FINCHforum

Hi all,

I just wanted to share my experience with a washed up cuttle fish that my parents picked up for me, i gave it a little scrub to remove the sand and put it in the cage. Wow to they demolish it compared to the stuff i pick up from the pet stores or online. It also had a little sea salt left on it and this morning my colony of Goulds are supercharged!

I've read some mixed thoughts on it, with some thinking they harbour a lot of bacteria and bugs, where others sing praise about how much better they are for the birds. Obviously if it was rotting away it was no good, but it was fresh and it smelled of the sea!

Has anyone else had an experience with cuttles similar to mine?

Well, this is different!

Am I correct in my understanding that you gave them the entire fish? Not just the cuttle bone?

I'm honestly shocked they'd eat fish! (But I read tuna is among the safe foods, and I've been meaning to try it!)

I wouldn't hesitate to give them a fresh fish if they enjoyed it.
My only worry would be giving them a fish that's already dead due to not only bacteria formation, but also for the cause of death. I'd be afraid something like disease or toxins killed the fish; those could be passed along to birds.

For my animals, I always do the "would a human eat it" test and if it's good enough for a human, then it's good enough for them.

Thinking about it, though, I think the water temperature would be a big consideration. I see you're in the UK. So you probably have a very cold water temp. (Here in Florida, it's a balmy 80s water temp most of the time) So that could definitely inhibit bacteria growth if it's cold enough.

But then again, birds at the sea eat freshly washed-up fish. I've even seen land birds (not just sea birds) eating fish at the beach. So there must be some natural tolerance for the bacteria and so forth.

I think I'd classify washed-up fish in the "not ideal, but it could work under certain circumstances" category.

haha sorry i was so unclear, i meant a cuttlefish bone.

I dunno if i could get my goulds to eat fish, i have a hard time feeding greens to the picky eaters!

Just to clarify, i guess the cuttlefish bone you get from local stores in the UK are not as attractive to a bird as a cuttlebone thats washed up fresh. Maybe they prefer untreated?

If it was smelly or showed signs of rotting / smelt of fish i would have chucked it.

Ah, that makes more sense.

(Though I've heard some like tuna, so perhaps it's worth a try!)

I would probably soak it in a salt water solution for a couple hours to kill off bacteria. Then soak in water for a bit to rinse away the excess salt. And finally, once it dries out, I'd put it in a plastic bag and freeze it for a day or two to kill off any remaining bacteria.

Then serve!

I'll bet they loved it because the fresh cuttlefish bone was much better than the stuff we buy. Who knows how old those packaged cuttlefish bones are? Or what kind of processing they go through? Some breeders add a bit of sea salt to their mineral mix, it is supposed to be good for them. Personally, I'd do like you did, a quick scrub and then offer it. The more natural the food, the better IMO.

I have used washed up cuttlefish bone before, without any problems. All I did was give it a wash under the tap, allowed to sun dry and then served to the birds.

If I could find more, I would definitely use it over store bought cuttlefish bone.