Questions- millet, litter, mineral treats?

[NeverBroken]

Questions- millet, litter, mineral treats? + Sleeper cage?

So Lola and I have had a great first 4 days... her big cage is right in the living room so she can be part of the family, and she seems very happy. However I do stay up late some nights and I have learned of course that this is not good for her, particularly because of hormonal issues, etc. So we decided to get her a sleeping cage to put in another room. Petsmart had a...well, what they call a parrot starter kit for sale, and it's a decent size cage for *just for sleeping* I think.

All Living Things&reg Parrot Starter Kit - Sale - Bird - PetSmart

Anyway it came with a bunch of starter stuff and I'm wondering if these are good or not for Lola:

Millet
Mineral block
Honey Treat

and even some corncob litter?? I would think she would eat this, does anyone use it?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

That looks like a great sleeping and a great travel cage if you ever need one.

Corn cob bedding is bad, I always felt like it's lazy of people to use littler/bedding rather than change the paper daily to keep it clean lol. While working at pet smart I did see a few conures eating it.

millet is fine, not sure about the mineral block or honey treat.

 

[SandyBee]

Corn cob litter.is not recommended, its gets wet and yucky, grow mold and its important that you can see her droppings. Millet is more for small birds and a mineral block is pnot needed if your bird is on a good diet. Honey treat, don't know about it.

 

[NeverBroken]

Thanks guys, I had a feeling it was more small bird stuff, and thought corn cob anything just sounded like food lol.

She is currently scrabbling around in the new cage- doesn't seem too happy Hasn't screamed yet though. Luckily she's not a big screamer (at least not yet), she talks instead. All we've understood so far is 'Hi, Lola!' lol. Which is adorable, but a few more words would be nice Anyway though it is nice she talks instead of screams. Actually she is whistling a bit now. I'm sure she will get used to it.

A travel cage- yikes, I never even thought of that- and it is entirely possible we may need to travel with her by car to see family and such- thanks for that thought!

Oh she's getting a bit noisy now- I would assume just leave her and she will quiet down, does anyone have advice on a birds first night in a sleeper cage?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Rosie and Kenji both like Millet spray, I give them a chunk and they'll hold it with their foot lol. They rarely get it since the local stores have poor quality. Ironically the place that actually has good millet spray takes terrible care of their birds, and it's sold in bulk so people are touching it all day *ewwww*

 

[NeverBroken]

Rosie and Kenji both like Millet spray, but they rarely get it since the local stores have poor quality.

What should I look for to know about the quality of it?

God it's just about the messiest food ever, she barely got any in her mouth when I gave it to her, but it got everywhere else!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Rosie and Kenji both like Millet spray, but they rarely get it since the local stores have poor quality.

What should I look for to know about the quality of it?

God it's just about the messiest food ever, she barely got any in her mouth when I gave it to her, but it got everywhere else!

LOL Some birds eat messier than others, Rosie takes it very gently and often eats one or two seed at a time while my friends cockatiel and Kenji my CAG grabs entire mouthfuls making a big mess.

I always looked for the biggest fullest spray with good color. Often when I look at the bagged millet spray at petco/petsmart it is thin and the color is faded. The bagged millet is often lighter in weigh too, like any moister that was present(which is very little) has been sucked out because it's old.

 

[NeverBroken]

Thanks. So is that photo what good spray looks like?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Thanks. So is that photo what good spray looks like?

Yup, that's good millet spray. People with smaller birds who buy it all the time may have better pointers for what's the best. That's just based off my experiance and I don't get it all that often.

 

[NeverBroken]

Great, thanks

 

[Jayyj]

Alice adores millet, it's her favourite treat. Early on it was what I used to entice her to come and sit with me outside the cage so it was a big bonding thing for us, and it's help get her comfortable with a couple of play stands as well. I put a towel down when she's eating it outside the cage to catch the husks, which had the added advantage of getting her used to towels as something to associate with good things rather than being forcibly picked up in one when it's time for a vet visit.

 

[NeverBroken]

Thanks for the info Jay! That's very sweet that you guys bonded with it Getting her used to a towel is a great idea too that I never thought of, I will start working on that with her.

 

[Pajarita]

For a U2, I would use megamillet instead. It's not really millet, it's milo or sorghum but they call it megamillet because it comes in sprays like millet does.