Offer fruits in a separate dish from pellets. Cut produce into manageable pieces, depending on the size of the bird, and offer a mixed fruit salad. These fruits contain citric acid that binds to iron which can lead to iron storage disease if ingested. Citrus fruits and tomatoes should not be offered to toucans and toucanettes. In addition to a low-iron containing pellet, toucans and toucanettes should be offered a large variety of diced fruits, such as those listed at the end of this handout, every day and should constitute a large proportion of the diet. Check with your veterinarian to see what brands of pellets he or she recommends for your toucan or toucanette and be sure to consult your veterinarian if you encounr any problems with diet or your bird’s health. Since pellets are dry, birds eating pellets tend to have less messy droppings. Low-iron pellets for soft-billed birds are commercially available. Some pelleted bird diets have excessively high iron values that may contribute to hemochromatosis in toucans and toucanettes. Current dietary recommendations are for diets low in iron (ideally containing <90-100 parts per million in iron content). Hemochromatosis is a dietary concern for captive toucans and toucanettes. Therefore, it is important food be presented to toucans and toucannettes in small, easy to swallow, bite-size pieces. Toucans and toucanettes do not chew their food into pieces like parrots do, and unlike parrots, they do not have a crop (a dilated pouch of the esophagus) for the storage of food. What should I feed my toucan or toucanette? In the wild, they eat a variety of foods including a multitude of fruits and berries plus lizards, rodents, small birds, and an assortment of insects. What does a toucan eat in its natural environment? A bird's health depends on how well it is fed. It is not sufficient just to feed a toucan or toucanette to maintain it instead, bird owners should feed their birds to help them thrive and flourish. Bird owners must continually strive to improve their birds’ diets by both by educating themselves and by using their common sense. Hemochromatosis, or iron storage disease, in toucans and toucanettes has long been suspected to be related to high dietary iron. Too often, owners assume they are feeding a proper diet to their toucan or toucanette when, in fact, they are not! Inappropriate diet is a common reason for many health problems in birds. You should discuss your toucan or toucanette's diet with your veterinarian. Nutrition is commonly neglected with pet birds. Should I be concerned about what my toucan or toucanette eats? It is NOT uncommon for them to have blue droppings 15-20 minutes after eating blueberries! This means that your toucan or toucanette will eat A LOT and likely have frequent and often very loose, sometimes projectile, droppings. Toucans and toucanettes have a high moisture diet and a relatively short digestive tract, which make for a very quick transit time of food through their digestive tract. Different species of birds often require different foods. As with all other animals, birds need a proper balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. This is due both to heightened awareness of the importance of nutrition and to increased research into birds’ different needs. Our knowledge of bird nutrition is constantly evolving.
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