Tips on changing my tiels and budgies to pellets?

[lilianasmami]

I have 2 budgies and I just bought 5 tiels , all of them are being fed seed because that's what they were being fed when I bought them. I want to change them to pellet, because I know its better for them and one of my budges, possibly both, is underweight. Can anybody with experience changing food help me with some tips?

 

[Kathie]

Hi Bonnie, and welcome! I don't recommend a totally pelleted diet for your tiel and budgie. They do need some seed in their diet. I would recommend a very good quality seed with NO sunflower or safllowers and a bowl of pellets in a separate bowl (not mixed into the seed). They will eventually explore the pellets. Don't put the pellets in with your seed mix, as you are tossing that every day and tossing all the pellets in the mix. I have recommended this method to many and it does work 90% of the time. Good luck!

 

[Dana Lee]

I smashed some TOPS and Oven Fresh bites into teeny tiny crumbs and sprinkled some on my tiel's seed so she'd "accidentally" taste them. Now she will eat them out of a separate bowl like Kathie says they should do. Kathie is right though they need a mix of seeds and pellets

 

[suileeka]

My budgies were on a seed-only diet when they were given to me, and the method I used to get them to eat pellets was to sprinkle millet-sized pellets (Roudybush Nibbles) on a plain plate at the bottom of their cage. At first I used a mixture of seed and pellet, reducing the amount of seeds over a few days until there were only pellets on the plate. Once they would willingly choose to eat the pellets out of a separate dish while there were still seeds in the cage, I moved on to introducing them to fresh foods. Now they look forward to getting their breakfast plate of veggies and grains every morning.

 

[Anne & Gang]

actually a pellet only diet is NOT recommended for the smaller species..new studies have been done to indicate that kidney and liver disease can result...I recommend a good seed mix plus fresh veggies etc...absolutely NOT NECESSARY to change your budgies and tiels to pellets...in fact, pellets are not good on their own either..they must be supplemented with all t he good stuff...

 

[lilianasmami]

Thanks for the info everyone