Sun Conure not using cuttlebone/fish

[Azalea]

Sprite, our Sun Conure, is about nine months old now. She has not used a cuttlebone/cuttlefish in several weeks. We've tried two sizes and they remain untouched.

I've heard of owners scraping cuttle shavings into the bird's food. Should I try that? She eats vegetables, Nutriberries, Avicakes, some parts of Zupreem Smart Selects food, and almonds and walnuts. So she is getting variety in her diet.

[Loz]

I've no experience of conures but my budgies go through phases of intense cuttlefish gnawing followed by long periods of ignoring them. My belief is, if they feel they need what a cuttlefish offers them, they'll chew on it.

If for some reason you feel your birb is lacking in calcium, my advice would be to use a calcium supplement in their water once per week. I use Zolcal F for this purpose.

[Hezz]

If she is eating a good variety of all foods she probably doesn’t feel the need to use it. By all means scrape some over her food but I wouldn’t go adding anything to her water just because. I would on the advice of an avian vet only. If you are still unsure, look at feeding more of the greens that are relatively high in calcium - broccoli, kale, spinach, Asian greens etc. if she is already eating these readily, then I would presume that she is not using the cuttle fish bone because she doesn’t need it. Calcium carbonate, the form of calcium found in cuttlebones is actually not that easily absorbed into the body anyway, so food is a much better source.