TAG will not eat pellets

[Brenda]

Timba will not eat any pellets. Harrison's sent me two sample bags to try of theirs and he throws them out of his food dish each time I put some in.

 

I was thinking about trying one of the Hagan parrot foods on him. The Hagan living world premium food looks like it has a lot of sunflower seeds in it.

The Hagan Tropimix looks like it might be okay.

They have a Tropican Lifetime Parrot Granule food that I'd like to get a sample of.

Have any of you had any dealings with the Hagan foods?

 

At least Timba is trying different fruits and veggies.

He doesn't like any fresh veggies, only cooked.

 

Thank you

Brenda

[BaxtersMom]

I haven't tried Hagan food before but I was having problems getting one of my flock members to eat pellets. What I finally tried was hiding them in regular cooked oatmeal and scrambled eggs and he ate them all. Sometimes you have to trick them.

 

It is a good idea to try other kinds of pellets too because sometimes they prefer one brand to another. I got some Zupreem pellets to try them out. They smelled really fruity and good and the one who wouldn't eat pellets really seems to enjoy them on their own without hiding them in foods now.

 

I would encourage the pellets though. That is where they get their nutrition. Seeds are ok but more of a filler & not much nutritional value in them.

 

Keep trying and you will eventually find something that works and that your grey will like.

[Perch]

I have had good luck with Zupreem fruit blend as well. I mix that and some Zupreem uncolored pellets together and just cover the bottom of the bowl to prevent too much tossing mess. Zupreem also makes a spicy blend and I sometimes add a half a tsp of that to change things up.

 

One great piece of advice I got from a breeder is to get some weaning pellets and take 8 or 10 put them in your hand and run warm tap water over them for 20 seconds or so. Shake off the excess, and put these on top of your dry mix. It seemed to encourage my grey to eat the warm food and then explore to the pellet mix.

[BaxtersMom]

I have soaked them in apple juice too and noticed my eclectus would eat them a little more that way, too. Not soggy, just put them in apple juice for 15 - 20 seconds, just enough to wet them. He really enjoys the Zupreem though and don't have to sneak them in any foods or soak them.

[TinyTimneh]

All 3 of my birds eat the tropican pellets. Now, they don't taste like much so if your grey's picky you might wanna try the zupreem flavours instead, but then again zupreem has alot of artifical colours/flavours etc whereas the tropican does not.

I don't think that switching brands will tempt your grey severely because all the common brands taste alike. so, it's up to you as which brand you choose, each has its pros and cons.

Personal experience is avoid the tropimix, often they'll just toss out the pellets and eat the rest. try (unless of course your grey has a medical etc issue) not free-feeding your bird anymore (let him have two meals per day instead of browsing on an unlimited amount of food at his leisure all day long). don't try any of the 50-50 suggestions of mixing the pellets and the seeds etc on the packages either, the bird will just pick out what he wants.

instead, in the morning, give the grey a dish of pellets and water, some veggies if you feed them usually. then go about your routine, if by nightime your grey has not eaten anything, give him a small portion of seeds or whatever he's currently eating for a short while, then remove the bowl. the next morning repeat the process. eventually he'll get pretty hungry. if the grey begins to lose alot of weight or hasn't eaten in a couple of days, stop this technique. good luck!

[dhorje]

I just bought Hagen Tropican Lifetime for the 1st time. My Grey is biting them, not sure if she is eating them.

[LindaMary]

I have been trying for longer than I care to admit - unsuccessfully - to get Maxi, my TAG, to eat pellets. Tried different kinds, tried soaking them - no luck. Just recently I took some of the Harrison's, put them in a bowl on my dining table, and let Max watch ME eat some of them, breaking off little chunks and making a big fuss about how yummy they were. Lo and behold : she's interested, and came over to get some. I wouldn't let her have any for a while (which really made her curious), then finally offered her a little TINY chunk, and kept eating them myself. She wanted more, of course!

 

I am now mixing a few in her dry mix, and she does occasionally eat one. She's more likely to eat them if I hand feed her a little piece of a pellet at a time. But it's more progress than I've made any other way, and I plan to keep doing this and slowly increasing the proportion until it's mostly pellets. She's a hardcore seed and fresh food eater, but if I continue to use reverse psychology I think there may be hope!

 

Maxi Maxi Quite Contrary.... :angry: