My damn parrot won't eat the new pellet food I bought.

[Deja Q]

She'll stare at them, then stare at me, then attack my hand as I fill the cup. And then demand her usual Nutraberries seed mix. :eyes:

I've eaten what amounts to three HANDFULS in front of her to show how yummy they are, and now I'd rather say "Just go eat your nutriberries you little adoreable snot, I'll eat these instead. It's probably healthier than popcorn too." And they are. They're somewhat fruity, like Trix, but don't contain all the sugar...

And the moral is? Parents, be sure to feed your kids that pellet food shaped like little fruits. The kids won't know the difference and won't get all hyper and diabetic at school...

[AlienGirl]

1. ZuPreem Fruitblend? It's pretty good.

You could always try hiding the pellets as though you don't want her getting into them. Or stick them in the button-holes of an old remote control--then she'll think they are technology and destroy them, discovering in the process how yummy they are!

Tucker

[KittyWampus]

4. GREAT idea! I like the reverse psychology thing/ You really know animals

that is a great idea for sure hide them and make sure she knows she's not supposed to find them.

[Deja Q]

13. Now that's a cool idea!

:thumbsup:

Thanks! I shall try it... eh, hiding the pellets rather than showing her how yummy they are. :D

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

14. pretty good? they're grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

:9

[sarge43]

2. Purina Brat Chow in the fifty pound bags is cheaper in the long run

Our feathered house gods wouldn't eat the pellets at first. Try mixing them in the seed, then gradually cut back on the seed. And of course, there's the classic Mom standby - "When you get hungry enough, you'll eat what's on your plate!"

[pitohui]

3. my parrots went the other direction

they used to eat anything, then they started getting all picky on me and refusing certain colors of pellets

[Lady Freedom]

5. mix with sunflower seeds n/t

[AlienGirl]

9. She'd pick out the sunflower seeds and leave the pellets

[idgiehkt]

15. yep

not only would my conure not eat pellets, but he cursed and flung them across the room. I tried and tried to switch him to pellets, to no avail. I gave up after getting tired of hearing him swear in bird language for a half an hour every time and then having to clean up the mess.

[Sequoia]

6. Tell her "how can you have any pudding if you haven't finished yer meat."

In an English accent of course.

Good luck.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Tell the parrot: "If you don't want to eat your pellets..."

"then you're not really hungry."

[Darth_Kitten]

8. Introduce it slowly..........

she's just not used to it......my bird used to eat an enriched seed and nut mix, but now is on the Zupreem (you can get it in garden harvest and hot and spicy flavours for variety)....

but anyways, just introduce it to her slowly....and still feed her the food she's used to, don't want her to lose weight.

:)

[AlienGirl]

10. This is actually the correct advice

Mix the pellets into her diet slowly, starting with about one part new food to three parts customary food and changing the ratio of new to accustomed food over a matter of weeks.

But just from Parrot Logic, if you act as though the new food is a treat, one meant for someone else at that, you can get her interested in trying it.

Tucker

[derby378]

11. Mix it half-and-half with Birdie's current food

Even if you have to do it for the rest of her life, if that's her preferred mix, why deny her?

[BikeWriter]

12. This is a lesson to hand feeders. Feed those babies Everything!

Then they are less likely to be finicky as adults.

[Darth_Kitten]

17. My cockatiel is a little porker.......

they just LOVE their food. :)

[astral]

16. I would think the birds would know what's good for them

and maybe the pellets aren't as healthy for them as plain old nuts and seeds and stuff. I don't have a bird but I have a cat and I pay attention when I give him a bit of catfoood and he turns his nose up at at it and won't eat it, and try to remember not to buy that brand / flavor again. He's not picky and it's the rare exception he gives something a sniff and decides he'd rater not eat it. And it's not a game of me opening a different can either. He'll munch on his dry food or walk in to the other room and hope he doesn't have to see it again.

I would trust the bird's instincts on this one.

[Darth_Kitten]

18. Are you kidding?

Pellets are what is good for them, nuts and seeds are very high in fat.....

They need variety from a lot of food sources, so pellets with fresh food is the best thing for them.

[AlienGirl]

19. ROFL!! Birds are a lot like humans

Just like humans, birds will overeat on fatty and sweet foods, and get unhealthy because of it.

This is because both birds and humans in domesticity don't get as much exercise as their wild ancestors did, but still have all the genetic programming to prefer high-energy foods. In the wild, parrots fly over huge ranges and eat a wide variety of foods (with nuts and seeds being a portion of their diet). In captivity, they don't expend as much energy flying, and since food is always available without having to do much work for it, they feel free to pick out the tastiest (i.e. highest-fat or sweetest) foods and leave the healthier stuff.

Birds in captivity do best on specially-formulated pellets supplemented with fresh veggies and fruit.

Of course, they'll *tell* you their natural diet is pizza....

Tucker

[sarge43]

20. And if pizza isn't available, Chicken McNuggets n/t

[Darth_Kitten]

25. They like a good steak every now and then........

scrambled eggs and hash browns......

tacos......

anything you eat...they want. :)

[sarge43]

27. Lasagne

Homer Simpson mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. Per'aps 'e's not 'ungry

because 'e's pinin' for the fjords.

:shrug:

[Roon]

22. Awwww! Kisses for the birdy!

:o

[In_The_Wind]

23. Frodo prefers Nutraberries to fruit shaped pellets.

We've had success with Brown's Mix.

[Darth_Kitten]

24. My bird really took to Roudybush

She likes the Zupreem, it's got the pellets plus little pieces of dried fruits and veggies, but (when I had it) I'm mix in a few of the roudybush pellets and she really liked them. Like took to them right away.

:)

[sarge43]

26. We've had success with Harrison' Bird Foods

Especially with the Congo Grey. She had had the standard bad background - passed from owner to owner (none of them seemed to have had any experience with large parrots), sunflower seed diet, too small of a cage, etc. Of course, she was what you would expect - a neurotic, hostile feather plucker.

We got her started on the Harrison's with fresh veggies and fruits as treats, a decent size cage (a cat cage actually) with toys and hidey-hole boxes. She'll be never be what she could have, but she's stopped plucking and she's healthy and content now.

[Darth_Kitten]

28. You seem to be giving her all she needs to be healthy.....

and happy.

Good chow, a nice home....toys, love!! :D

[sarge43]

29. Well, she bonded with my husband

Good thing I'm not a jealous woman. ;)

[Dem2theMax]

30. He won't eat the fruit blend. Even if it does taste like bubble gum.

Well, it tastes that way to me. Regular ZuPreem, not bad. To me. More like cereal. HE won't eat it.
Harrisons, the fillet mignon of bird food - after 11 years of eating it - you guessed correctly -- won't eat it.

I'm going absolutely NUTS trying to get this darned bird to eat!

Edited to add: Just for fun, I went out to his 'tree' and put some Harrisons in his bowl. First time I've tried that in weeks.

He's eating it. :sarcasm:

Never thought I'd use the sarcasm smilie for my bird. LOL. AAARRRGGGG!