Amazonparrot90
New member
- Jan 20, 2019
- 1
- 0
Hi all,
Last year, I inherited a five year old Amazon parrot. The 10months that we have had him have been lovely but challenging, largely due to him not being previously handled or let out of the cage.
We have addressed and overcome many issues but one we are struggling with is his diet. He has only ever been exposed to a sunflower seed mix type diet, but only picks the sunflower seeds out. For the past ten months I have tried everything I can to convert him to a pelleted diet. I've tried hand feeding him, crushing up pellets and sprinkling on mashed sweet potato, mixing pellets with sunflower seeds, I even tried removing all food apart from pellets for a day and he didn't eat. He would literally rather starve. I have tried the above methods consistently for weeks/months at a time but he still won't budge. If I pretend it is a 'treat' he takes it from me and throws it on the floor. I have tried multiple well-reviewed brands.
I've recently decided to remove sunflower seeds entirely and have been feeding him a diet of fresh fruit and veg. He's quite fussy, but he will eat sweet potato, cauliflower, apples, oranges, pineapple, mangetout, red pepper and broccoli. Sometimes I incorporate grains to bulk things out.
I had hoped this diet would be sufficient but for about three weeks his droppings have been like water. He's fine in himself and is eating and drinking fine but I'm concerned that this fresh diet is not sufficient.
Any ideas?
Last year, I inherited a five year old Amazon parrot. The 10months that we have had him have been lovely but challenging, largely due to him not being previously handled or let out of the cage.
We have addressed and overcome many issues but one we are struggling with is his diet. He has only ever been exposed to a sunflower seed mix type diet, but only picks the sunflower seeds out. For the past ten months I have tried everything I can to convert him to a pelleted diet. I've tried hand feeding him, crushing up pellets and sprinkling on mashed sweet potato, mixing pellets with sunflower seeds, I even tried removing all food apart from pellets for a day and he didn't eat. He would literally rather starve. I have tried the above methods consistently for weeks/months at a time but he still won't budge. If I pretend it is a 'treat' he takes it from me and throws it on the floor. I have tried multiple well-reviewed brands.
I've recently decided to remove sunflower seeds entirely and have been feeding him a diet of fresh fruit and veg. He's quite fussy, but he will eat sweet potato, cauliflower, apples, oranges, pineapple, mangetout, red pepper and broccoli. Sometimes I incorporate grains to bulk things out.
I had hoped this diet would be sufficient but for about three weeks his droppings have been like water. He's fine in himself and is eating and drinking fine but I'm concerned that this fresh diet is not sufficient.
Any ideas?