I am alittle confused on why my parrots have not eaten there pellets on a regular basis...

my cherry head that i got when he was 8 months old only had seeds.. i did the hole conversion thing and finally saw him eating some...but now he doesnt even eat them anymore...he just eats the seeds and the snacks i have through out the day and ects of course.. but the pellets i have moved them twice to see if he rather eat them in a different bowl.. no luck...

what should i due just offer him the pellets for a short spell and give him a snack during the day??
i have pellets in one, seeds an another and the othe bowl is like a fruit cocktain mixer.. maybe he is getting all the other stuff and wont bother with the pellets??? no idea what too due.....

my quaker---eats the pellets but not a very big eater
my new little quaker eats them like there are going out of style...


any suggestions?? is it a big deal that some parrots just dont like the pellets...??? thanks for your help..

the pellets are roudybush.............thanks for yourhelp.........

i know it's not gonna be a popular idea, but have you tried a different pellet for the one who doesn't eat them? different brand completely or a different size of current pellet? maybe he just doesn't like them? you can call some of the companies and they will send you samples. i would also say that the pellets should be available all the time, and if anything, the seed should be available on a limited basis instead. you put cake and ice cream in front of me, i'll choose that over steak and potato every time

for instance, i have another brand of pellet that i got samples of (gah, i can't remember from who tho, roudybush maybe?). they were VERY nice, and VERY generous in the sample pack - sent me grey specific food, quaker pellets and a stick type deal that seemed like a treat more than a regular diet food. but my birds will not eat them. they eat the zupreem fruitblend pellets. i even got the wild and spicy zupreem, and again, no go. only the fruit blend one. i should probably find another one as a backup in case i can't find zupreem, but i got lax once i got the CAG converted.

good luck.

kris

If you really are concerned with it convert them fully to pellets by slowly taking the seed out of thier diet, or only give it in small amounts. Your problem is you are giving them a choice. And given a choice a bird will almost always choose the seed. It's like giving a child a choice between a candy bar and veggies, which one is the kid going to choose? Eliminate the bad choice.

Yep, I think you'll have to do the conversion again with the Cherry head. Once he's converted you can't leave a bowl of seed AND pellets in each day as he's only going to choose the seed. You can still give him seeds but not a constant supply of them everyday... I'm not aware of the proper dietary requirements for Cherry heads so they may be able to handle more seeds than Quakers, but I'm not sure...

Good luck!

I agree with everyone else... you'll have to redo the conversion...

and always offer treats like seed and fresh food in a seperate dish and tell the bird.. wanna treat and provide the treat.. they will learn the difference that pellets are there alll the time and seed isnt a reliable source of food because it comes sporadically..

i try to give seed to our quaker now that hes converted at varying times and days of the week so he never comes to rely on seed as his primary source of food again... not as easy with fresh food cause he gets that almost everyday but i found while converting to temportariliy limit their fresh food intake or it is a more tedious process because then they are not only holding out from eating the pellets for seed but for fresh food as well...