Roudybush palletts crumble for cockatiel

[Brian the pied]

Hello and thanks for accepting me in your forum!
Im a new owner of OZZIE a pied cockatiel of 7 weeks ..im giving him roudybush crumble palketts is this a good full healthy food for him? At he shop they told me its a full diet no need to add seeds and fruit...also im giving him a half stick of millett spray per week is this ok? Also if you may help me i stored the 1 kilo bag in a plastic black jar is this ok and is it ok to leave it in it or i have to keep it in fridge

? Also whats best to arrange his cage..also i have a sample of subreem palletts but im afraid if i give it to him maybe he stops eating roudybush??? Any ideas tips and help? Sorry i bombarded it you with this thread but im excited with my new pet ...thanks and im attaching some photos of what i mentioned here..thanks alot and sorry for the long thread..hope i hear from you!!!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Your Ozzie is gorgeous and looks so sweet and content sitting on your foot!

I would put most of the Roudybush pellets in the freezer and keep out about a two weeks supply. You could put the whole black plastic jar right in the freezer.

Seeds are a natural part of a wild cockatiel's diet so feeding millet spray, sunflower seeds and other seeds found in a cockatiel seed mixture would be good as long as seeds are less than about 20% of his diet. I would use the weekly 1/2 stick of millet spray as a training treat.

Roudybush pellets are a good, "complete" diet but you should add fresh dark green leafy vegetables, carrots, peas, green beans etc for low calorie natural sources of nutrients and variety. Captive parrots have a big tendency to obesity if they don't eat vegetables as about 30% of their diet. Plus, pellets alone are pretty boring and food is meant to be enjoyed! An occasional piece of fresh fruit is good, but fruits are too high in sugar to be a large part of his diet. A piece of fruit every couple days would be fine.

I'm not sure about any benefits to adding Zupreem pellets to his diet other than the fact that you already have them and don't want to waste them. You will invariably buy things for Ozzie that don't work for him (toys he doesn't like, etc) and need to accept that not all of your hard earned money will well spent. I have tons of stuff I've bought for my birds over the years that I wish I hadn't.

Regarding his cage- it looks too small for any bird, except to use as a sleeping cage. Unless you plan for him to spend most of every day out of his cage, you will need to get him a larger cage. 30"x18"x33" would be ideal and Amazon sells such a cage for about $120 including a stand with wheels. I can't tell much else from the picture, but you should remove any plastic or dowel rod perches and replace them with natural branch style perches. They are much healthier for Ozzie's feet.

Speaking of health, you also need to make an appointment with a veterinarian that's Certified Avian Veterinarian (CAV) for a new healthy bird baseline check up. It's important to establish Ozzie as a patient and have a baseline to compare to in case he becomes sick or injured. It's easier to get urgent appointments if Ozzie's already an existing patient. Parrot Forum members are a poor substitute for avian vet care and vets that only see dogs and cats aren't much better.

I hope you and Ozzie have a long happy friendship! I had a pied cockatiel that looked a lot like Ozzie and he was the best! Charlie was friendly, gentle, entertaining and an absolute joy to share my life with!