My QP will not eat Human food, she is 16wks old and I have had her for over a month. I have given her grapes,apples,bananas,mushrooms, raw green beans,nectarines,peaches,broccolis,squash, watermelon,crackers,bread, tomatoes and she is not interested! Is she just too young? Should I just keep trying? Also how long can I leave the fresh food in her cage? Yes I am new at this so your help is VERY much appreciated.

I only leave fresh foods in the cage for a maximun of 2 hours.

Careful with the mushrooms as those are somewhat of an 'iffy' food. I feed them, but only if they are cooked.

Try some warmed up food, like mashed potatoes, or sweet potatoes, or carrots. Cooked brown rice is also usually a bit hit, as well as cooked pasta. You can make lots of great meals just by mixing some cooked rice/pasta/fresh veggies. Serve it warm and your bird may just dive in there.

Also, not all birds will accept fresh foods right away. But keep trying (she's not too young)!! Some of them just take longer to get used to the idea that they taste yummy

how does your QP react when you eat food? Do yall eat together? try eating together, and make a big deal about what your eating. I got Midori when he was being weaned, and for the first two days or so he wouldnt eat anything. Then Midori would only eat if i ate, and only what i was eating. Try making eating a game, instead of leaving it in the cage or whatever.

I can remember all of the food that I threw away with my bird. It simply is by trial and error. They will soon decide (after many times of trying and offering) that the food isn't too bad....LOL.....Also another thing is show your bird how good it is, pretend you are eating it, or actually eat it and your bird will be really interested in taking it away from you. Just make sure you give a fresh piece of whatever as human saliva is NOT good for our birds.

She can't see us from where her cage is located. I guess I can wheel her cage over to the dinning room when we eat and see what she does(maybe get her a rolling play area,seeing that her cage is very large). If I have her on my shoulder I will put the food on my shoulder by her, but after a quick nibble at it she leaves it alone.



I didn't know that about the saliva Thanks I will remember that!

Don't stop offering the fresh foods. I have a parrotlet that refused fresh food for almost a year before finally figuring it out. Now she eats it, but still has her favorites.

Something else you could try would be to take all food out at night and in the morning put in only the fresh food for an hour or two. If she is hungry, and they usually are in the morning, she may decide to try the fresh food in absence of her regular diet. Stinkers are still smart enough to figure out they just have to wait it out, but it's worth trying.