israel_gcc
New member
Today I started switching my green cheek conure from the seed mix his breeder gave me, to Nutribird G14 pellets. This morning, I took the seeds out of his cage, and provided him with a dish of only pellets.
Me, ~4 hours later, after more than one uncharacteristic nip: Why are you so grouchy today???
ANYWAY, half an hour or so later, it occurred to me that there might be a causal relation between these events! As soon as I realized this and gave him some seeds, he fell on them like he was starving - while squawking indignantly for like 3 straight minutes.
Can't believe it didn't occur to me sooner, because I personally turn into a murderous zombie after 2 hours with no food. And my body takes much longer to process the food than his does. Yet another reminder of how important it is to try and look at events from his point of view.
So far I'm optimistic about the diet transition - he was willing to at least nibble on the pellets, if not to eat very many of them. I'll continue to follow the great advice in the "Converting Parrots to a Healthier Diet" thread.
Me, ~4 hours later, after more than one uncharacteristic nip: Why are you so grouchy today???
ANYWAY, half an hour or so later, it occurred to me that there might be a causal relation between these events! As soon as I realized this and gave him some seeds, he fell on them like he was starving - while squawking indignantly for like 3 straight minutes.
Can't believe it didn't occur to me sooner, because I personally turn into a murderous zombie after 2 hours with no food. And my body takes much longer to process the food than his does. Yet another reminder of how important it is to try and look at events from his point of view.
So far I'm optimistic about the diet transition - he was willing to at least nibble on the pellets, if not to eat very many of them. I'll continue to follow the great advice in the "Converting Parrots to a Healthier Diet" thread.
bird, like my Senegal was, is soaking the pellets in fruit juice. I have all of my birds weaned onto Zupreem Natural, and of course they don't like them as much as the colorful, fruity pellets full of sugar and dyes. Same as my bearded dragon, as they get to be around a year old+ they slowly switch from 80% insects/protein and 20% veggies/greens/fruits, to the exact opposite, 80% veggies/greens/fruits and 20% insects/protein or even less. So their protein intake becomes very low, and depending on the lizard they can actually reject all insects, pinky mice, raw hamburger, raw chicken, they don't want anything but veggies and fruit. My guy is like this, he'll shovel in an entire head of mustard or collard greens, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, apples, carrots, etc. but he won't even look at a cricket anymore. So I bought a bag of Mazuri Bearded Dragon Natural Pellets thinking there is no way he'll eat these, but I'll try because they are so good for them. He wouldn't touch them, he ate like 5 little pellets from my hand and then tipped his bowl over on purpose. So I soaked them in grape juice until they were pretty soft and he attacked them as soon as I put the bowl in his vivarium. Kane, my Senegal parrot did the same thing, he loves orange juice, he would drink an entire bottle of it if I'd let him. So at first I made sure he saw me take the orange juice out of the fridge and pour it on his Zupreem Natural Pellets, and that did it. I think they like them mushy too.
