Pellet progress!

[asterroc]

It seems Gabe's making progress on eating pellets. When I got him back from the neighbors this past weekend, he'd put on some weight (at 99g, usually 91-94g). After receiving comments to an earlier post about whether it was them giving him budgie seeds, or him eating more in the company of friends, I actually looked at what was left in his dish this afternoon. He'd eaten all the seeds, all but a few Zupreem pellets, and all the Harrison's! He didn't touch the Nutriberries, and if he ate any of the Kaytee conversion pellets it was minimal.

This is awesome, he's eating healthier, and other than the seeds he's even choosing the healthiest of the options available. Since he doesn't seem to be going for the Kaytee or Nutriberries I'll phase those out after I finish off the current jar (I've got all the above listed things mixed together in one container to make it easier on my neighbors to feed him). After that I'll phase out the seeds leaving him with only Zupreem and Harrison's. Yay!

x-posted

Comments

[myoosikal.livejournal.com]

Ezri would not eat pellets at all until recently. she came home while i was with my family in florida and my husband bought her first container of food. it's a pretty big bag and it's just a mix of seeds and pellets. she would pick out the sunflower seeds first and then the other seeds and leave the pellets and just not eat. so i started taking out the sunflower seeds and leaving only a couple in there, along with putting less in her bowl at once. now she eats the sunflower seeds, then the other seeds, and then the pellets. it seems to be working well. then she will only get a couple sunflower seeds a day as a treat.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I'd been trying various versions of mixing pellets and seeds for the past two months, but it wasn't until this weekend when he was with the neighbors (and their budgies) that he seemed to make significant progress in eating any types of pellets. Go figure, I'd spent a whole month at home on weekends and when I went away for one he switched. :-P I hope he doesn't miss his budgie buddies too much. I wonder how much my neighbor plays with him.

[myoosikal.livejournal.com]

yeah, i have heard that when they're around other birds that eat the pellets they're more likely to eat them too. the first thing i tried to do with Ezri was crush them up into a powder and put it on everything. i would always put it on my figers when i picked her up because she always has to taste my fingers. i'm sneaky that way. ;)

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Well, my neighbor's budgies eat a seed-only diet. Maria showed me when I showed her the pellet mix I was feeding Gabe. This's why when I first got him back and saw he'd gained weight, I was speculating that perhaps she saw he wasn't eating the pellets and gave him some of their seeds instead. But my speculation now is just that he assumed he and the budgies had the same thing, so he ate it too.

He doesn't seem to be the sharpest bird out there, so he could've made that mistake. He's figured out how to step down ONE step, but can't do a ladder, or down off my finger. He's really pretty though, I was thinking that when I woke up this morning and uncovered him. I guess Gabe's just a dumb blonde. ;)