A parrot owner who took her pet to the vets after it was taken ill was shocked to discover that an X-ray revealed it had eaten 21 diamonds that had been stored in her jewellery box.

The sparkly jewels had apparently captured the attention of the parrot named Frosty, who had gobbled them down without its owner noticing.

When the parrot started to feel unwell, however, it was taken to the Animal Space Hospital in the Thai capital of Bangkok on Tuesday, 22nd June.

Puzzled vets decided to give it an X-ray and discovered the 21 objects blocking its gizzard.

The vets then had no alternative other than to do complicated surgery lasting two hours on the parrot to recover the diamonds and restore it to health.

Fortunately, the eighth-month-old sun parakeet (Aratinga solstitialis) survived the operation and is now well on the road to recovery, although, from now on, its owner’s jewellery box is set to be firmly locked.

Hospital spokesperson Dr Kuntita Paveenasakorn said it was well known that this kind of bird was attracted to sparkly things.

The doctor said: “We get this sort of thing surprisingly often with this type of bird, but it was unusual because it involved, in this case, a lot of valuable diamonds.”

It was reported that each of the diamonds that the parrot ate was around 0.2 carats.

The cut diamonds, which had sharp edges, could have caused serious damage to the parrot if they had been left there much longer, plus the fact they were blocking its intestines.

The parrot has apparently been released but will need to head back to the vets in around a month so that the stitches can be removed.

The sun parakeet, which is also known as the sun conure and is listed as endangered, is a native of north-eastern South America, and both males and females have vibrant golden-yellow plumage with orange flushes.