Hi gang. I just came back from the pet store today cause i had to buy some food and some more toys and things for my QP when he comes home in 6 days. I wasnt sure what kind of pellets to buy him so i got the Tropican brand for cockitiels and parakeets. It has dried fruit in it and pellets and a mixture of other things. Is this ok for him to eat or is there any other brands out there that would be better for him??? any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


Mindy

How exciting!!!
Just a thought...
You could ask at the pet store if your baby's being weaned to pellets and what they use?

Got QP from a breeder but she wont answer my question as to what she's feeding him. Ive tried through email and calling her but i guess she must be busy so i bought stuff at the pet store anyways today.

Here's what I'd do it that situation. When you go to pick up your baby, ask the breeder to send you home with the exact food she's been feeding the baby...(any breeder worth their salt will do this voluntarily with out having to be asked...in my opinion) And then you can ask her again what she's been feeding besides that. Hopefully she's been introducing fruits and veggies too. But even if she hasn't you should start...just putting a couple pieces of apple or some grapes cut in half and a flowerette of broccoli etc...even if she doesn't try them right away she's getting use to seeing them in her cage. Remember to take them out of her cage after just a few hours though so they don't start to spoil...

Also as far as the brand of food you bought, I think I know which you purchased. Its not a bad brand, but there are better...
I like to (and again this is a personal choice) have a dish of pelleted food separate from the seed mixtures for a couple of reasons. One and the biggest reason is that way I can control how much seed they are getting (remember seed diets are high in fat and quakers are prone to fatty liver disease) And by having a separate dish you can monitor more easily how much pellets your baby is actually consuming. With pre mixed pelleted and seed and fruit etc diets, Birds have a tendency to pick out their "favorite" things first and leave everything else and because seed is like candy to a kid, they will eat the seed first. So by having the pellets in one dish and seed mix in another...for me its just easier to regulate.

I give my guys Zupreem pellets the natural type. Except now with my 2 newest birds they were on Zupreem fruit when I got them so I'm in the process of converting them over to the natural...I find there's less waste with it than there is with the fruit flavored because they aren't picking out their favorite colors for the week and tossing the rest out as readily. Plus the multicolored foods have a tendency to change the color of their droppings and its hard to tell if there's something going on because depending on which color they eat the most of is the color of the poop..

If you were to ask 10 people here what they feed their birds, you're likely to get at least 8 different answers. There's Lots of good brands out there...and in here's a few in no particular order as to best or worst or anything...these are just better quality brands(again in my opinion). Zupreem, Hagen, Pretty Bird, Harrisons, Roudybush,and there's also Tropimix which is Manufactured by Hagen and there's Laferber's also...

But its very important that to start with you continue to feed what ever the breeder is feeding...and slowly change to what you want to feed. If its one of those brands you can keep them on it... The reason for this is the bird is familiar with it, should already be eating it readily. By giving it something totally different it can throw it off eating because its strange to them and they don't know its good for them, its "stranger, danger" to birds

Hope this wasn't too confusing for you...good luck with your new little one...

If she's still feeding the same pellets as she was when I got Max, then she's feeding the baby Hagen's Tropicana Lifetime Granules for Cockatiels. It is just pellets, nothing else in there. So you may want to check back at the pet shop to see if they carry that (they should if they carry other Hagen food products).

When you do get in contact with the breeder or even when you go pick the bird up see if you can get some of the food that he has already been eating to start him on and if it isnt or doesnt seem nutritional you will have to convert him on a better diet in the near future.

Casey gets the Hagens Tropican Mix for treats, just because there are a lot of seeds in there and she tends to pick out the "fattier" things if they aren't controlled. Casey will eat both the Hagen's regular pellets and the Zupreem fruit blend, I really want to get her converted to the Zupreem Natural, only because her favourite is consistently the red pellets (sometimes the banana shape ones) and her poop is always red!

Good luck, but I do suggest getting whatever the breeder was feeding, since that's what the little guy will be used to.

I seen a bag today that was called Tropican egg granules for cockatiels. There lifetime and they were plain pellets nothing else. There really small. Is this the same kind?? I couldnt find the baby hagen one you were talking about..

For whatever reason, the lady at the pet store said i shouldnt get just the plain pellets cause the quaker would more than likely not eat it cause its bland and boring and not like it. Is that true?

I don't think that is true. They need the "bland and boring" as a staple in their diet. They can have the other fun one as well, but as Connie said, should be in a separate bowl so that you can control the amount of seeds, nuts etc that they are consuming.

If I just left a bowl the the Hagens Tropimix with the walnuts, peanuts, sunflower seeds etc. she would NOT eat any of the pellets and would just eat the fatty things, so she just gets that as a treat. She is more than happy with eating her pellets each day.

To find out what your new baby may like, try giving these people a call....they will send samples for your fid ...

Hagen (Tropican pellets and Gourmet mix)
-- 1-800-225-2700
Harrisons (pellets)
-- 1-800-346-0269
Lafeber (Nutriberries and AviCakes)
-- 1-800-842-6445
Pretty Bird International Inc. (pellets)
-- 1-800-356-5020
Roudybush Feed (pellets)
-- 1-800-326-1726
Ziegler Brothers Inc. (pellets)
-- 1-800-841-6800

I have read numerous studies that texture is more important over flavor to most birds yet also size and shape sometimes play a part as well as what casey said sometimes they do have color preferences. When offered a treat of mixed goodies my quaker will eat the red nutrapuffs which also make his droppings red where as my U2 prefers the green pellets over any other colored one.

When ever I am bringing a new bird into the house I always try to make sure they are eating what they were fed before. Even if its not all that healthy for the first few weeks because it helps them from not being so stressed out with them having something familiar.

Dont listen to the petshop lady.

You can also get on line and visit Zupreem.com and order samples from them as well.

I think the Tropican is a different brand than the Hagens Tropimix...

Were you at petsmart by chance...if so I'm pretty sure it wasn't TROPIMIX...

I don't agree with what the pet store lady said either. You are going to be offering a wide variety of foods anyways. Pellets won't be 100% of the bird's diet.

As for the name...

It's called Hagen's Tropican Cockatiel Lifetime Granules. Here is a link to Hagen's website Click~Here The food is the second bag from the top. It has a picture of a Quaker and a Cockatiel on it.

Before buying any food, I really would wait and see what Angeline has to say about what she is weaning her birds onto. No point in buying other food just yet. It might end up being a waste. She shouldn't have any problems with sending you home a small supply. When I got Max from her, she sent me home enough pellets for a good month.

So just wait it out and once you find out what type of food your baby is being weaned onto, then you can go and purchase it.

What a great idea!! Thank you for posting this. I'm gonna jump right on that... might be the best way to see what Red will and won't eat, since she's always been on an all seed diet.

I tried that, and I even phoned them. (because it seems all of you guys can get free samples! )
Casey is on the Fruit Blend and I wanted to try the Natural because I am tired of red poo but they said they don't give out samples. The lady was very friendly and said they have a policy where you have to purchase it at the store and if your bird doesn't like it/won't eat it then you can take it back to the store for a full refund. It seems like a waste here though because you can only buy the giant big of Natural not the smaller bag like the Fruit Blend comes in... maybe we'll try it one day...

Good luck!