Hello from the new Girl

[TiaBug1120]

You are def right that it is not worth risking her health. Could you suggest some other shelled nuts? Maybe walnuts? It just sucks because as of right now she will only take peanuts from my hand and it was kind of our little bonding thing. Plus I now need to get a new kind of food for her because the one her previous owner provided me with has peanuts mixed in....any suggestions there?? She's pretty good about trying things even if she doesn't end up liking them so maybe switching her food wont be so bad??

 

[TiaBug1120]

Cal has many different nuts. Brazil, cashew, pecan, macademia, walnut....try those with your girl - there will be a winner!

wait duh I see your suggestions

can I get these from a regular grocery store?

is getting them with the shell ok because I think that is part of the fun for her?

 

[Von1983]

I get them from the supermarket from the human section yeah haha!

I never really got the shelled ones as the above nuts are so big, I didn't know whether she'd get frustrated at trying to crack them open!

With shells, unsalted plain pistachio are good! Nice and simple shells to pull off

 

[Von1983]

ooohh and if pulling stuff apart is her thing - could well be!!!!

Dried chillies are great fun for them! (dehydrated and untreated, obviously!!!)

Additionally, maybe you'd like to make her a simple toy with some healthy nuts inside?

I make Cal "Parrot Pinata's" and she ADORES shredding them.....

Here's the link I made a wee while ago. Wildheart's bird Sterretjie is also a fan of them! Great for the smaller birds but I think if you tried to show it to a large birdy it would last all of 2 seconds!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKmy8s3HnLc]YouTube - How to make a bird safe Parrot Pinata Toy.[/ame]

I said "dried" fruit before I realised I meant dehydrated lol! There was a bit of confusion on that I think.....bird brain!

 

[TiaBug1120]

I have a couple more questions too...hope you don't mind.

I read in a book about conures that a good way to get them animal protein and calcium would be to hard boil an egg (let it cool obviously) and to halve it leaving the shell on and give that to them as a treat once per week. Does anyone do this?

Also what about a good bagged food mix? Any brand recommendations? I am considering Kaytee Fiesta Max... but I am not sure. I read also that giving seed mixes can cause a bird to become to picky and not get what they need for nutrition...as it is Lucy pretty much digs out what he wants from her food bowl.

 

[Von1983]

No problem, I'm not an expert but I'll sure try to help!

Cal loves boiled eggs and shell! I know it's weird....like cannabalism, right? haha! It is however, VERY good for them

Pellets are indeed the way to go. My girl loves her kaytee exact rainbow. We tried zupreem but she absolutely loathed that. We tried a brand of pellet that we could actually find in the UK in a shop....she didn't like that. Harrisons is the best you can get apparently but after the zupreem incident, I didn't think it was worth trying them.

Cal loves her kaytee because it tastes fruity(it smells DIVINE)and she troughs it down. I'd rather she had that than some awful seed based mix because she's at least getting the right nutrients.

I give her a bowl full of that and she has maybe 4-5 of her nuts broken up. I also give her a few sunflower seeds but not too many. I make sure she always has pellets in her bowl because she's just a baby.

Additionally to that, I give her fresh veg and fruit daily. She usually has a little fruit mix in the morning mango/pineapple/melon/apple/grape (again, not all of them lol!). Then at lunch I usually give her a bit of cooked carrot and peas/sweetcorn/kale.

At dinnertime I maybe give her spinich/broccoli/pepper/sweet potato.....these are just some of her varities but because she likes to eat with us, I give her small portions of these throughout the day so she can lol.

It's important to rotate fruit and veg as well as not feeding too much of anything in particular. Kale and spinich are very high in Vit K which sunnies need as they are prone to blood clots as they get older. Those act as natures warfarin.

She also has oatmeal, scrambled egg, boiled egg, plain popcorn, plain wholewheat cracker, fresh coconut.....these are sort of once a week things. Not ALL of them in a week....just occasional.

These are the majority of things that she enjoys. There's plenty she doesn't enjoy like fresh papaya and banana....I think they're too mushy to hold lol.

She also has cuttle bone and mineral blocks.

Hope that helped you somehow!

 

[TiaBug1120]

Well walnuts were a big hit! I have to hit up the grocery store for some other tasty treats for her!! Thanks for all the advice.

 

[DustyDusky]

Dusty also eats Exact Pellets. He is funny about eating. He always eat the green pieces first, then red. He hardly ever eats yellow ^^

 

[Von1983]

LOL Dusty <3

Cal is the same but she just eats them in order! They all taste the same hah!

Glad that it's going well Tia ^.^

 

[TiaBug1120]

Ok well she loves Walnuts and will take them from my hand so that is good. I bought her some spinach greens, baby carrots, pomegranate, apples and baby zucchini to try as well as some macadamias and some new peanut free food.

She's not touching the veggies yet but we are working on it.

 

[DustyDusky]

LOL Dusty <3

Cal is the same but she just eats them in order! They all taste the same hah!

Glad that it's going well Tia ^.^

I made a mistake before. Purple and red are always eaten, yellow doesn't get touched and the green ones he shares with my German shepherd. lol half of them he will eat the rest her throws to the dog.

 

[DustyDusky]

Ok well she loves Walnuts and will take them from my hand so that is good. I bought her some spinach greens, baby carrots, pomegranate, apples and baby zucchini to try as well as some macadamias and some new peanut free food.

She's not touching the veggies yet but we are working on it.

It took a while for me to get Dusty to eat fruits and veggies. He loves apples, bananas,grapes and blueberries now. when i first got him all he would eat was banana.

When it comes to veggies all ive gotten him to eat is cooked broccoli (He wont touch it raw), sometimes Zuccini and sometimes peppers.

I try to introduce new foods to his diet every now and again but he can be a very finicky eater. For example, he will only eat bananas out of the peel and only if he sees me break pieces off the banana and eat it it. He started eating blueberries one day when i had them out while i was holding him. He saw me eaten them and immediately wanted some. Basically if he sees me eat a food then he is more likely to eat it.

 

[TiaBug1120]

Yes I heard that conures like to eat with their humans....I notice that Lucy seems more interested in her food when I am in the room with her.

I was wondering should I maybe feed her, her fresh fruit and veggies on top of her cage? Her last owner used to put a little dish on the bottom of her cage each day with fresh stuff in it but I didn't really like that so I got her a new bowl but now I feel like her cage is crowded....I might try feeding her the fresh stuff up top....