View Full Version : Pellet Diet for Parrotlets ??
CaliBird
03-11-2007, 01:36 PM
Years ago we heard the best diet for Parrotlets consisted of fresh fruits, veggies, soaked seed, sprouts and pellets. Now I'm being told that pellets are not the right way to go that actually they can or will harm Parrotlets. Any and all info will be appreciated. Thanks so much in advance,
Cali :confused:
tiffers
03-11-2007, 04:16 PM
It's not that they'll harm, it's just not the "natural" diet. I know that we don't reccomend pellets, because first off...where in the world does a wild bird get a pellet food in nature?!
Yes, you can say that they're jam packed with nutrients and stuff, but with any living thing, fresh and natural is always best.
If you'd like, you can feed both. Pellets and their natural diet, that's okay to do. But, I wouldn't only feed one thing.
It's like you only eating those little nutrition bars (pellet food) and nothing else. Sure, they're good for you, but you also need other things (natural food) that the bars aren't going to give you.
conure_chick
03-11-2007, 09:14 PM
I totally agree with Tiffers. We feed our birds a pellet and seed mix(about 70/30 ratio) and then every day for the conure and amazon, and eveyr other dya for the lvoebird we provide some fruits and vegetables. It's good for them and they love to shred the carrots. :) But I do think tht pellets are good because thye do provide many of the vitamins birds need to stay healthy. So I would go with both, good luck :)
This can also depend a great deal on the species.
Cockatoos & cockatiels do exceptionally well on pellets.
Eclectus parrots & macaws are worse off on a pellet diet. An eclectus parrot has long term damage if given pellets, they require a natural diet.
bopeep
03-13-2007, 02:50 PM
What about budgies? I have my budgie on an approximately 30/70 pellet:seed diet. He doesn't like pellets very much and won't eat fruit. My vet advised the "pellet" diet but now I seem to be hearing the opposite thing . . .
Sorry I'm not sure about budgie diets. Most poeple I know have them on pellets because they refuse to eat anything else that's healthy.
The best thing you can do if unsure is make sure you have the correct pellets for that species & 100% natural ones.
tiffers
03-13-2007, 06:40 PM
What about budgies? I have my budgie on an approximately 30/70 pellet:seed diet. He doesn't like pellets very much and won't eat fruit. My vet advised the "pellet" diet but now I seem to be hearing the opposite thing . . .
If he won't eat fruit, try veggies. Try noodles. Try anything. Don't solely use one type.
conure_chick
03-13-2007, 08:44 PM
Sometimes I let my conure "select" her veggies/fruits. She loves pasta...not as much cooked...it's mroe fun to bite into a million pieces for mommy to vacumm. lol Since the kitchen isn't safe I bring the chouse to her and I let her pick. Normally she picks, grapes, cucumbers, and carrots. All of which are pretty good. I also agree that it does depend on the species, if you're not sure find a birdee-atrician. lol Just call your avian vet's office and discus the benfits of different food types. Ours said pellets work well because they get all they need, and adding extra nutrition isn't bad if you don't over do it. Good luck!
Some birds (like my own) just don't want anything to do with things other than pellets and seeds. So, a mostly-pelleted diet is much more healthy for them than a seed-only diet.
Gotta work with what you're given. :o
Shockadine
03-17-2007, 03:10 PM
I'm more for a natural diet if you can get your bird to eat it. I used to feed seed way way back in the day when we didn't know any better, with my first bird. Then I moved to pellets because I was told they are better. Then you start to hear so many things that you don't know what to believe anymore. Finally I looked at what they eat in the wild and now I feed no portions of anything labeled pet food to my birds (heck I don't even trust a lot of people food). I mix my own seed and nut mix from the health food store. I buy raw nuts and seeds (except in the ones that it's impossible to find raw in, then I just go with unsalted). It costs be about $35 to mix around 10 pounds of food for 3 large parrots and one small one, and it lasts quite a while. I also feed fruits, veggies, and sometimes pasta or eggs. The ratios and supplements (like palm oil) I add to they're diet I relate to their species, like my macaw gets more nuts than the others and the grey more frequently gets palm oil. The cockatoo gets less nuts for weight reasons. Which is another plus, because different species have different needs, and I don't believe one pellet fits all.
At first I just tried it to see if it would work out for us. Now I wouldn't go back to commercial bird food. My Miligold macaw was always underweight though the tests done always said there was nothing wrong with her. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep weight on her with a pellet based diet. Now she looks fuller, but not fat and her feathers are so pretty. I've seen very few macaws that look anywhere as good as her.
I'm not sure what a parrotlets wild diet is like, but if you want to really find a good diet, research and try to mimick the natural diet. I have no solid proof this is the best way to go, but with the 4 I have, it's worked very well, and for the macaw I've seen a lot of improvement.