Changing YummYumm's diet...

[YummYumm09]

YummYumm comes home tomorrow...I found out that the only thing he has had to eat is pellets. She has never given him anything else.(except the peanut I gave him the other night when I was there ) How do I start introducing new foods to him and when?

[judygram]

I would start as soon as you bring him home giving him different vegetables and fruits in several different ways, cooked, raw, chopped, mashed or whatever way you can think of, he may surprise you and like them, thats too bad he was never given anything but the pellets, they are nutritious but should not be the entire diet.

 

There are some threads in the bird food room that lists the vegetables and fruits he can have and be sure to familiarize yourself with the toxic foods so you will know what not to feed.

 

He can also have some nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, rices, pastas, my Josey loves any kind of pasta especially spaghetti and you should find those in the bird food room also.

 

In fact take a good read thru the entire bird food room for lots of ideas and suggestions for what to feed YummYumm, there are also recipes for things you can make just for him, good ones too.

[YummYumm09]

Thanks for your help...I have read through and printed a lot...Dam...my boyfriend is going to be jelous...I don't cook for him like I will be for YummYumm...but as I am finding the foods I want to give him all many of the ones we humans eat, so he (bf) will be able to eat better too lol...I will just let him (bf) think I am cooking for him (bf) lol

 

Oh and I don't know the sex of YummYumm but the name just seems like a boy so, it's a boy for now...until I decided to get him sexed.

 

Well, off to the grocery store (Getting a Harley ride in today too - not going to want to ride tomorrow. lol)

[judygram]

YummYumm09 wrote:

Oh and I don't know the sex of YummYumm but the name just seems like a boy so, it's a boy for now...until I decided to get him sexed.

 

Well, off to the grocery store (Getting a Harley ride in today too - not going to want to ride tomorrow. lol)

 

 

When you don't know the sex then you usually have to choose him or her when referring to your bird and whatever works for you is fine until the day you decide to find out for sure. I have a sun conure that I have not had sexed and I refer to her as a she but she could well be a male but it doesn't matter to me, better than calling it an IT.

 

I hear ya on the Harley ride, enjoy!

[chimaysmommy]

A fun way to introduce him/her to veggies might be to use a skewer! Chimay loves it when I stick a whole variety of fruits/veggies on a skewer and hang it from his playtop. I put broccoli, corn on the cob, strawberry, and apple slices on, and kind of accordian-fold a big leafy green onto it and he goes crazy.

 

Another thing you could try is giving him/her veggies that could sort of double as a toy...i.e. whole pea pods or a chunk of corn on the cob. The corn on the cob is Chimay's favorite, b/c after all of the corn is gone he can chew and destroy the cob afterward!

 

Hope this helps!

[BaxtersMom]

Congrats on your new grey. The others have given great advice. I too would start introducing new things right away but would continue on with the pellets as well. Some things your grey will like and some things might not. Greys are very cautious of new things and it might takes several days or maybe even weeks for of repeated offering for him to take to it. Persistance is the key here. I have tried and tried to get my Baxter to eat fruits but he refuses even after a year. He does like certain veggies and loves nuts. After dinner our flock gets our healthy human foods that are cooked like baked sweet or regular potatoes, our veggies, spaghetti, noodles of any kind. Please do read through the other posts to get familar with the foods that are toxic to them though as there are a few. Once you know them, it's not so scary.