Amit Gomes Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Hi Guys, I recently brought home a 6 month old CAG, Dexter. The pet store owner had been feeding him mainly sunflower seeds with an occasional apple which of course is not a healthy diet. Since getting Dex home I have been feeding him as much fresh food as possible. He loves green chillies so that is a daily food for him. Along with chillies he loves carrots, cucumber, apples & capsicum. He refused to eat a banana & some watermelon that I offered him. I feed him fresh food twice a day. He also has a seed mix, with has sunflower seeds, wheat, peanuts (which I toss out) dried red chillies, a few banana chips n some other colour dried food which looks like its probably dried fruit. Along with fresh food I have been feeding him zupreem fruit blend pellets which he seems to eat only occasionally n only if I do not put the seed mix in his cage. I had a few questions about his diet & what I can do to improve it. 1. He loves sunflowers seeds & mostly eats only this out of the seed mix. He ignores the wheat & coloured food. I have read that only sunflower seeds are not healthy & he should be eating other stuff as well. Could someone recommend a good seed mix. 2. Are the fruit blend pellets fine? I do not want to make pellets the primary diet, I prefer to have the pellets & seeds in his cage once he has eaten fresh food. What would you'll suggest? I have seen other people recommending the natural & nut blend but have also read that nuts & seeds are high in cholesterol & are not good. I will be purchasing a different pellet mix in a couple of days & wanted to know what would be the best. We have zupreem, harrisons, kaytee available here. 3. Dexter doesnt seem to drink enough water & I see him drink water only after he eats fresh food & at times I have to put the bowl under his nose for him to drink. How would I know how much water should my CAG consume. 4. Can i give him him toasted sliced bread? The reason I ask this is cos he will keep looking at us & seems interested in what we are eating when we have our morning toast but doesnt seem to bother wen we have other meals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monax Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 I have a 7 month old TAG (Toby) that I've had for about 2 months. There are a lot of very helpful and far more experienced folks on this forum that can give you great advice on diet. For what it's worth, here's my 2 cents: When I brought Toby home, he was on a seed mix diet, and also seemed to be picking out just sunflower seeds. My avian vet recommended Harrison's High Potency pellets, so I transitioned him very quickly away from seeds. It took a few weeks, but he's a pellet junkie at this point, and I'm trying to tune his diet to give him more fresh vegetables and legumes. In the last couple of weeks I've been experimenting with sprouted seeds. I use a mix of organic seeds - including mung beans, lentils, green pea, clover, alfalfa, broccoli, and radish - and he took to this almost immediately. I notice that Toby will moisten his pellets and drink more water with pellets, and less so with fresh food. I assume he gets fluids from veggies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWIX Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 I can't be the one to give you the best advice, but i can help you with finding great CAG food in Dubai. I have ordered some food from this website and they deliver to your doorstep within 48 hours max. http://dubaipetfood.com/shop/food-102s.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWIX Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 In case you are wondering what did i ordered: http://www.dubaipetfood.com/shop/fruitblend-medium-and-431p.html (DJ loved this one) http://www.dubaipetfood.com/shop/natural-diet-parrots-432p.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amit Gomes Posted June 2, 2012 Author Share Posted June 2, 2012 Hi Monax & Twix...thx for the advice... Thx for the info on sprouts Monax, I will try that... Twix I did order zupreem fruit blend pellets from the same website, I will try the natural diet...Will be ordering it this week n mixing it with the fruit blend n a few seeds initially to see if he likes it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenlap Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Personally, I am not a fan of artificially colored foods. Wether it is my dogs or my birds, I prefer as organic as possible. I purchased Harrison's High Potency for my girl, and she gobbles it right up! Gonna be buying the big bags from here on out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spock Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 In case you are wondering what did i ordered: http://www.dubaipetfood.com/shop/fruitblend-medium-and-431p.html (DJ loved this one) http://www.dubaipetfood.com/shop/natural-diet-parrots-432p.html Hi, Natural is Greyt, not so Fruit-blend lest you forget greys need very little fruit, plus the colored pellets are a unknown factor..Thanks Maggie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWIX Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I use a little bit of fruit mix every time i fill his food bowl. He loves it and the pack is still full until this day. Shouldn't be harmful if we use it lightly i guess but thanks for the advice Maggie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I am no diet pro. I give my birds Zupreems, variety mx, including freezedryed fruits and veggies. Daily, fresh fruits and veggies they go crazy for. Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower,blueberries, raspberries, apples, bananas, oranages sugarsnap peas,, greenbeans. These are their favorites. Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spock Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Shouldn't be harmful if we use it lightly i guess but thanks for the advice Maggie :oHi, as Jay would say,"better safe then sorry". Fruit isn't good for greys, it has no food value and it goes right through them (besides the washing effect of washing everything they do eat). One grape a day, one raspberry or one small piece of apple, etc. is all a grey needs. My friend, this is a scientific avian fact...a grey's nutrition, food and diet needs are not the same as a human's, a dog, and a cat. Remember the word accumulate? How much coloring does a grey have to accumulate before it begins to cause problems? (As in fruit pellets) There are so many more choices of foods that are more beneficial and we like ZuPreem. However, each species of parrots have their own dietary needs. Thanks Twix, Maggie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlinva Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Have you tried looking at the Goldenfeast line? They have no additives, all natural and a super amount of selection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywings Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 They do and there is a group on Yahoo called Feeding Feathers that continually has great feeding ideas and nutritional advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheebamaster Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 I highly suggest sprouting. It's easy and fun. The nutritional value from sprouts is ridiculously high and is such a fantastic part of my grey's diet. The seeds become very healthy and packed with vitamins and proteins and Luna loves to eat the little white sprouts. I highly recommend http://sproutpeople.org/ as they have all organic sprouts and mixes created just for birds. If you get into sprouting though make sure you purchase some grapefruit seed extract. Its a natural way to kill bacteria and completely harmless to birds. I rinse my sprouts with about 7-8 drops of this and it leaves the seeds smelling fresh and clean with no threat to bacteria that could harm the bird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now