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How can I get my cockatoo to eat ZuPreem and other pelletized foods?

Herr Vogel

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Jason Smith
I own a Moluccan cockatoo who is about 40 years old. I want to improve his diet however he is a picky eater. For the longest time his diet consisted of Parrot Supreme (sunflower seed mix), apples, bananas, and corn-on-the cob. I have been sprinkling calcium powder on his food. My question is this: For about three months I’ve been giving him ZuPreem Fruit Blend. I give this to him in a separate dish. The problem is that most of it winds up on the bottom of his cage! I then tried to mix 50 / 50 Parrot Supreme and ZuPreem to the same food dish. This result is always the same: He picks out the ZuPreem and discards it on the cage floor! Now I’m breaking up the pieces into smaller pieces by putting the ZuPreem into a zip lock bag and beating the ZuPreem with a kitchen hammer to reduce the size of the pieces. When I put the pieces into a separate food dish he is eating some of the pieces. (Not all but better than the larger pieces.) It seems to me that he is used to seeds and nuts and he is able to break them apart with his beak without the fine “crumbs” associated with the ZuPreem. As an aside - when does a Moluccan cockatoo come across anything like ZuPreem in the wild? Does anyone think that it would help if I added a little water to the ZuPreem to the consistency of a banana? He will eat mushy foods like bananas so why not wet ZuPreem? I wanted to get your opinion before I do this because I wasn’t sure if the ZuPreem was intended to be given to a parrot in a moist condition. Please help.
 

Mizzely

Lil Monsters Bird Toys
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Moistening pellets is one of the recommendations for conversion :) So if he will eat it go ahead and try! You can also try a smaller pellet size if he prefers that or to save you time. All of the formulas are the same.
 

Hana Baig

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My little Jewel is also a very picky eater, so what I did is that I mixed them in with her seeds, and slowly put more and more pellets than seeds, to the point where it's mostly pellets. Zupreem is am amazing pellet brand, and at least for my Jewel, she LOVED the fruit flavored ones, so maybe try buying the flavored ones instead of the plain ones
 

lexalayne

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My cockatoo came to me at 12 yrs old with such horrible nutrition panels my avian vet told me to feed her nutri berries only. At first she said to mix them with some goodies but she knew to wait for her favorites. She finally said nutri berries only and said she wouldn’t starve. I honestly was afraid to do it but my vet was right. Good luck it’s hard to change their diets.
 

Tanya

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Try mashing the pellets with some corn-off-the-cob. If he samples pellets while eating a familiar food he's more likely to eat them straight. From his perspective, those bright little nuggets probably look like some kind of weird toy... Not food. And he didn't get to 40 years wise by eating toys!
 

iamwhoiam

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Can try Avicakes. Those are a combination of seeds and pellets. You may also want to try different pellets. Sometimes a bird won't eat one brand but will eat another brand.
 
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