Cuttlebone is a great food to give your bird, as it has lots of nutritional value and offers other benefits.
If you have an exotic bird at home or want to buy one, it is important that you learn about cuttlebone.
What Exactly is Cuttlebone?
Cuttlebone is essentially just the shell of the cuttlefish. It is a mollusk that has an internal shell that contains a number of chambers that are packed with gas. This helps the cuttlefish to float and navigate through the water effectively.
Benefits of Cuttlebone for Birds
1. Important Minerals
There are actually a number of benefits associated with giving your bird cuttlebone on a regular basis. This shell contains 9.2 milligrams of iron and nearly 500 milligrams of phosphorus. This can seriously boost your bird’s health in a big way.
The calcium in cuttlebone promotes a strong immune system, which increases the chances of your pet bird living a long life. Since most of these animals are prone to all sorts of diseases, it is crucial that yours has a solid immune system. It can also help you save money, as you might not have to make so many trips to the veterinarian.
It will also provide them with a high dose of calcium, which they need to stay healthy as a whole. This calcium aids in bone formation, which is particularly crucial early on when the bird is still young.
It keeps them strong even as they get older, allowing your pet to retain as much of its independence as possible.
2. Blood Clotting
There is also a good amount of evidence that giving your bird cuttlebone on a regular basis can encourage normal blood clotting. This can be very useful if your bird every gets injured, as it won’t be quite as serious. The better your pet is at clotting, the more likely they are to survive their injury and not bleed to death.
3. Playtime
Birds love to move around, chew and play with pieces of cuttlebone. This provides them with physical activity and mental stimulation, which are both very important.
If you want your pet bird to be healthy as a whole, it is important to consider this. It is definitely one of the cheapest ways to keep your bird entertained while doing something good for its overall health.
4. Beak Trimming
Giving your bird cuttlebone on a regular basis will also serve to keep its beak shiny and trimmed down. You won’t have to worry about paying a groomer or your veterinarian to do this, which is always nice.
It will remove some of the outer layers of the beak, which is definitely a good thing. Excessive beak growth can present all sorts of problems for a bird, so it is important that you keep it at a decent length at all times.
5. Sharper Teeth
Allowing your bird to chew on cuttlebone from time to time can also make your bird’s teeth sharper. This in turn will make it easier for your pet to eat the food you give it on a daily basis. The sharper their teeth are, the easier it is for them to consume food without any issues. This can actually reduce the chances of choking as well.
6. Healthy Feathers
The numerous trace minerals in addition to the calcium in cuttlebone can give your bird’s feathers a nice healthy sheen. It can also make them stronger and less prone to falling out. This could reduce the amount of effort or expense needed with regards to grooming.
If you want to keep your bird healthy, it is crucial that you keep its feathers in good condition.
How to Give Your Bird Cuttlebone
The best way to go about giving your bird cuttlebone is to hang it up inside their enclosure and just allow them to chew on it. You’ll want to position the cuttlebone so that the soft part of it is facing them. This will make it a lot easier for your bird to get to it.
You can attach to the cuttlebone to one of the bars on the bird’s cage with a zip tie. This will prevent the bird from actually swallowing it, which could result in choking. If you are going to0 just put it on the floor of its cage, make sure that you don’t put in too big of a piece.
Buying Cuttlebone
If you buy a decent amount of fish from a fish market, they might be willing to give you some cuttlebone at no additional charge. This could help you save money while getting exactly what you need. You will also be able to find it in most pet supply stores as well as online.
Make sure that you sterilize any cuttlebone that you get from a fish market before giving it to your pet bird. This will ensure that it doesn’t contain any bacteria that could be harmful to them. You can do this by simply putting the cuttlebone in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.
The cuttlebone that you buy from your local pet store will already be sterilized, so you’ll have nothing to worry about.
Conclusion
- Cuttlebone is the internal shell of a mollusk, which helps it to stay afloat on the water.
- This shell can be extremely beneficial to your pet bird because of all the different minerals it contains.
- Giving your bird cuttlebone to chew on sometimes can promote good bone health, which is important when they are still young.
- This can also help to keep your bird’s beak from getting too long.
- Most birds that are given cuttlebone on a regular basis tend to have a strong immune system.
- It can also help your bird clot blood normally, which is absolutely crucial to their overall health.
- Attach a piece of cuttlebone to your bird’s cage to provide them with a dietary supplement and a fun thing to play with.
- You can buy cuttlebone from most pet supply stores.
- If you get your cuttlebone from a fish market, make sure to boil it first to get rid of any bacteria.
