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Herbivoree — Feeding Herbivores Animals
Published: 2011-09-19 02:29:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 3625; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 1429
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Description
After going vegan I was surprised by how hard it was to find vegan food for budgies. Like obviously meal worms people feed to budgies for some... ridiculous reason won't be vegan, but it just amazed me that bagged bird food wasn't when nearly every site online calls budgies herbivores. There are brands out there that don't have D3, but my local petstores don't carry them so I make my own seed. It just has oats and millet and I give them plenty of fresh veggies and fruit.The blocks that grind down their teeth, cuttlebone, are actual bones. The brand Kaytee usually sells vegan mineral blocks that do the trick, but if your local petstores have stopped carrying them (like mine have) another option is to buy lava blocks. They sell them for chinchillas to grind their teeth down on and my budgies happily eat them. They're about the same hardness as cuttlebones.
I still need to name this budgie who will be the second character in my little comic series. I'm thinking of a plant name like Foxglove or Periwinkle. You can comment with suggestions if you like. c:
Please note me if you'd like to use this anywhere. I love to share.
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Comments: 19
good someones getting these messages out there, companies should really mention such things on labels
but I still fell like pointing out budgies are omnivores, in the wild they eat insects and scavenge carcasses
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Wow that's very interesting! A comic but actually informative, well done
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To be more precise, I heard the cuttlebones were made from seal bone O_o Never get them. Luckily they still sell the mineral blocks at the pet store I go to. I didn't realize people fed their budgies meal worms >_> That's disturbing to think about, considering they can actually eat their way through an animal's stomach if you don't cut their heads off first, which personally, I would not have the heart to do.
I've been thinking of making one of these types of comics, if you don't mind.
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seal bone wouldn't have the same effects as cuttlebone, not to mention it would be more expensive and difficult to obtain in the first place
cuttlebone comes from cephalopods (squids, cuttlefish, octopi, etc.), mammal bones are of an entirely different makeup and wouldn't be the calcium rich supplements cuttlebones are
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oh really! Seal bone, I shall have to check that one out. If that's true it's a bit sad to say but I'm sure people would feel worse about feeding their pet part of a seal than a fish.
Ack you're so lucky, I can't find normal mineral blocks anywhere. and Yeah I remember when I got my first budgie when I was like 10 and in a book all about budgies it showed all the types of insects you can feed them and how to keep them. I was completely grossed out. I'm not sure how common it is, as I've only seen it in books and have never seen insects actually sold for budgie food. Mind you I've never looked. xD
Go for it! 
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Actually, cuttlebone comes from the backbone of cuttlefish, which are mollusks like octopus and squid~ I used to gather them on the beach (they died naturally and their backbone washes to shore)when I was little, wash them really well, and then give them to my birds. Until a few years ago, and it occurred to me - When on earth would a cockatiel or budgie go scavenging on a BEACH for something to eat?!? Hahah~
As the cuttlefish whose bones I collected died naturally, I never had a problem with it. However, (again, after researching a few years later) cuttlebone actually has very little calcium as otherwise believed, and thus you'd be better off feeding calcium rich veggies instead of cuttlebone. Also, they have a hard, shell like material on one side. Now Ive always gone through the trouble of scraping that off, but its always sold with it on. When this is chipped, whether by something like dropping or being bitten off, the edges can be quite sharp. This has actually been known to cause throat and crop problems. 
But I never knew bird food contained D3 0.0 Why?? Its rather odd...
Lol, sorry for the long post, I never miss a chance to educate
Regardless, you bring up a very valid point~ Cute comic 8D
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cuttlebones are more than just calcium, for some birds (namely larger parrots) they serve more as an enrichment, an edible chewing toy
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They can indeed - Thats pretty much all my bird uses them for (He also likes to sleep on them??)
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Okay that's what I thought, but then again I could be wrong so I'm glad for the extra information! Pft don't apologize for the long post, my comics are here to educate. I don't always have to be the one doing the educating.
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Wow, you actually read it all? xDD
Always happy to help~!
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Yep - and I hope other people will too.
I always think it's great when people try to educate using personal experience linked with outside information.
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Cool! You can check it out, here; [link]
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gods thas stupid..and you said you needed to name the bird? you wanted it named after a plant? heres a common name from my forestern clans: coniffer. if you dont like that one i can give others, but they might not be named after plants
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I don't think I understood correctly.
The bird ("budgie"?), is a naturally vegeterian animal,
and the pet food made for it by humans is not really vegeterian?
And, what do the budgies eat in the wild? They just bite fruits on trees?
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Yep you're pretty much correct. Budgies are naturally herbivores. They live in savannas naturally in large flocks and eat parts of trees, berries etc. I assume they might randomly eat insects, but it's not an important part of their diet and they can easily be healthy without it.
The pet food made for budgies unnecessarily contains products from fish and sheep, which involves the death of fish and sheep to produce it in the long run. D:
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poor sheeps ;/ that's really terrible...
abiut the topic, yeah, they are completely careless what do animals eat, important for them is it to be cheap ;/ horrible brands
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Why on earth would they put fish bones in bird food?!?!
That sounds as bad a putting grains in cat food!
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