Hello everyone! It's been a few weeks because I was out of town. My husband was home taking care of Skittles and the pups. I was so happy to come home and not suffer any birdie wrath for being away! I was greeted with lots of kisses and cuddles!

I've been home for about a week now and have noticed that Skittles is not eating hardly any of his pellets (Zupreem). I give him fresh foods like fruits, veggies and cereals daily and on occasion he gets some seed mix that has pellets and dried fruits and nuts. He loves the fruits and cereals, but is real picky on the veggies. I'm really concerned about him not eating his pellets though and am not sure what to do about it. Should I be concerned? Or am I just being a typical "new Mom"?

My parrots well only eat pellets if there is no fresh food to be had. They just prefer it. Can't say I blame them either.

The last few days Drago will only eat his pellets and seed mix if he gets up before everyone else and there is no fresh food in the other bowl.

Well, I guess he just had to make a liar out of me! He ate most of his pellets today and didn't really eat his "fresh" food! Crazy little birdie!

I just worry about him not getting a balanced diet. I feel that the pellets are pretty balanced, they just need a little extra help. So I feel safe if he eats the pellets.

I'm with you on the pellet situation. I just prefer my birds to have a pellet based diet, with fresh foods as a supplement to it. I think it's pretty difficult to ensure a bird is receiving all the nutrients their body needs on a diet of fresh food alone. Heck, we humans have a hard time eating properly.

I totally agree with you guys... pellets ensure they are getting all the nutrients they need and then the fresh stuff is just extra.

Do you measure Skittles pellets to see how much he's eating in a day? Casey can eat about 1 tablespoon in a day... it definitely helps to measure it as you will be able to get a good idea of exactly how much he's eating in comparison to his fresh stuff.

When we first brought him home, he was eating 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of pellets every day. Then he dropped back to 1 tablespoon and now I'm giving him 1 tablespoon every few days. That amount includes all the things he won't eat, like bananas and now the red ones! So he's really not eating much of his pellets at all. I hate to not give him fresh food, but I may have to do that for a while to make him eat his pellets. What do you think?

As for the fresh foods, I probably put in 1 - 2 tablespoons of fruit or veggies and then about 1 tablespoon of either cereal or Vitakraft Cocktail Frutti. He is very picky on the fruits and veggies, but really enjoys the cereal and seed mix.