pellets

[Hawaiisheila]

my oscar will not touch his pellets ever since he has tried seeds...I have tried harrison's pellets and Kaytee exact. He stopped eating bananas and will only eat soybeans...anyone have any suggestions for a now picky eater?

[danmcq]

Hi Hawaiisheila,

 

Well, if you had been fed processed pellets, then had a true steak and lobster dinner, what would you think of the pellets? :-)

 

Others will chime in that can advise you on getting your Grey back to eating pellets.

 

I provide Seed, some pellets mixed in, soak and cook, veggies and fruits.

 

My Grey loves the Seed too, eats a few pellets and loves his veggies and fruits. One thing I have noted, is somedays he will eat one veggie or fruit like crazy and the next day he switches to one of the others.

 

Probably like us humans, you eat something for lunch and you probably won't want it for dinner, unless you have no other option.

[judygram]

Sheila, try soaking the pellets in some sort of fruit juice, some will eat them that way. Also try combining the pellets and seeds in one container and gradually over time increase the ratio of pellets to seed until the seed is very little and mostly pellets to get him to eat more of the pellets. Now this will take time, months, or maybe years but it can be done.

[Lusya]

I ran into similar problem. Izzie eats less pellets than she used to. However, she eats plenty of veggies and fruits. Should I offer less veggies and fruits to try to convert her into more-pellet diet?

 

P.S. I tried to soak pellets in different juices and I tried to mix it with other foods (veggies and seed mix, where she will pick only seeds and leave pellets in the bowl)<br><br>Post edited by: Lusya, at: 2007/12/08 01:45

[ziggy]

This is a clear cut case of if its not broke dont fix it. Like humans to much of anything is no good. So if you feed him pellets only and only give seeds as a treat he will be forced to eat his pellets and savor the time he gets with the seeds. Please watch what kind of seeds you are giving him. Black sunflower seeds, peanuts,cashews,and almonds are very high in saturated fats. This is not good over a long period of time. You shuold be giving him a portion of mostly veggies and some fruits in the morning. (more veggies then fruits. fruits are high in sugar). After about 15 to 20 minutes remove any uneaten veggies and fruits. Now add just pellets for the rest of the day until you feed for diner. At diner give him a little bit of protein. Broiled chicken,turkey,fresh cheese ect. Try mixing it with like a tropical blend or the pellets. Do this for a time set by him. He will tell you when the new feedings are catching on. He will train himself to eat all of the extra stuff you are giving him because he knows after a while he will loose the remaining treats until later or the next day. Be parient and consistant with this and in a short time he will catch on to the routine.

[lovemyGreys]

Good advice ziggy Lusya don't decrease the fruit & veg, i give mainly soaked tropical fruit in the morning,then i leave dishes out with seed which is a high quality avian specific mix along with pellets,mine like their vegetables in the evening along with maybe scrambled egg or soaked pulses.work out a routine that suits izzie.

[Lusya]

Ziggy, thanks for your advise, however I never mentioned Izzie ate only seeds. As I mention above, she eats less pellets than she used to, but she gets more veggies and fruits. On the package (pellets) it says that she should get about 1/2 cup of pellets each day. Unfortunately, it seems like she eats just a few. I did try different brand. It just seems that fresh food (veggies, fruits) is more attractive to her. Since my baby is little underweight I though this might be a problem.

 

lovemyGreys, do you know approximately how much of pellets (mix) you Grey eats?

[chapala]

lovemyGreys wrote:

Good advice ziggy Lusya don't decrease the fruit & veg, i give mainly soaked tropical fruit in the morning,then i leave dishes out with seed which is a high quality avian specific mix along with pellets,mine like their vegetables in the evening along with maybe scrambled egg or soaked pulses.work out a routine that suits izzie.

 

Fresh food is a very important part of a varied diet. I would not reduce the vegetables (especially if they are healthy Vit A vegetables such as raw kale, collard, broccoli, mustard greens, dandelion, cooked sweet potato, etc.).

 

One note of caution on feeding pellets soaked in fruit juice or anything else - they should not be left in the cage for more than a couple of hours because bacterial growth can start growing in the moistened pellets.

 

Feeding Feathers, the Yahoo forum, has excellent advice on nutritious diets for parrots, and a lot of information in their files section. They advise, and I follow this advice, feeding no more than 20% of the diet as pellets, as long as the rest of the diet is varied and nutritious. It does require more thought and a bit more work than just putting pellets and/or seed in front of the bird. Both are fine as part of a good diet, but there also needs to be a lot of fresh food. Just my opinion

Reta