Changing Parrotlets food
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Free as a bird
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What does he eat now?
Hi friend. Its inadvisable to abruptly try to change a parrots food toa totally different type. THey are more then capable of starving themselves if they dont like it. Change over gradually over several weeks, slowly adding the food to his current diet and removing some of that. But make sure he eats at least a bit of the new.
THere are tricks to use in introducing new food types, like pellets. Some folks pulverize and grind up pellets and sprinkle on the old foods, to get the tase of the new into the parrots mouth.
I warn you though, parrots and parrotlets in particular can be very stubborn. Sometimes you just have to try different brands of pellets until you find one he will eat. The best pellet is the one your parrot will eat!
THere are tricks to use in introducing new food types, like pellets. Some folks pulverize and grind up pellets and sprinkle on the old foods, to get the tase of the new into the parrots mouth.
I warn you though, parrots and parrotlets in particular can be very stubborn. Sometimes you just have to try different brands of pellets until you find one he will eat. The best pellet is the one your parrot will eat!
Free as a bird
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A better variety of seed would be better. Pellets are just processed seed with chemicals and crap in it
- Aug 30, 2021
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- Ziggy, Kai, and Seiji (blue, yellowface, and dilute budgies)
Jasper (yellow-naped amazon)
Lilla (senegal parrot)
Snowberry (yellow-crowned amazon)
Cricket (pacific parrotlet)
You can just throw a small amount of pellets into his current food. If he rejects them, it might help to crush them up until they're not visible. He'll probably recognize that there's a new flavor mixed in with his food, and then he could potentially stop eating altogether, so make sure he always has something that he's willing to eat.
If that doesn't work, then here's another tip: use pellets as treats. This is only gonna work if you do training sessions with Bobby, but if you do--offer pellets in place of a typical reward (millet, etc). I've had pretty decent success with this method, but it depends a lot from bird to bird.
Don't give up. Birds are stubborn. Experiment with diet-conversion methods, and if he continues to reject the TOPS for a long time, you can switch the pellet brand. You can also try converting him onto a seed/veggie diet, which isn't unhealthy (but you should remember that parrotlets shouldn't be eating as much seed as budgies/cockatiels).
Good luck to you and Bobby!
If that doesn't work, then here's another tip: use pellets as treats. This is only gonna work if you do training sessions with Bobby, but if you do--offer pellets in place of a typical reward (millet, etc). I've had pretty decent success with this method, but it depends a lot from bird to bird.
Don't give up. Birds are stubborn. Experiment with diet-conversion methods, and if he continues to reject the TOPS for a long time, you can switch the pellet brand. You can also try converting him onto a seed/veggie diet, which isn't unhealthy (but you should remember that parrotlets shouldn't be eating as much seed as budgies/cockatiels).
Good luck to you and Bobby!
Free as a bird
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Chemicals or not, pellets are still just processed seed. So if you think seeds are bad then you must also think pellets are just as bad.
They include husks which have no nutritional value and are difficult to digest. That's why our parrots go to that effort of dehusking the seed.
They also include stuff like soy and corn and mixing agents which aren't very good either.
Natural food trumps processed food any day.
Although all of this is generally true, TOPS is a little different in that all of the seeds it contains are hulled and it also includes some really good ingredients like alfalfa and dandelions so it’s a good way to get some greens into a bird that otherwise wouldn’t eat greens. Also, all the ingredients are organic and there is no corn or soy. Of course, fresh, real food is always better, but TOPS is a good pellet if your bird will eat it! My picky bird actually nibbled on TOPS right away when I hand fed the pellets to him. You can also order a small sample packet from TOPS to try it out without wasting twenty bucks on a 1 lb bag.
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Expensive stuff. A seed based diet is still best according to my bird shop owner and avian vet.
Many people think that seeds are bad and replace them for pellets which are made from seeds anyway. The irony defies logic in my mind
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I live in Australia so we won't have the same brands as you guys do.
I get a good seed mix that has a good variety of seeds and mix some pellets in there, about 80%seed and 20% pellet mix
TOPS actually makes an organic seed blend, but you can also buy organic seed and make your own blend. Millet, canary grass seed, oat groats, and flax are a good base with which to start
- Aug 30, 2021
- 5,782
- 7,106
- Parrots
- Ziggy, Kai, and Seiji (blue, yellowface, and dilute budgies)
Jasper (yellow-naped amazon)
Lilla (senegal parrot)
Snowberry (yellow-crowned amazon)
Cricket (pacific parrotlet)
Take the bird's preference into consideration. Which is he more willing to eat?
OP
BobbyBird
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he has been eating seeds so far, but I read just seeds can be an inbalanced diet and he may pick out only his favorites. so i am thinking of switching to TOPS pellets.
plus, recently his poop has been getting wierd
