Eclectus cost?

Question

Hey, one of my friend's is getting an Eclectus within the next year. She's bird crazy, knows that it is going to cost a lot for the bird, the cage, the replacing of toys, feeding, time, ect. But she is curious to know from people who own Ekkies, on how much does it cost a week to feed? Including pellets, fresh fruit and vege ect. ?

Thank you.

Answer 1

I totally agree with kim, she knows her stuff. Eclectus are HUGE responsibilities, physically and financially.  Over the past year and a half I have adopted three. It is smart of your friend to find out all about them before jumping into getting one. I really thought I was prepared until I brought the first two home! Ekkie's go through food like I have never seen before. They live to eat..and that is no understatement. Our male is like a dog, he will raid the trash and try to get into our fridge if the door is left open. I always feed them while we eat dinner, and I always feed cosmo in his cage. If I forget to shut the door, he will perch on your leg and stare at you the whole time you are eating!

Since I have so many birds I order all my bird food in bulk. I get them goldenfeast madagascar delight or south american as their "seed mix". It is actually a human grade food that is granola based with dried fruit, veggies, pasta, nuts, some seeds, their are over 40 ingredients in it. You can serve it out of the bag or cook it. One 35lb bag costs me $85.00 and may last for 3 weeks (for three birds). They waste alot too.  I usually go to the store on Sundays to try to get all their foods for the week. Usually I spend around $80.00 on all their food and treats. Mine is x 3 so one would be less. I don't give my ekkies too many pellets. We buy a bag of roudybush and put some in with the goldenfeast, but pellets are processed and artifical additives aren't the best for ekkie's.  I give them a few of the roudybush and my other birds get a few of the zupreem.

I have found that my ekkie's LOVE toys. And they also destroy them very quickly! One favorite of theirs is a ball that holds peanuts- they love to get the peanuts out. I also have a huge box that I put in all kinds of toys like popsickle sticks, foam letters and numbers, wooden blocks, big plastic keys and dinosaurs...anything they can chew. They love their new "toy box". They even climb in it with the toys- and throw them all out one by one!

Answer 2

Vet Bils and everything included. It is about $3.00 a day to care for a single bird..... That is averaged over one year against 200 + birds that I have...

Answer 3

Your friend may want to do a little more research on them.

The expense can be quite high & yes I have an eclectus.

They need macaw size cages, large play gyms, toy boxes full of parrot toys as well as toddler interactive toys, a toy box or two. Vt bills can vary but the ekkie should get at least a 6month or 12 monthly visit & checkup. My bill is $40 per visit, that's just a consultation & nothing else.

Diet is extremely important. They do very poorly on pellets & seeds. Fruit & veg, cooked foods, sprouts & healthy human foods are their main daily diets. They should get at least 80% of this daily & 20% everything else. Incorrect diets in ekkies cause some really major health issues & behaviours. The cost of food can depend on what you have available where you are & what you're prepared to pay. Making the food can sometimes be time consuming as well so your friend needs to make the time to do all this. Using frozen veg is just a quick fix & shouldn't be used for every meal. the bigger the variety of fruit & veg (fresh) you can get the better.

You can get food ideas here

www.eclectusparrots.net

It costs me approx $60 pw to feed the ekkie & that's just fresh food diets.

Answer 4

It depends on the food fed, but averages around $8 a week to feed.

Answer 5

Frozen veggies x 2 $4.00 (AU)

Frozen Corn Cobs $4.00

Frozen veggie mix #2 $3.00

Sprout mix $1.00

Brown rice $4.00

Millet Spray $5.00

Seed mix $15

Budgie seed mix $5.00

Natural organic baby food (i'm still syringe feeding my eclectus so this is a must) $3 each x 5

Handrearing mix $20.00

The above would last me anywhere from 2 - 4 weeks (excluding the seeds which can last a couple of months).

Plus other fruits/vegs including kiwi, apples, beans, carrots, snow peas, cherrys, cucumbers etc.