I’m getting ready to grind up a nice fresh horseradish root. My Amazon parrot would dearly love to chomp on a slice of it. Anyone know whether it will hurt him or not?
I don’t see it listed anywhere on Google, but I’d worry more about whether your parrot will ever speak to you again after you allow him to take a bite out of that deceptively innocent-looking horseradish. “You let me eat that!? You barstid!!”
I dunno - I’ve had several parrots who like hot/intensely flavored food, including raw garlic, habanero peppers, and curry. The little nutcases would sit there eating with their eyes watering and then demand more.
Don’t know if the horseradish is toxic or not.
Doesn’t look like it’s on this relatively thorough list.
Thanks for finding such a comprehensive list ! (Senegal Parrot owner)
My parrotlet love spicy stuff, but I haven’t tried horseradish on him. I’ll see what he says and report back.
Birds are unable to sense capsaicin, the active ingredient in chilis including habaneros, as I discussed in this Staff Report:
Are birds immune to hot pepper, enabling them to eat vast amounts and spread the seeds?
While I haven’t really investigated it in detail, I believe birds may also be insensitive to mustard oil (allyl isothiocynate), the active ingredient in horseradish.
If your parrots like “hot” food, they are probably responding to something in it other than capsaicin or mustard oils.
Damn, apparently parrots are allergic to sulfuric acid! How am I supposed to keep my bird off the furniture?
Hydrochloric acid doesn’t appear to be on the list though. So I guess there are alternatives.
Thank you to everyone who replied - and a special thanks for that list to you, capybara.
Sid (the parrot) is now chewing on a silver-dollar-sized slice of Root and enjoying the hell out of it.
I print out a copy of that list whenever we need to ask someone to babysit our guy. Things like philodendron are always a bit surprising.
Murphy the Jardine’s says “screech” to both Sid and Uvula’s parrotlet.
(ETA: oh, and Cormac’s senegal! Practically Murphy’s cousin)
That doesn’t explain the love of garlic…
Quite likely.
Hot damn! Alvin gets to participate more in the seder next month! (A wing stretch to fellow Jardine’s, Murphy.)
If it was my psittacine, I’d only try a bit of garlic every great once in a while. Onion is known to cause Heintz body anemia in cats and dogs, and garlic is suspected. Obviously, birds are different, but still.
I’m so glad to see so many people giving their birds awesome diets! Hooray!
Hey don’t be a cheapskate, toss him a slice of roast beef, he’ll love you for it
Ha! The sonofabitch is a meat-eater and loves roast beef, sausage, chicken… It’s funny as hell to see him with the bone from a chicken leg. He carefully eats all the meaty scraps clinging to it, then cuts a long strip down the bone like opening a sardine can so he can eat the marrow.
Keep your fingers out of his cage.
The baby parrots at the local pet store loved the spicy food for it’s effect on people. When they got treat mix with peppers, there would be a mad scrimmage in the cages to glom down the peppers, then they would all mash into the socialization areas and beg for kisses (“urk, grrrick…kizzz-kizzz, PEEP, PEEP, EPP, kiSZ!”) The store owner was always warning new help “do NOT kiss those birds”. A parrot who just ate a habenero has a beak covered hot oils that will make your skin red and eyes water if it touches your face. I suspect this entertains the birds