[rkurtz]

Hi, everyone. My daughter Jada (10) and I are desperately looking for help. We've had two parrotlets die in the last three years (owned separately) on or before they turned one year old. We've checked all of our cookware, no teflon. We don't burn candles, scented oil, and the guys only use spray air fresheners in the bathroom. We have a lot of animals in our house (snakes, lizard, dog, fish, birds, children) so we're extremely careful about environmental hazards. We don't smoke. We've done the research and can't figure out what's going on.
Both of our babies eventually had seizures that increased in severity until death. It was tragic. The first bird, Seamus, came from a private home breeder that we found out later smoked. (So we chalked his death up to that.) But now that Tank died as well in a similar way, we're a bit freaked out when considering a new bird. Neither bird wanted to eat fresh foods or the Harrison's pellets we offered. Neither used a cuttlebone and sparingly chewed mineral blocks that came as part of toys. Judging by various forums/threads, etc. nobody has much of an answer. Do parrotlets require an ambient temp of higher than 65 degrees (the coolest our house gets)? Could these seizures that cause death simply be a defect of breeding? What are your thoughts?

 

[Rubydoo252]

I'm sorry for your losses. Without an avian vet doing the investigation, we can only guess. I can tell you that 65 degrees is fine, that they are temperature tolerant as long as they are healthy. Did both birds come from the same breeder? I also wonder if the reptiles could carry a disease deadly to birds; I know they actually are genetically closer than people think. Did you start fresh with a new cage for the second bird? If you reused any toys or the cage, perhaps only the first bird was sick and the second bird caught it from the environment. There are ways to clean, but it takes a ton of work, bleach, and rinsing to make them safe. Do you use chemicals in cleaning other than vinegar? Have you checked your oven for Teflon? Do you have an ionizing air purifier? Could your heater have Teflon in it somewhere? Not eating fresh food or pellets is bad in the long run, but it takes more than a single year for that to be an issue. What food did you feed? Do you grill with cedar planks? Any new paint, carpet, etc? I have more questions than answers obviously, but maybe one of the answers provides the answer you are looking for.

 

[Malachi]

I'm, sorry to hear about your losses!

Short of a vet performing a necropsy on both birds there really is no way of knowing what happened. Quite frankly the similarities of their deaths could be pure coincidence and they could have had very different causes.

I do know that some reptiles can carry bacteria that can be lethal to birds. I'd be surprised if that had anything to do with the death of your birds though.

 

[Bodie]

Heavy metal toxicity?

 

[ozzie3860]

Where did you get their water?

 

[jeannepp]

I am very sorry for your and your daughter's loss of 2 parrotlets. truthfully, seizures could be the result of many different things and without a necropsy we are shooting in the dark.

 

[rkurtz]

answers?

I'll try to reply to some of the questions posed (thanks btw) to see if anyone can narrow down any answers.
We get our water out of the tap. Hard city water.
We did clean the cages in between birds with bleach to kill any disease, but then did extremely thorough rinsing to prevent toxicity from that.
We did not own reptiles until after the first bird died.
We've lived in two locations but both have had standard non-teflon ovens.
We have a natural gas forced air furnace.
We do grill on a deck made of green-treated lumber (pine?), but outside far away from the birds with the door to the inside closed.
No ionizing air purifier.
We feed only pet store seeds, not for wild birds. Harrison's pellets, which they didn't eat.
I do paint rooms occasionally, but I'm very careful to keep the birds in a well ventilated place (or outside if it's warm enough). I also keep the door to the room being painted closed to reduce the fumes that travel through the house.
No new carpet or other furniture.
All of the reptiles we have obtained, spend time quarantined until deemed healthy.
I can't imagine where the birds might have gotten heavy metal poisoning, but it's just as good a reason as any other...
Unfortunately, I can't afford necropsies, or I'd have done that and shared with the world! Poor babies.
Thanks for all the ideas.

 

[Rubydoo252]

Heavy metal poisoning can come from things like cage bars (yes, not all bird cages are actually safe for birds; companies care about the bottom line not animal welfare) or bird toy hangers. I know there has been warning circulating about Walmart toys being unsafe. Like cheap kids toys, cheap bird toys often test positive for lead paint. The hangers can also be poisonous metals, hardware store things not meant to be put into mouths or beaks. It costs more money to be bird-safe, and that hurts the bottom line so some companies don't do it. It is almost impossible to prove that they are at fault for anything, and legally our fids have almost no protections so there is nothing stopping them.

 

[Evelyn]

I sure wish I could help, but I can't think of anything that has been asked or said. Do you have carbon monoxide monitors for gas leak with your heater, might be just enough to kill them but not hurt humans.

 

[parrotletzoo]

What time of year did they get sick and die? I had a budgie that had seizures and paralysis from the neighbor spraying bug spray in their back yard and it blew in through the window. Like everyone else, I'm not sure what to tell you. I am very sorry for your losses though. Most likely, there is an issue with a local breeder and it is nothing you could have prevented.

 

[Evelyn]

What time of year did they get sick and die? I had a budgie that had seizures and paralysis from the neighbor spraying bug spray in their back yard and it blew in through the window. Like everyone else, I'm not sure what to tell you. I am very sorry for your losses though. Most likely, there is an issue with a local breeder and it is nothing you could have prevented.

I remember when that happened, that was a sad time.