt a little off. This could have been the problem.....but regardless of any of this, I know how hard toe tapping can be to diagnose & am concerned about how many other toe tapping concerns Eddie may have in the future. Because he doesn't have toe tapping now, doesn't mean he won't get it again....the fact that he has had toe tapping syndrome & knowing how hard the syndrome is to diagnose is a consern for me.
Eddie still dislikes baths. In fact it isn't the type of bath he dislikes, it's water. I do find that kinda funny given where he actually comes from & how much they love baths & pride themselves on feather condition. I bought him a shower perch some time ago hoping this would improve things. It has. He still dislikes water but he doesn't try & escape when he's on the shower perch. This makes showering him easier. If he doesn't shower regularly he gets very scruffy.
Eddies tempers are a little on the short side & that's putting it mildly! He's wanted to spend more time than usual with me, he's normally Dave's mate but at the same time he's continually on the attack.
We've learnt VERY fast that he currently can't be trusted being close to our faces. It's a fine line between knowing when to tell him off for being naughty & not tell him off because it's his hormones playing up & he doesn't realize what he's doing 1/2 the time.
His eyes do say most of it which gives us the opportunity to know when to give him attention & when to leave him alone. For most of the day he can have a rather evil look on his face which I have to admit is amusing to watch at times. Eddies talking has actually increased through this stage but the way he says some things sounds evil rather than the usual nice exciting sounds he makes. His hormones are relatively easy to deal with because we're able to read his eyes for moods but I still look forward to the day his hormones settle down!!
His toys have taken a real battering. Poor things have had the crap beaten out of them by Eddie. He no longer plays with them, he beats them up!!! Everything we attempt to do for Eddie gives us a very loud growl of disapproval. He's officially a true teen rebelling against mum & dad!
Eddies tempers are a little on the short side & that's putting it mildly! He's wanted to spend more time than usual with me, he's normally Dave's mate but at the same time he's continually on the attack.
We've learnt VERY fast that he currently can't be trusted being close to our faces. It's a fine line between knowing when to tell him off for being naughty & not tell him off because it's his hormones playing up & he doesn't realize what he's doing 1/2 the time.
His eyes do say most of it which gives us the opportunity to know when to give him attention & when to leave him alone. For most of the day he can have a rather evil look on his face which I have to admit is amusing to watch at times. Eddies talking has actually increased through this stage but the way he says some things sounds evil rather than the usual nice exciting sounds he makes. His hormones are relatively easy to deal with because we're able to read his eyes for moods but I still look forward to the day his hormones settle down!!
His toys have taken a real battering. Poor things have had the crap beaten out of them by Eddie. He no longer plays with them, he beats them up!!! Everything we attempt to do for Eddie gives us a very loud growl of disapproval. He's officially a true teen rebelling against mum & dad!
November 3 2008
Eddie is continually eating. He's been continually eating over the past few weeks & I am wondering if it's a final growth spurt as he matures. He's looking well, fuller & not so tiny now & today weighs 372gr. His head is a little on the rough side though, still going through that dreaded moult. He had a small break from losing feather but has started again, this time his large wing feathers.
Eddie is continually eating. He's been continually eating over the past few weeks & I am wondering if it's a final growth spurt as he matures. He's looking well, fuller & not so tiny now & today weighs 372gr. His head is a little on the rough side though, still going through that dreaded moult. He had a small break from losing feather but has started again, this time his large wing feathers.
Red & blue feather of Eddies
A little rough around the edges from his moult
December 2 2008
Eddie is thoroughly enjoying the warmer weather & spending time lapping up some sun. One afternoon he decided to have a discussion with a wasp!
He's still eating like a horse & have found out the heavy moult contributes to the continual eating. Kinda like he's feeding his new feather growth. He's been getting daily showers, his moult is making him look pretty awful at the moment. He's also nicknamed ringneck parrot. His bald spot on his neck stretches as a line around his neck.
His beak seems to get to a certain length & then he manages to break the tip off. It's slightly over grown but the vet said some ekkies have a slightly longer beak than others & his beak isn't excessively over grown. I am trying to encourage more chewing of hard things though. He loves his soft toys & I think if he didn't spend so much time with them & more time with harder toys he may keep his beak a little trimmer.
It's an extremely noisy household with Eddie at the moment, lots of screaming when he hears the others start to scream or hears cockies outside. Some days it's very frustrating. He's spent a little longer in his cage in the bird room since the room is a little darker than the rest of the house & it is working with settling his hormones. It's also working with some of his screaming too. He's still aggressively playing with his hate toys. On occasions the toys need to be removed from him. When he gets carried away he will attack any hands or fingers that are in the way. His hormones are certainly raging at times but thankfully they tolerable.
Video
Video
Video
He's able to fly on to Crickets perch again so he's been clipped this morning.
Eddie is thoroughly enjoying the warmer weather & spending time lapping up some sun. One afternoon he decided to have a discussion with a wasp!
He's still eating like a horse & have found out the heavy moult contributes to the continual eating. Kinda like he's feeding his new feather growth. He's been getting daily showers, his moult is making him look pretty awful at the moment. He's also nicknamed ringneck parrot. His bald spot on his neck stretches as a line around his neck.
His beak seems to get to a certain length & then he manages to break the tip off. It's slightly over grown but the vet said some ekkies have a slightly longer beak than others & his beak isn't excessively over grown. I am trying to encourage more chewing of hard things though. He loves his soft toys & I think if he didn't spend so much time with them & more time with harder toys he may keep his beak a little trimmer.
It's an extremely noisy household with Eddie at the moment, lots of screaming when he hears the others start to scream or hears cockies outside. Some days it's very frustrating. He's spent a little longer in his cage in the bird room since the room is a little darker than the rest of the house & it is working with settling his hormones. It's also working with some of his screaming too. He's still aggressively playing with his hate toys. On occasions the toys need to be removed from him. When he gets carried away he will attack any hands or fingers that are in the way. His hormones are certainly raging at times but thankfully they tolerable.
Video
Video
Video
He's able to fly on to Crickets perch again so he's been clipped this morning.
