small food problem!

[EmsyMarie]

Hi guys,
My little Bluebelle is doing amazing with training but the food side of things isn’t going as well. She is having living world premium but she only picks out the sunflower seeds and that is all I can use for treats for training as she doesn’t like Millet. I give her fresh veg and fruit as well so far I have tried grape,apple,pak Choi, parsley, cucumber, celery, peppers and carrot. Except for the smallest bit of Pak Choi she hasn’t really been interested. I know that sunflower seeds can be bad for parrotlets so I really hope she will vary her diet!

 

[Gribouille]

Have you tried pellets?

 

[EmsyMarie]

I only got her three days ago so I just went for seed but I am going to look into it. Do you have any recommendations? I live in the UK though

 

[Gribouille]

I use Harrison's bird food for both my budgies and parrotlet. High potency super fine. I'm in Europe too so you should find it in the UK

But if you got her only 3 days ago, then just relax. She is stil a little stressed and needs time to settle

 

[Lady Jane]

She has not been with you long enough to eat any "new" food. We try to give them the same food as they had before coming to you home, even if it is not good. You can gradually mix in the healthy foods. Please slow down.

 

[EmsyMarie]

Hi,
Yes I understand it is early days. But I am worried that she is only eating sunflower seeds. Am I okay to let her carry on then? I just worry about her getting the proper nutrition.

 

[Gribouille]

Hi,
Yes I understand it is early days. But I am worried that she is only eating sunflower seeds. Am I okay to let her carry on then? I just worry about her getting the proper nutrition.

Are you sure she is only eating the sunflower seeds? She would probably eat them first, but could go over to other seeds when she has eaten them up. That's what mine does. Of course he only has a few of them along with the other seeds so if he is hungry he has no choice.

 

[EmsyMarie]

Whenever I have her on my hand she will only take the sunflower seeds and the food doesn’t look any different at the end of the day except for the shells of the sunflower seeds. She isn’t interested in Millet at all yet. I know it could just be nerves. But she seems so settled and loves to come out and fly to me and chirp away.

 

[Gribouille]

what did she eat at her former owner? Not only sunflower seeds I am sure.

 

[EmsyMarie]

This is the food they sent with her. Which I don’t want to use as it’s not nutritious but giving it too her for the first week before mixing in mine I got her.

I have been mixing the bag up and taking out some sunflower seeds so it’s not pretty much all sunflower.

 

[Gribouille]

wow, that's a lot of sunflower seeds... No wonder she isn't hungry after she's eaten them up... I would give her only half of her "sunflower mix" and half of the Premium. When there is less of her favorite she'll start taste the other seeds.

 

[EmsyMarie]

Okay thank you for your help

 

[fashionfobie]

Welcome to the group first of all Parrotlets are awesome little parrots.

I totally agree with Lady Jane. Slow down a bit. She should be eating what she had before and slowly introduce things.

Some pellet could work, but do your research. Parrotlet mutations on pellet diets have been correlated with having kidney problems from a build up of uric acid. Take things slowly and your patience will pay off.

Diet ideas can always be a hot potato, so research your heart out. I will link another page from this forum.
Parrotlet mutations and specific food?? | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

Some of the opinion pieces that were linked in ^ post:

Parrotlet Blog: Pellets & Color Mutation Parrotlets
Mutation Parrotlets & Pellets... - Johnny's Parrot TIPS | Facebook

 

[EmsyMarie]

Hi guys so I am still struggling to get Bluebelle to eat anything other than some sunflower and small bits of seed so I have decided to try her on the Harrison’s super fine. I think I will soak it first and just add a little to see if she’s interested. I also ordered some Lafeber Nutri-Berries Sunny Orchard, I wonder if anyone has tried this?

 

[greys4u]

Do you have any grocery stores near you that sell organic baby food? If you do try a very very tiny amt and mix it in with the soft pellets, another thing, measure the amt of food you give in the a.m. and at the end of the day, that will help to know if shes eating.

 

[Gribouille]

I use Harrison's super fine too but I never soaked it, it melt when wet and I've always thrown it away... I use to give pellets in the morning, and seeds in the afternoon. The thing is that if presented together with seeds, birds will go for the seeds. If they get only pellets, they will have to try it and realize it is food before they try and eat it, so you'd have to keep an eye on her to see if she goes to her bowl and tries to eat the pellets.

 

[EmsyMarie]

Help! What does this noise mean? Is she hungry?

 

[Gribouille]

I wouldn't say so. What happened? She seems more in distress than hungry...

 

[EmsyMarie]

She was out on my lap and trying to get into her food box. But I distracted her with a different seed. Maybe it was because I had my hand above her head. I have weighed her and she is 25g so a little underweight.

 

[Gribouille]

A little underweight, but isn't she a youngster? Average is around 30g for an adult. Twitter is 1,5 and 29g, which is very surprising because he eats like an ogre...

Did she eat the other seed?