Not eating his pellets anymore

[wrench13]

Salty basically eats 2-3 large size pellets a day, whereas he used to eat more. His weight has been +/- 10 grams from 272. He gets 2 peanuts a day, 10-15 pine nuts, open access to pellets and the rest is either prepared chop or fresh veggies and fruit. Veggies: yams, peppers, kale, beet tops, parsley, broccoli, corn, peas frozen and snap peas in pods, carrots
Fruits: apple, strawberries, blueberries - actually all sorts of berries, bananas,
and grapes.

Anyone see anything wrong here? He just has lost his appetite for pellets and Im worried he is not getting enough protein.

 

[SailBoat]

Salty basically eats 2-3 large size pellets a day, whereas he used to eat more. His weight has been +/- 10 grams from 272. He gets 2 peanuts a day, 10-15 pine nuts, open access to pellets and the rest is either prepared chop or fresh veggies and fruit. Veggies: yams, peppers, kale, beet tops, parsley, broccoli, corn, peas frozen and snap peas in pods, carrots
Fruits: apple, strawberries, blueberries - actually all sorts of berries, bananas,
and grapes.

Anyone see anything wrong here? He just has lost his appetite for pellets and Im worried he is not getting enough protein.

The two peanuts are likely meeting his protein needs for the day, plus a little. I'm a peanut every other day or even less. Commonly, I fail on that when I'm have a few and I have an Amazon doing the eye to eye thing.

Pellets are just odd, my DYH Amazon drives me nuts (not peanuts) regarding his pellet size demand. He is a big guy, but will not touch a large pellet if he was one bit from starvation, they have to be the 'small' parrot size.

I have no real strong issues with his diet. Only thing I would recommend is backing down a bit on the pine nuts and the peanuts, then watch for a reaction. Try crushing (breaking) a few pellets and see if the smaller size does anything for him.

 

[WilliamKenyon]

My ekkie Ruby does the same thing. Pigs out on vegetables and fruits/nuts but hardly eats her pellets (maybe 3 or four pellets a day). I don't see this as a problem as she has 24 hour access to pellets (as salty does) in her cage and if she chooses healthy fruits and vegetables over pellets that's fine. I also believe that parrots know when they are not getting enough nutrients or protein and they will seek out these foods to eat them. In other words I wouldn't worry to much about salty as these are problems he will likely sort out by himself. However if you do worry about his daily protein needs you could try giving him foods higher in protein to substitute the pellets. Good luck.

Btw I loved your pirate festival post. So cool.

 

[wrench13]

William if I could just get the little squirt into his flight harness he would have been the hit of the whole festival. he just hates having his wings touched. hates hates hates. it may take me until next year same time for him to be in harness.

 

[wrench13]

Boats I can't find anything else that he will do tricks for. We tried sunflower seeds, no dice. He doesn't even like those. Any other suggestions?

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

I wouldn't worry too much about the pellets. I actually was worried about the chicken when I first got her because she didn't want to eat anything but pellets. However, now she doesn't really care for them. She gets chop and fresh fruits every day, along with an almond or two when training. She doesn't even have pellets in her cage anymore, because she usually wouldn't touch them, but would throw fruit and stuff in them, so they had to be replaced constantly. She has pellets in her playstand now, so she can munch them when she is out, but she would even then rather look out the window than eat them most of the time. (I was told that she could have pellets or other "dry" food on her playstand cause the wife doesn't want fruit thrown all over the living room.) She has had this arrangement for a while, and has actually gained some weight since giving up the pellets.

 

[SailBoat]

Looks like a solid corner coming up with no windows. So, the pine nuts stay. So, the next stupid question is (I know the answer), will a half pine nut work? Anyway, like I said: So, the pine nuts stay!

 

[DexMom]

I think with the nuts you are probably OK on protein. If you wanted to add another source that's easy to work into the fresh veg and fruit - try beans. Dexter LOVES beans, he will pick through the other food and almost always eat them first.

Also, if Salty loves pine nuts, he might like unsalted, shelled pumpkin seeds. I found out that Dexter likes them by accident when my husband picked them out of his salad and put them on the table and Dex went to town on them. They are a little larger than pine nuts, so might need to break them in half for training treats, but I think they are a similar taste and texture.

 

[wrench13]

Boats, they are already broken in half, and we go thru them one piece per trick, 25 to 30 tricks in a 20 min session. I'm a try the pumpkin seeds as suggested above and see if he likes those.

 

[RavensGryf]

I'm not sure what brand you use, but most brands have different sizes. From my own experience anyway, it seems like birds like pellets that are the size smaller than they need.

I use Harrison's, and all my birds plus birds I've had in the past LOVE it. Raven runs to his pellet dish every single day. I'm not exaggerating (sometimes stumbling because he's so excited). Even the large birds I've had 350-600 grams still preferred the small size Harrison's. The small is really small pieces too.

 

[Printer bird]

My pi loves her pellets and will munch happily on all the offered veg as well throughout the day. When we were switching her over to harrison's and wanted to make sure she was eating them, the vet suggested that we just offer harrison's first thing in the morning for 30 minutes before adding anything else. You could try that (pellets only for the first 30 minutes of the day) if you are worried - so long as it doesn't cause an amazon mutiny! (egg and beans are good protein options too, quinoa is a good grain to offer as well if you aren't already including that)

 

[Notdumasilook]

Protein issue?? Black walnuts come to mind...lima beans, or crowder peas.... also, Almond butter on a graham cracker or vanilla wafer... of course meat sources too.. chicken, beef, porkchops..(well cooked of course) . hmm piece of a tuna salad sandwich disappears real quick near my BFA... Don't forget scrambled egg... chloresterol issue?.. boil the egg and give him egg white...

 

[plumsmum2005]

Boats I can't find anything else that he will do tricks for. We tried sunflower seeds, no dice. He doesn't even like those. Any other suggestions?

Pumpkin seeds ?? Birdie bread? Nutriberries ?? (or peices of)
Try offering the pellets before anything else. We all get fed up of stuff t2t don't we? He could just be pigging out on the gourmet banquet you are providing. Relax!