Are Hot Peppers Good for Your Parrot?

Dear Glenn, I understand you’re something of a red hot chili pepper fanatic - the spicy kind, not the band - and I enjoyed the news story (http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2007/8/20/281622.html?title=The+hottest+pepper+of+all+) and video (What’s making Chef’s Kitchen’s Roy De Jesus cry?) about your aspirations to grow the world’s hottest peppers.

Watching that news guy in tears put me in stitches!

As you are someone who has clearly thought long and hard about parrots and their diets, I wonder if you could explain why parrots like peppers somuch?

Perhaps more importantly, are spicy peppers bad for parrots to eat even if they adore them? Can they give them indigestion or are they likely to keep them parasite free? Do wild parrots eat spicy things, or just bitter and astringent things? Are red peppers a good compliment to a pellet & seed diet, especially from a vitamin standpoint?

Ok, that’s more than one question, I’ll stop there and look forward to your answer, thanks!

Thanks, You hit on one of my favorite topics, hot peppers or as most chili-heads call them “Chilies”. I guess in the vernacular of the chili-head peppers are like bell peppers and anything with heat is considered a chili. I really enjoyed doing the news story. They had been bugging me for weeks, so I finally relented and did the story. It was a blast. The video doesn’t even start to illustrate the pain that Roy de Jesus was in after eating one of my Bhut Jolokia peppers. In fact the one he ate was only about 1/3 the size of some of the larger ones on my plants.

Well enough about that. I will try to answer your questions. I have owned parrots for 30 years now, and they have always eaten chilies. Back when I purchased my first parrot formulated/pelleted diets were not yet available; therefore, most everyone fed their parrots the seed diets that were on hand. Most of those diets contained chilies.

I’ve never been able to find the proof to back it up but have always read that parrots don’t have the ability to sense the heat in peppers. Peppers get their heat from a chemical called capsaicin that was most likely an evolutionary defense of the plant to protect its fruit from predators. Parrots have very few taste buds and are considered not to have a very good sense of taste or smell, so with a limited number of taste buds it would make sense that they may not be able to taste the heat in peppers. Furthermore, a minimal sense of smell may further explain their lack of ability to taste the heat. If you have ever eaten a really hot pepper like the ones I prefer you will know that half of the sensation is in the vapors collected in your nostrils and up the sinuses as you take that first bite. Some of the hotter ones can almost take your breath away. Many people will choke on the vapors long before the heat gets to them.

Chilies may exacerbate indigestion but they will not give you indigestion. They are actually alkaline not acidic. Currently the National Institute of Health is studying using capsaicin to cure bleeding ulcers. I have seen a lot of various bugs and worms get into my chilies and eat away, so I don’t think they will keep your bird parasite free.

I wouldn’t think many wild parrots live in geographical regions where chilies grow. It is thought that chilies originated in the Americas and were then cultivated all over the world as far back as 6000 years ago. There are very few overlaps of wild growing chilies and wild parrots in nature.

I think red peppers whether hot or not should be included in your parrot’s diet. Red peppers are full of beta carotene (a precursor to vitamin A), and vitamin C. A maintenance diet for an adult bird should contain between 2500 IU/kg to 5000 IU/kg vitamin A daily and only reaches a toxic level somewhere between 20 and 100 times that amount. It is well known that vitamin A is very important for vision, but it is also important for proper growth and disease resistance. A healthy bird doesn’t need an external source of vitamin C since they synthesizes it in the gut, but an external source is considered necessary for juvenile growing parrots and any parrot that is compromised from disease.

In humans there is a great deal of research going on with capsaicin and most of those studies are being done by reputable institutions. As stated above NIH is looking at capsaicin as a treatment for bleeding ulcers. They are also researching its natural anti-inflammatory activities for pain relief and for the treatment of arthritis. Other studies indicate it can help in weight loss, control blood pressure, reduce cholesterol, and control glucose levels in diabetics. There are also indications that it can prevent colon cancer. In India they eat chilies before they go outside and work. They claim it reduces the effects of the hot sun. Sure, if your mouth is burning up who is going to notice that it’s 100 degrees outside?

That said I should be a pretty healthy person and my birds should be pretty healthy too. I eat something hot every day of my life and so do my birds. I carry a small vile of ground pure red habanero in my pocket most everywhere I go. My birds don’t have pockets, so they rely on me to give them their daily dose. I have some minor arthritis in my hands, but when I am picking chilies the pain goes away for days. I can’t figure out how to get my birds to go out and help me pick peppers. Maybe I need to consult with Steve Martin on that one.

BTW since that news story aired I have sold a ton of hot sauce and my orders for pepper plants will keep me busy for months.

I hope this helps you out, Glenn