Picky, Picky Eater...

[gopack041]

I'm finding it really disheartening when I try to introduce my little guy to a new food and he doesn't give it the time of day! I just got back from the petstore with some yogurt dipped strawberry-banana treats. They smell so good I actually thought about eating one (joke...kind of). But of course, Jonah didn't take to it.

This is more of a norm than an exception. He really only likes grapes, apples, and of course sunflower seeds. So I guess I'm just wondering what strategy to try in order to get him to eat new foods. I feel like the foods he likes are universally loved by all parrots...so I would definitely appreciate any other suggestions such as these.

On the plus side...I also picked up some confetti balls that encourage foraging and he is having a field day with those!

 

[Spiritbird]

If you read through the thread with the heading of what is your bird's daily intake you may find some information on feeding valuable.

 

[Printer bird]

I'd be less worried that he doesn't like petstore treats and more concerned that he is not eating vegetables. Fruits don't have a lot of nutritional value. My gcc is not very into vegetables but I am getting him more and more interested. What has worked for me is chopping the fresh veggies up really really finely and to put the veg dish where his pellet dish normally goes. He quite likes the different colours of peppers (red, yellow, orange) so that is what he is mostly getting but he will try zucchini, broccoli, carrots and peas on occasion. Try offering vegetables in lots of different ways (clipped in the cage, chopped up, mixed with other foods/fruits, outside of the cage, in the cage, cooked, raw etc). Try different kinds and see what works. I am doing this and making slow progress. Good luck!

 

[gopack041]

Thanks for the suggestions! And trust me, I would much rather him eat veggies than treats. I just used that as an example to show the magnitude of his pickiness.

 

[Adz]

I agree with the veggies, I'm having a hard time getting Loco onto Veggies. Loco isn't even really fond of sprouts. I'm slowly removing the amount of other less nutritional (and more tasty) feed and I've now introduced pellets too. It's a slow process...