Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, voting in polls and entering the competitions. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Behavior; Eating
Topic Started: Mar 30 2009, 06:44 PM (464 Views)
Deleted User
Deleted User

Hi all, thanks in advance for your help in this matter. We have a 9 month old female parrotlet and she is a fussy eater. We are currently living in Italy and she won't eat any fresh fruit or vegetables. All she will eat are her pellets and a bean mixture she was raised on from the breeder. Any suggestions? Also, do parrotlets ever use their feet to hold objects esp. using their feet to hold food and eat?
Thanks again
Lisa
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bonnie
Member Avatar
Administrator
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Hello Lisa wave welcome to the forum. Don't give up on introducing her to new things, you may want to try one of these. It will make it more of a game at getting the fresh fruits and veggies off.

http://www.parrotworldusa.com/garden-kabobs.html

Yes we have a few members who's Parrotlets use there feet I have seen mine do it but trying to get a pic is another story rofl rofl they stop. Broccoli is a favorite veggie for mine but they also love strawberries, cantelope watermelon. Just remember not to leave it in the cage to long and keep repeating it every day. Try toasting a piece of whole wheat toast every one of my birds love that.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
LauraR
Member Avatar
Admin
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Hi Lisa!
Welcome to the group!

Like Bonnie said, persistence is the key to getting them to eat any new food. Mine like to eat veggies when I clip them to the side of their cage. Try a slice of carrot or broccoli this way.

At least your parrotlet is getting nutrition from the pellets and bean mix. So many birds come from breeders eating all seed diets and they are especially hard to introduce vegetables to. :)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Gardengail
Member Avatar
Staff Member
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Welcome Lisa!!!

I agree with Bonnie and I don't know of any bird that doesn't like bread toasted! With a teeny tiny bit of butter... nodding
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
BUUZBEE
Member Avatar
www.conurecrazy.com
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
I would say since she's eating a bean mix, try chopping up veggies finely and add them to the bean mix. You can try carrots and broccoli to start. Try raw, and then try cooked.

I've found monkey see, monkey do... anything that goes in my mouth... my birds want!

Good luck and be persistant... she'll get it!

as for feet, none of my p'lets use them (well besides standing up! LOL)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bonnie
Member Avatar
Administrator
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Quote:
 
So many birds come from breeders eating all seed diets and they are especially hard to introduce vegetables to. :)
Yes an all seed diet is one of the hardest to change.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Deleted User
Deleted User

Welcome to the forum!

Definitely keep trying. They have strong personalities and strong wills, so it takes patience to change a learned behavior like that. We got our first parrotlet last November and are working on getting her to eat fresh produce too, she wasn't handled or fed anything but seed before we got her. Broccoli has been the best success with her so far, and I've found that dicing them into really small pieces and mixing them into her food helps some.
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Deleted User
Deleted User

Thank you all for your ideas and help. I 'll try to put them all to use and let you know how it turns out.
Lisa and her Parrotlet Sophia
Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Welcome · Next Topic »
Add Reply

Follow poolekv on Twitter
Theme created by Tue of Self Concept
Firefox 3