Cheerios, good treat or toxic time bomb??

[Fidgit_Green]

hi everyone.

i have read a few times on here of people talking about how much their bird likes cheerios as a treat.
i though that they would probably would make good treats being made of different whole grains, so i brought a box of cheerios to try them out with fidgit, but then upon reading the box noticed that one serve of they give a person 25% of their daily iron needs, 10mg in every 100g.

now knowing that parrots cant metabolize iron and can get poisoned from a build up of iron over time.
so i guess my question is, is it ok to feed him some cheerios as treats with training and such or is it not a good idea to give them to him at all?

thanks in advance everyone
Cheers

[Melika]

It would take a lot of cereal to do that- although for a softbill the chances would be higher for iron-storage disease. The larger concern is sugar/starches and fiber levels in cereal made for humans. Too much sugar and starch compared to protein in human cereals (for what a parrot needs). But the fiber might make a parrot feel more full and feel as if it didn't need to eat anymore- thereby preventing it from eating food containing more nutrition.

As with all other processed human foods, a very little goes a long way. Moderation.

[ellieelectrons]

I've only bought them once - my concern with them was that they contained a lot of sugar, I didn't notice the iron content. I don't buy them any more because of the sugar content.

Ellie.