Wolfing food down?

Salty absolutely wolfs certain foods down. Most often with sweet potato, pumpkin and squash - the warm mushy stuff.
1) Is this bad for him? I'm guessing yes.
2) If yes, how can I slow the little vacuum cleaner down?
3) Anything mixed with Avicakes - he will also pick that out like its GOLD, and then leave the chop

wrench13 said:

Salty absolutely wolfs certain foods down. Most often with sweet potato, pumpkin and squash - the warm mushy stuff.
1) Is this bad for him? I'm guessing yes.
2) If yes, how can I slow the little vacuum cleaner down?
3) Anything mixed with Avicakes - he will also pick that out like its GOLD, and then leave the chop

Click to expand...

So, the truth comes out! You're starving poor little Salty!

Slowing down an Amazon is a tough thing regardless of what it maybe. They are hard wired that A to B is a straight line, needed to be traveled as quickly as possible.

Yes, you want to slow that process down (much easier to said than done!!!). Try, providing the 'wolfed' items after he has eaten other things. FYI: My Amazons commonly just sat there or turns and walks way, since they knew we will yield! But, it is worth trying. Larger pieces have helped us. Our problem had been based on the reality that several of our Amazons had been starved and with fear that it maybe pulled away they really wolf the food down. With time and larger pieces they slowed.

If you don't provide a dry based food 'all' day, try adding that dish.

Best of luck, slowing an Amazons down is no easy thing!

"Boats, he has Roudybush pellets available 24/7 ( and makes good use of them). Here is his schedule/ eats:

10 AM - uncovered, and an immediate water and pellet change. After his morning poop, he saunters over and has a drink of water, and his 2 peanuts for the day. He will nibble the pellets.

1:00PM - Geri gets him his fruit ration for the day, At least 2 kinds of fruit ( banana, apple, grape, blue berry, rasberry, strwberry, kiwi, mango, star fruit, or ornges). His pellets are always open to him and will go back into his cage for water nd pellets a few times.
7:00 PM, Dinner wth us, ( chop mixed with Avicake or pellets, squash, pumpkin, sweet tater, mixed veggies from the supermrket, or some freshly chopped up veggies ).
9:00 Trick training with some finely cut up pine nuts as treat.
10:00 lights out .

I believe warm and mushy foods trigger a sort of juvenile feeding frenzy! The ONLY foods my birds will wolf down are oatmeal and mashed yams/sweet potatoes. Gonzo my BFA tracks the bowl of warm oatmeal like a laser and cannot eat fast enough!

Have you tried large pieces in place of mash?

I'm going to start weighing the amounts of veggie we give him. Not that it will really be indicative of how much he actually eats, much of anything winds up on the bottom of his 'bowl' . He gets squash, yams, other similar things cut up into 3/8" or so squares. His MO is always to throw the first piece or 2 of anything into his bowl, I suppose to taste it, then start eating. He is having pomegranate for the first time today. Wht a bloody mess. Literally.

PS, he snuk onto the kitchen table today while we were busy in the other room, and attacked the fresh bunch of bananas. Grrrrr - lesson the 23rd - when Salty is quiet trubble's a brewing. Now we got to make 4 or 5 banana bread loaves with the un-attacked parts.

I don't know when amazons mature, but if he is sexually mature, the warm mushy foods may tricker hormonal behaviour (as it imitates regurgitated food from a mate).

When I want mine to eat slower, I mix in some chunks, that can't be wolfed. For instance Sugar may attack fresh banana, so I roll the banana in hemp seeds. He will then have to slow down when he reaches a hemp seed. The hemp seed may be small, but they need to deshell them, so they need to slow down.

Ohh and banana milkshakes of the damaged bananas is high on my favorites list, when I need to use a lot of bananas :04:

Well, Amazon's never really 'Mature!'
They just get a little slower with age. But in all cases, a quiet Amazon is either sleeping 'or more likely' getting into trouble!

wrench13 said:

"Boats, he has Roudybush pellets available 24/7 ( and makes good use of them). Here is his schedule/ eats:

10 AM - uncovered, and an immediate water and pellet change. After his morning poop, he saunters over and has a drink of water, and his 2 peanuts for the day. He will nibble the pellets.

1:00PM - Geri gets him his fruit ration for the day, At least 2 kinds of fruit ( banana, apple, grape, blue berry, rasberry, strwberry, kiwi, mango, star fruit, or ornges). His pellets are always open to him and will go back into his cage for water nd pellets a few times.
7:00 PM, Dinner wth us, ( chop mixed with Avicake or pellets, squash, pumpkin, sweet tater, mixed veggies from the supermrket, or some freshly chopped up veggies ).
9:00 Trick training with some finely cut up pine nuts as treat.
10:00 lights out .

Click to expand...

Just an idea, have you tried giving him his Avicake say @ 5pm or a small portion of chop then and a little more @ 7pm?

Hmm, early dinner and real dinner with the family? I will try that.

Or high tea and dinner for HRH Salty? LOL.