I'm continuing to have a feeding problem

[forbey]

All Skittles wants to eat is seeds, specifically sunflower seeds.

I've gotten him to eat muffins (store bought, my wife is getting perturbed because she made home made muffins and he won't touch them, LOL), peaches, bananas (occassionally) and some nuts.

But, he tends to throw the pellets on the floor of his cage. I have given in to him and given him seeds periodiacally to keep him from starving, but I think that was a bad idea.

I'm leaning towards skipping everything but pellets until he starts eating. However I don't know how much leeway I have in his weight before I put him at risk.

Any suggestions?

 

[MikeyTN]

I just typed a similar reply just a sec ago so go view it there!!! http://www.parrotforums.com/congo-timneh-greys/35214-dont-want-but-may-have.html

 

[MikeyTN]

Just remember you MUST be persistent and consistent, don't do what your doing by giving excess seeds in between, they will always choose seeds over pellets 100% of the time. Your only regressing them to be eating seeds again instead of pellets. No need to offer any bread or treats for the time being until your fully transfer to the new diet. When you offer stuffs such as bread and stuff, IF you can eat it, eat some in front of them, they would usually accept it better. IF you have another bird eating the stuff, let them see it. Monkey see Monkey do!

 

[henpecked]

Have you got a digital kitchen scale yet? Got the weighing routine down?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

You have to be persistent and never give up, it took me 6 months to get Rosie off of seeds and every second was worth how happy and healthy she is now.

 

[forbey]

Have you got a digital kitchen scale yet? Got the weighing routine down?

I've got the scale. Can't get the chicken to use a perch on the scale. It's a struggle just to get him off the cage.

 

[henpecked]

Oh , you just haven't found the right treat yet>> Do it first thing in the AM and make it a ritual.

 

[ParkersMom]

when we got Charlie our older BF zon she was on a seed diet...I was able to switch her is about 1 week by following this routine
figure out about how much Skittles eats in a day
split it into 2 meals 1 am and 1 pm
in the morning give half of it in pellets in the evening give the other half in seed or whatever they are use to eating....once they figure out the pellets are food about 2-4 days only give pellets am and pm no seed then you should be able to add in fresh foods but always give them in the pm for the first couple of weeks because the birds are usually hungrier in the am
also only use 1 food bowl everything in the same bowl that way they know it is food
It worked for Charlie and she had been eating a seed mix her entire life she is between 15-20
she now eats her pellets without any issues and I have even been able to switch pellet types without a problem...
Charlie didn't lose any weight during the transition either

 

[JerseyWendy]

I can't remember if I ever suggested trying to use a Kabob for your Skittles. It looks like this:

Stainless Steel 12" Bird Kabob - SKEWERS/TOY EXTENDERS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

You can speer all types of fruits and veggies on there. He may play with it and pluck at the stuff you put on there, and maybe he'll even digest some of the good stuff.

 

[Pajarita]

Try gloop. All my zons were seed junkies but they were eating gloop like champions in a matter of days. I don't think pellets are healthy for parrots but they are particularly iffy with zons which need lower protein than other species (you never know how much protein you are feeding with pellets because the manufacturers never give you an exact figure, it's always 'more than' or 'not less than')

 

[forbey]

I can't remember if I ever suggested trying to use a Kabob for your Skittles.

I've occassionally considered using skewers ...

Not to feed him ... to eat him!

 

[JerseyWendy]

I can't remember if I ever suggested trying to use a Kabob for your Skittles.

I've occassionally considered using skewers ...

Not to feed him ... to eat him!