Parrot Chat

[Quailobsessed]

Well, the TOPS pellets came in. I've given them to Luna and she seems to be eating them fine, which is not surprising because so far she's eaten any pellets I've ever put in front of her. I wish all birds were that easy!

Cricket is difficult. He doesn't want to eat pellets, only seeds. I've been trying since I got him to convert him and so far no dice. I'll give it a shot with these pellets and see if I have better luck.

He won't eat veggies either. Pretty sure all his former owners just filled a dish with seeds and called it good and never offered him anything else. I'll keep trying though.

That's great about the TOPS and about Luna! My parrots are really good with their veggies and pellets which makes life so much easier. I think I could almost use the pellets as treats!

 

[Pyxis]

That's great about the TOPS and about Luna! My parrots are really good with their veggies and pellets which makes life so much easier. I think I could almost use the pellets as treats!

Cricket sadly probably didn't have a great life or owners that were informed about proper parrot care before I got him He's seriously cage bound, which I'm working on but I can't force him out because that'll make it worse. I really think he was never offered anything aside from a seed mix - and one of the cheap ones with all the fatty seeds, too. So he's just not interested in food aside from seed.

And since he won't come out, I can't use Luna as a teaching tool, which is too bad. I think once he starts to come out and will hang out with Luna, he might be willing to try what she's eating and that will help with veggies.

Small steps. Right now I just leave his cage door open and have a playstand right next to it with some small sprigs of millet to temp him. Nothing yet, but I'll keep trying.

I'm gonna be making up some chop too and I'll see if that will temp him if I leave it in his food bowl for a bit.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Cricket sadly probably didn't have a great life or owners that were informed about proper parrot care before I got him He's seriously cage bound, which I'm working on but I can't force him out because that'll make it worse. I really think he was never offered anything aside from a seed mix - and one of the cheap ones with all the fatty seeds, too. So he's just not interested in food aside from seed.

And since he won't come out, I can't use Luna as a teaching tool, which is too bad. I think once he starts to come out and will hang out with Luna, he might be willing to try what she's eating and that will help with veggies.

Small steps. Right now I just leave his cage door open and have a playstand right next to it with some small sprigs of millet to temp him. Nothing yet, but I'll keep trying.

I'm gonna be making up some chop too and I'll see if that will temp him if I leave it in his food bowl for a bit.

I get what your going through with him. My galahs are rescues and I don't think their owners really knew what they were doing with them. They're already so much work because they are cockatoos and they're behavior issues make them next to impossible sometimes.

This is why I love having this thread. Parrot owners can share their struggles with their feathered friends and give each other advice and encouragement.

 

[Pyxis]

Luna says chin rubs are the best.

 

[Pyxis]

Cricket is eating pellets now! Zupreem, since all the seed mixtures that they do include some of their pellets in them. I just saw him munching on a pellet, and the last couple times I changed his seeds, the pellets had also been gone. I wasn't sure if he was just kicking them out or eating them, but it looks like he's eating them.

Success!

 

[CatWhisperer]

Congrats on the Zupreem, it’s a good quality brand. As long as you don’t use the pretty color pellets.

 

[Pyxis]

Congrats on the Zupreem, it’s a good quality brand. As long as you don’t use the pretty color pellets.

Thanks! Lol, it is the colored ones that they use in their seed mix and that he's now eating.

They're still okay to use and have good nutrition, the only problem is sometimes birds will only want to eat one or two colors and will pick around the rest and refuse to eat them. And also the colors can change their poop color.

If I was choosing, he'd be on Harrison's and/or Tops like Luna. But if colored Zupreem is what I can get him to eat, then that's what we'll do. Still waaaayyy better than an all-seed diet like he was on.

Now, to get him to try veggies.

 

[JaeG]

@Pyxis I'm glad your Luna turned out to be a girl.

Our Lemmy is like your Luna and loves scritches. Lemmy is our son's bird and Lemmy is incredible. Most of the cockatiels we have raised this year find our DS (9 years old) just a bit too energetic and bouncy, but dear Lemmy would rather hang out with our DS than be anywhere else.


Our other special inside boy is Sprout who is tiny but so full of character. We call him the little prince because he gets very annoyed if other birds are getting scritches and he isn't, or if our DD has her phone pointed at another bird (he will go through everything he knows how to say, all the cute noises he can imitate such as kisses, and every tune he knows how to whistle to try and get her attention back on the most important bird). He is incredibly cuddly too and also very tolerant of our son.

They are both great talkers and whistlers already, and both are looking very tatty at the moment as they are molting.

And I am lucky enough to have bought a gorgeous pair of silver cockatiels that I'm hoping will produce babies for us once they are old enough. They are out in our big aviary. They are different to the silvers available in America and the UK. The hen is a pearl and the cock is split to pearl.

 

[Pyxis]

@Pyxis I'm glad your Luna turned out to be a girl.

Our Lemmy is like your Luna and loves scritches. Lemmy is our son's bird and Lemmy is incredible. Most of the cockatiels we have raised this year find our DS (9 years old) just a bit too energetic and bouncy, but dear Lemmy would rather hang out with our DS than be anywhere else.
View attachment 2036632 View attachment 2036638

Our other special inside boy is Sprout who is tiny but so full of character. We call him the little prince because he gets very annoyed if other birds are getting scritches and he isn't, or if our DD has her phone pointed at another bird (he will go through everything he knows how to say, all the cute noises he can imitate such as kisses, and every tune he knows how to whistle to try and get her attention back on the most important bird). He is incredibly cuddly too and also very tolerant of our son.
View attachment 2036633 View attachment 2036643
They are both great talkers and whistlers already, and both are looking very tatty at the moment as they are molting.

And I am lucky enough to have bought a gorgeous pair of silver cockatiels that I'm hoping will produce babies for us once they are old enough. They are out in our big aviary. They are different to the silvers available in America and the UK. The hen is a pearl and the cock is split to pearl.
View attachment 2036637 View attachment 2036641

They are all gorgeous! I especially love Sprout, haha.

Luna's previous owners had young children that they let handle her, though I'm not sure how young they were. The couple that owned her was young, so I'm assuming they were little kids. They said she was good with letting the kids handle her.

 

[Pyxis]

I just had to clip a couple of Luna's nails. She took it well and got millet as a treat after

And I've rearranged her cage to try to avoid having to do it again in the future. She has a couple perches that will help wear her nails down (don't worry, none of those terrible sandpaper types, they're natural rock perches) but she hasn't been going on them much so I've moved them.