Diet change in 12 week old lovies

ShellyTurtle

New member
May 13, 2011
42
0
Arizona
Parrots
Yellow-Naped Amazon, and two Peach Faced Lovebirds.
The lady I got my lovies from was feeding them mostly seeds mixed with random pellets that she claimed they didn't like.

I bought them pellets. They aren't liking this new diet whatsoever. Their droppings are essentially liquid because they refuse to eat it. I see them nibble occasionally, but they give up.

Help?
 

gavagai

New member
Mar 18, 2017
100
0
Capital of Texas
Parrots
Green-cheek conure, Quaker parakeet
You're going cold turkey, which doesn't work for all birds. This thread has a list of most of the most common tricks to getting parrots eating healthier. I found that with my Senegal, convincing him the pellets were treats (by putting them in the treat puzzle box) worked, and with my current birds I put the seed on top of the cage and only let them have it some of the time, while the pellets and fresh food are in the food dish in the cage all the time.

That said, lovebirds are stubborn. I eventually gave up trying to get one of mine onto a healthier diet, after I realized that even him seeing my sun conure eating pellets wouldn't get him to try them, and he loved my sun conure. I'd previously tried every trick I knew (which was only about 1/4-1/3 of the tricks in that thread) to get him to eat pellets over the course of several years. It's the only time I've ever given up on trying to get a bird onto a healthier diet.
 
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ShellyTurtle

ShellyTurtle

New member
May 13, 2011
42
0
Arizona
Parrots
Yellow-Naped Amazon, and two Peach Faced Lovebirds.
  • Thread Starter
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Just seems at 12 weeks old they would adjust better. Lol. I'm hopeful, but clearly lost.
 

gavagai

New member
Mar 18, 2017
100
0
Capital of Texas
Parrots
Green-cheek conure, Quaker parakeet
Do try some of the tricks in the thread I linked. You're certainly more likely to have luck when they're young than if you wait until they're older.
 

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