They're eating LOTS of cuttlebone...Why?

[Lara]

I own a pair of green cheek conures. They're still quite new, I've had
them less two weeks.
Anyway, they recently started devouring their cuttlebone. Well, the
female devours it, the male just destroys it. I just thinks it's
strange that they should start so suddenly. Prior to this, they'd
totally ignored it. Didn't notice it?
They've almost gone through two budgie size cuttlebones in two days. Of
course, most of this the male just throws on the floor.
I'm just curious as to why. Does anyone have any ideas?

Lara

[Ian Kerfoot]

Females need a lot of calcium for laying eggs. This
is probably why she is eatting the cuttlebone, while
the male just plays with it. Cuttlebones are a more
appropriate size for small birds like budgies, and
tend to get destroyed instantly by large birds. So,
most people provide their large birds with a diet
that is high in calcium, instead of using cuttlebone.

Ian Kerfoot

[Kelly & Lou'Too]

Could be a bad case of boredom, do they have plenty of toys? How about
their diet. What're you feeding them?

Kelly

[Greg Danielson, Jr.]

In article <4ul9q4$e...@news.snowcrest.net>, kel...@snowcrest.net said...

It's also possible that your female is about to lay eggs. The calcium in the
cuddlebone replaces calcium lost when the eggs are formed.
--
Greg Danielson, Jr.----...@engr.latech.edu--
Home Page: "http://www.latech.edu/~ggd/"