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Post by rickygonzalez on Feb 10, 2015 17:58:20 GMT -5
Hello all, so I got my buddy Sonic days ago. He and I are getting along great! I am trying to convert him to pellets. I am doing the allow seeds twice a day for 20 minutes at a time. My question is, can he starve this way? He has been very grumpy since I started doing this. He looks like he is very hungry but won't eat the pellets. He will put them in his beak and then drop them. Is this normal? I want him on pellets because as we all know they are much better then seeds. I just don't want him to starve. He has pellets and veggies in his cage 24/7 I see no evidence that he has eaten any of either one. Thank you for any help you folks can offer.
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Post by Jan and Shah on Feb 10, 2015 20:38:11 GMT -5
I would just mix the seed with the pellets at this time and then gradually decrease the seed so he is just eating pellets. Dont stress out about it - it just takes a bit of time. Shah refuses to eat pellets so I add them to his parrot mix and am gradually decreasing the mix and increasing the pellets - needless to say, I am discarding a lot of pellets these days. It all takes time when they are stubborn as to what they want to eat. I wouldnt put a time limit on how long things can sit in his cage - except for fresh food. I leave Shah's stuff in his cage all day so he can pick at it when he feels like it. I am sure others will be along shortly to give you their ideas.
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Post by cnyguy on Feb 10, 2015 21:35:01 GMT -5
Try soaking some pellets in spring water or unsweetened fruit juice to soften them. Sometimes a parrot being introduced to pellets will eat the softened ones more readily than the dry ones. Even though he eats the dry pellets, Ralph still gets a few soaked pellets every day-- he thinks they're a special treat. He especially likes eating them from a small demitasse spoon, or "foraging" for them at the bottom of his cage.  |
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Post by easttex on Feb 11, 2015 6:12:10 GMT -5
If he steadily refuses to try the pellets, you might experiment with different brands. Some birds will prefer a different color or shape. For some, the size of the pellet makes a big difference. It can be a little expensive to do this, though.
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Post by rickygonzalez on Feb 11, 2015 13:21:45 GMT -5
Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks for the advice. I woke up this morning to Sonic eating his pellets! I read about this particular conversion method on one of the threads on this site. The person who wrote it said they had a 100 percent success rate using it. It worked on Sonic in 3 days. I have more questions but I will give you guys a break for a while... lol. Anyway thanks for taking the time to respond to my questions. I really appreciate it.
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Post by msdani1981 on Feb 12, 2015 2:02:56 GMT -5
No, no! Questions are GREAT!  Welcome to the forum! Excellent job with the conversion, by the way! |
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Post by aaron on Feb 12, 2015 17:42:39 GMT -5
That's great that you got him to eat pellets so quickly! He could have given you far more trouble than that. Nice work! And like Dani said, we encourage questions! Ask away! |
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