Toucans use their huge yet beautiful beak to manipulate even the smallest
item
The purpose of this site came out of the fact that I just couldn't find enough information on these spectacular birds who haven't broken through into aviculture as much as they deserve to! I have dealt with toucans for some years now but by no means take what you read here as absolute truth! You'll find links to professional breeders and information, some of my personal experience with these birds, and, of course, useful information that any breeder or owner would like at their fingertips. Please let me know what you think of the page! Email link at bottom of page!
NOTE: It is our honest opinion and experience that the larger species should be kept as housepets only if sufficient room can be allotted for them because of their size, behavior, and level of activity. This is the reason for us raising aracaris.
SPECIAL THANKS to Emerald Forest Bird Garden (www.emeraldforestbirds.com), Well Bred Toucans (www.wellbred.toucans.com), and Pippin's Roost Exotics (www.pippinsroost.com) for their devotion and care to all of us who want to learn more!
DIET
Toucans are softbills much like mynahs and the like not because their bills are soft by any means, but because they exist on a diet that does not include hard-to-digest food items like seeds and nuts. The toucan in its native habitat would typically exist on fruits and some smaller organisms like rodents, insects, or lizards.
In captivity, however, their diet can be made much simpler for you and the bird as well as more nutritional than even a varied wild diet as most zoological parks can attest. Fruit is, of course, what at least 50% of the diet must consist of. I give mine papayas, seedless grapes, pears, apples, carrots, etc. I tend to stay away from citrus fruit and green vegetables because of their high iron content which I'll come back to in a moment. I limit the banana intake because it's rough on the digestive system.
The purpose of feeding a low-iron diet is because softbills in general are prone to iron storage disease which is clinically known as hemochromatosis. Softbills have trouble synthesizing this metal and therefore, accumulate it in the liver, impairing its filtering function. As the other part of the toucans' diet, I give them Mazuri ZuLife Softbill Pellets because, for some reason they hate the colored pellets and choose to pick out the plain, brown ones first. I also occasionally give them a diet made by the Mazuri Company called ZuLife Bird Gel which is used by many zoos already. Its a powder you mix with very hot water and then cool. It results in small, soft cubes which result in the texture of ripe fruit. Each batch of this diet is analyzed individually and contains less than 70 ppm iron.
Basically, toucans are as easy to feed as any other bird, they just eat a different diet than hookbills!
HOUSING
It's not that hard! I find that individual birds that I've cared for both in our program and in private homes have done fine in large cages that are suitable for large macaws. Their needs are basic but important: they need room to move back and forth, from perch to perch, and should be able to move their wings about as well. If you have a handfed, tame bird, you'll have them out of the cage for exercise anyway so this is even more important. For breeding on the other hand, they'll need even more room. I'm in Chicago so outdoor housing just isn't a reality, but the research shows that many species can be bred indoors with no problem, as long as the enclosure is large enough.
Toco Toucans (Ramphastos toco) are the largest species of
toucan.
Hey, it's Zeus!
(male Swainson's Toucan, aka Chestnut-mandibled Toucan Ramphastos swainsonii)
These are Toco Toucan chicks that are waiting for some handfeeding
formula.
Thanks to Gail Worth for this picture!
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