New Galah glued to her perch

[plumsmum2005]

I do sprout. Nobody appreciates it. Lol. I keep trying but they are not fans yet.

Mung beans and lentils? They usually are a hit with Plum.

 

[plumsmum2005]

I'll be trying some finely chopped veggies after my next run to the store. Or when the broccoli is ready to pick! I was reading about sprouted seeds as well and I'm going to try that though I suppose sprouting sunflower seeds wouldn't be the best idea. Is walnut lower in fat content?
She's eating the Zupreem fruit blend pellets, that's what the woman at the rescue switched her to and she told me it was low fat content to help with her lipomas.
Cherry really likes swinging her mirror toy with a bell on it around. She'll peck at it or push it with her foot. I may move this toy out and find something else swingy and fun that makes noise like it does but I'm still not sure if mirrors are actually that bad. I'll be moving some toys closer to her when she comes out tonight after work, she doesn't like me to touch anything in her cage while she's inside unless it's to offer her food.
And thank you plumsmum! I'll be reading what you provided, I tried to do thorough research on lipomas before I adopted her so that I knew what I was getting into, but the more I can learn about it the better.

Hi don't fixate on the mirror unless it is causing much heartache in terms of unwanted behaviour. If Cherry is making this/these toys her babies and comforters then taking them away until she has made a bond with another is not good IMO. Plum has a tatty, half chewed piece of wood hanging on a chain that is his everything. Pushes it with his foot too!

Please change the Zupreem, not ideal, I liked TOPs, it's organic, not coloured and if you look through pellet ingredients it's not hard to make up your mind based on the first six ingredients, not happy for a RB2 to have one starting with corn. I have read that in small proportions walnut was beneficial. No Sunflower seeds please and tbh it is sometimes hard to get them to sprout. Research Leslie Moran re sprouting. This provides fab nutrition with low fat.

I purchased Lily of the Desert Aloe Detox liquid, did any good no idea, can't do any harm though. I just put some in Plum's water as the only way I could get him to take it. The most important points for her are exercise and diet. When you read the previous link I think there were some beneficial foods that were suggested. Where in the world are you located?

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/28242-ingredients-pellets.html

http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-food-recipes-diet/57416-sprouting-made-easy.html

http://www.thebirdschool.com/parrot-feed/chickweed-just-a-weed-and-budgie-treat/

http://www.parrotislandinc.com/articles/alight.htm

 

[plumsmum2005]

I’ve also used wild rice mix and a cooked bean mix as a base. I use spices in my bases as well. I change it up sometimes because they do much better with variety. My Rosie’s won’t eat chop so mash works for us. It’s all about experimenting. I also offer 4 types of pellets for the same reason. When I feed their fresh food breakfast, I do not offer pellets. They get the fresh mash and eat that and once they are done I then offer the pellets. They get more fresh mash at dinner time. Weighing is especially important. All 3 of my girls get weighed every morning before breakfast. I keep a log. When Layla got sick a few months ago she lost weight unbelievably fast. She also puts weight on crazy fast. My girls also get a freeze dried veggie and fruit mix that they love.

As for toys....Layla is addicted to balsa, natural cork, and basswood. She spends hours chipping them up. I use skewers that I refill with chewable chunks. Jazzi loves swinging and hanging on an orb swing and chewing toys from planet pleasures. I have two large java trees in the living room. This is their daily hang out space.it has java root swings attached as well as all kings of climbing ropes and other swings. They love it. I also have a Wingdow, jollyball, and rope boing setup in the window as another Playstation.

OMG these are fab-u-lous! Just hate getting stung for US-UK carriage and then VAT!

 

[PartyPat]

So this morning I made Cherry a big mix of chop. Mostly fresh peppers and kale along with some carrots and apple. Just a few pieces of walnut mixed in so she'll find a few treats in her food. I need to get her a second food bowl for veggies but for now I just split her food bowl half and half. She seems to really enjoy it overall, and she makes it obvious which pieces she doesn't like (there's a lot of apple thrown about her cage now).
I rearranged her cage today also and took her mirror out. I swapped her perches and I think she actually just likes the corner she was in near her food more than the specific perch. She still went back to the same spot and by doing this I got her to use her therapeutic nail perch (a few of her nails look very long and she scratches me sometimes when she stands on me. Will get the vet to help with this, and I've found a few CAVs within an hour of me)
She has been moving around more. I'm tempted to move her food or water to the other end of the cage so she has to walk around to get it. I put the newspaper she likes to play with and chew on on the other side of the cage as well so hopefully there's some incentive for her to explore. She does still have her food and water in her usual spot along with some wooden spoons she likes to chew on. If I do end up moving one of her bowls I'll wait until she's settled in to her new surroundings.
I'll look into what sort of pellet/food is better for her than this Zupreem fruit blend. It's what came recommended from the woman I got Cherry from so I was sticking to it for now. I'm just glad she's finally eating some of her veggies instead of just playing with them!
Edit: Also I removed her mirror for now, I'll observe and see if she seems bored without it but it seems like there's no clear consensus on the effects of mirrors.

 

[plumsmum2005]

If you would like her to eat the apple try grating it into the other ingredients. I use this as one ingredient in Plum's chop. I have placed his food and water dishes very low down in his cage so he has to move about to eat btw. His new cage had the food dish access doors which he was doing his best to get open, they are now not used and cable tied LOL.

 

[PartyPat]

Well it seems like rearranging the cage has helped some. I'm going to just give it time from here. For a few days after doing it she still just sat in the same corner only with less space. I felt bad for her and almost moved everything back but she has started to climb back and forth around the cage to go back to her old perch and then back again to the therapeutic perch with her food and water. Sometimes she'll even walk around the bottom. She seems to really like making a few rounds around her cage in the morning or before bed in particular. I'm just glad to see her willingly moving away from her corner with her food and water to explore and play. She doesn't really touch the toys in the rest of the cage but happily chews away at her wooden spoons near the bowl but it's a start. I've tried to give her treats when she's on the other side of the cage and at first she would run away if I opened her cage but this morning I gave her a treat through the bars and then opened the cage very slowly and moved as slowly as I could to not alarm her and offered her a treat. It took her a few minutes of staring at me and the treat but she did take it. It seemed like it was scarier for her to take treats and be interacted with when she was away from her usual spot, so I think I'm going to try to keep working on this and encouraging her to feel comfortable in other parts of the cage.
So, we have progress! Thanks for the help everyone, I'm glad to have this forum which has given me so many good ideas and helpful information to make Cherry a happier bird.