URGENT!!! Mikko's eating problems

[Joe Bachi]

hi all,

Ever since I got Mikko, he's been on a sunflower only diet which I know is very bad for him but I was having a hard time getting him to even taste other stuff

Yesterday I noticed that he was getting a bit fatter so I decided that it was time to act.

I chopped some Kiwi, Pear, and Watermelon for him and mixed them all with millet seeds.

I also removed all of the sunflower seeds from his cage.

Is this a recipe for disaster? Should I give him back his sunflower seeds?

I need advice please reply ASAP...

Thx

BTW I'm gonna leave the fruits in his cage for tonight and if I don't get any replies on what to do by tomorrow morning I will just go with my instincts and put both fruit and seeds in his cage cz I am usually gone all day (from 7 to 7) and I wouldn't want him to starve to death

(though I have tried this before but instead of fruits I used cucumber and lettuce but he just ate the seeds)

[Dave007]

I can tell you that fruit won't do anything for him at all. It's only used once in a while and isn't substituted for other food. Basically, it's a treat. Right now, since he won't eat anything but sunflowetr seeds, I would suggest that you get a proper parrot mix that has all different types of seeds in the bag, not just sunflower. Then you can continue trying out different veggies ( very dark green ones are best. ) It takes a while to find out which veggies he'll like. Parrots don't eat millet seed as part of a regular diet. Millet is given to very small birds like budgies.

Ps--leaving fresh items such as veggies and fruit in a bowl isn't a good idea because veggies and fruit go bad after a few hours and need to be removed. Parrots won't eat fresh things if they dry up and go bad.

 

 

PS----

 

*****though I have tried this before but instead of fruits I used cucumber and lettuce but he just ate the seeds) ****

 

Cucumbers and lettuce are probably the most useless of all veggies and don't supply the bird with anything nutritious. And most greys won't eat them anyway.

Edited August 23, 2011 by Dave007

[Zoom]

My Amazon came to me at the age of 13 and she wouldn't eat anything except pellets and peanuts. Pellets are good for her, at least. But I still wanted her to eat some fresh foods.

 

Every morning I put a bowl containing a variety of fresh food in her house. Fruits, veggies, different nuts, dry oatmeal, birdie bread, etc along with one peanut. And every afternoon I put a bowl of homemade mash in her house. (She always had pellets available, too.) Even though she wouldn't eat my offerings, she always checked out the bowl for the peanut, which got her used to the whole idea of looking in the bowl.

 

This went on for a month or so, until one day I saw her eating a baby carrot! A few days later she discovered she loved apple. And then blackberries. And almonds. And zucchini. And birdie bread.

 

There's lots of stuff she doesn't like, and she's definitely not my most open-minded eater (that award goes to my Grey), but she has come a long way, and it makes me happy to see her getting pleasure out of food.

 

I think you just have to keep offering your bird healthy foods, along with the seed mixture. Eventually he'll start eating some of it. Once he finds something he likes, he'll be more open-minded about trying new foods. (By the way, my Amazon and Grey both love food they can pick up with their foot, like baby carrots and wedges of apple.)

 

Good luck!

[Joe Bachi]

THank you for all of your replies and PMs