Lettuce is an every day staple in the Finsterium. The darker varieties have more nutritional value, so I usually get romaine, but the Finsters also like green leaf, red leaf, and Boston bib. No matter what the variety, the Finsters prefer the darker, outside leaves, and I prefer organic.

There are two techniques to eating lettuce. First, with your beak slightly open, poke both mandibles through the lettuce, chomp down, twist your head a little, and pull away. Yum. This creates lots of small holes in the leaf. This method could explain why my Finsters prefer softer lettuces to tougher greens like collards or kale.


Once there are enough holes in the lettuce, it becomes possible to "chew" the leaf material off from the rib. This method is also what the Finsters use to eat wheat grass.


Two final notes:

I rinse the lettuce leaf with water before placing it the Finsterium. Sally enjoys drinking the water drops off the lettuce. (Surprisingly, Frank and Sally both eat lettuce.)

When presented with a big piece of lettuce, held in somebody's hand, Peanut pretends to taste it, and will occasionally make a lettuce spit ball. When a piece of lettuce is placed in his food dish, he flicks it onto the floor. When a piece of lettuce is woven through the cage bars, he ignores it.