So Phoenix has been doing amazing with his pellets. Just a couple of weeks ago he would only eat one or two at a time, and now he'll eat a whole meal of them
-Phoenix is a little bit of an oddball because he doesn't graze throughout the day as most birds do, he eats meals probably about 4-5 times a day. I think it might be because that's how I hand-fed him, so he never learned to graze... either way, he has access to food 24/7 so it's not an issue on what he wants to do I don't think
If it were just Phoenix in the cage, I would be confident in removing seeds completely and only letting him have them at night. Now that Raiju is sharing the cage with him, though, I can't do that. I don't think Raiju has been touching the pellets at all, but it's hard to tell since they don't leave evidence of being eaten like seeds do
I think Phoenix is currently eating easily half his diet in seeds still since he has access to them all the time through Raiju. The other half is his chop and pellets... there's a possibility that he eats more pellets than seeds, though, because I've watched him eat pellets when the bowl of seeds was right next to him
I'm getting worried about his weight, he hasn't gained any in over a month (he gained a bit over a few weeks but it's stopped, I think it might just be his adult weight... he went from 37.5g to 39.5g), but I still know that seeds can cause fatty liver and other problems, even if I fix the seed thing eventually it could still affect him in the future... his extra-large crop might be causing him to weigh more too, I'm just not sure.
I'm not concerned about Raiju's weight at all, I'm actually surprised at how lean he is because he can't fly to work it off. I still would like to get him on a healthier diet, though. I haven't been able to get a weight on Raiju, but he's definitely not overweight. He does usually eat his chop, easily 2-3 teaspoons of it a day
I have no clue what to do. I can't exactly speed up the process for Raiju, it's only been a little over a month while Phoenix had several.
Currently, I have pellets mixed in Raiju's bowl and a separate bowl of pellets. I replace the seed/pellet mix with just plain pellets for an hour every morning, but Raiju doesn't even look at the bowl when there are only pellets in there. I've tried mixing pellets into the chop, but that makes Raiju not touch the chop so I still only mix the mashed pellets in.
I thought Raiju would have started eating pellets by now after watching Phoenix, but Phoenix mostly eats pellets outside of the cage(there is a bowl of pellets I fill up every day for Phoenix outside the cage, I also scatter some around so he can feel like he's foraging) and Raiju doesn't come outside a lot.
Any advice? Or is it just a waiting game at this point?
-Phoenix is a little bit of an oddball because he doesn't graze throughout the day as most birds do, he eats meals probably about 4-5 times a day. I think it might be because that's how I hand-fed him, so he never learned to graze... either way, he has access to food 24/7 so it's not an issue on what he wants to do I don't think
If it were just Phoenix in the cage, I would be confident in removing seeds completely and only letting him have them at night. Now that Raiju is sharing the cage with him, though, I can't do that. I don't think Raiju has been touching the pellets at all, but it's hard to tell since they don't leave evidence of being eaten like seeds do
I think Phoenix is currently eating easily half his diet in seeds still since he has access to them all the time through Raiju. The other half is his chop and pellets... there's a possibility that he eats more pellets than seeds, though, because I've watched him eat pellets when the bowl of seeds was right next to him
I'm getting worried about his weight, he hasn't gained any in over a month (he gained a bit over a few weeks but it's stopped, I think it might just be his adult weight... he went from 37.5g to 39.5g), but I still know that seeds can cause fatty liver and other problems, even if I fix the seed thing eventually it could still affect him in the future... his extra-large crop might be causing him to weigh more too, I'm just not sure.
I'm not concerned about Raiju's weight at all, I'm actually surprised at how lean he is because he can't fly to work it off. I still would like to get him on a healthier diet, though. I haven't been able to get a weight on Raiju, but he's definitely not overweight. He does usually eat his chop, easily 2-3 teaspoons of it a day
I have no clue what to do. I can't exactly speed up the process for Raiju, it's only been a little over a month while Phoenix had several.
Currently, I have pellets mixed in Raiju's bowl and a separate bowl of pellets. I replace the seed/pellet mix with just plain pellets for an hour every morning, but Raiju doesn't even look at the bowl when there are only pellets in there. I've tried mixing pellets into the chop, but that makes Raiju not touch the chop so I still only mix the mashed pellets in.
I thought Raiju would have started eating pellets by now after watching Phoenix, but Phoenix mostly eats pellets outside of the cage(there is a bowl of pellets I fill up every day for Phoenix outside the cage, I also scatter some around so he can feel like he's foraging) and Raiju doesn't come outside a lot.
Any advice? Or is it just a waiting game at this point?