Repost in hopes of responce... Petri is anti-pellet and most things he should eat...

[PetriTheGreenCheek]

Hi there everyone.

I just purchased Petri, a GCC who's age is unknown. According to the pet store, he was 'mostly weaned.' She sold me some formula and a syringe, and taught me how to feed him.

Petri hasn't been interested in his pellets since getting home, and doesn't eat NEAR the ammount of formula she indicated he should be eating (2-4 syringes full twice daily). Rather, he's chewed the heck out of a millet spray (some he's tossing around, but a lot is being properly shelled and eaten). They sold me pellets (Harrisons), and a huge mix of things, like banan chips, rasins, wheat seeds (maybe?), and a whole lot more. He picks the raisins and cranberries from the fruit mix, goes wild for the banana chips. When he got home, his poop was essentially water (from the formula diet), and now it's much firmer little lumps.

So the question is, he shows no interest in the pellets, and little interest in the formula (it's all I can do to get him to eat 1/2-3/4 syringe twice daily. I'm also not sure he's found his water bottle (the water level is lower, but it's a Lixit glass bottle and drips slowly).

I've also introduced fresh oranges, which he LOVES, and I go to the fruit market on Wednesdays, so I'll be picking up fruits and veggies there for him of course.

Is he eating enough? How do I get him to come round to pellets?

Should I be worried?

[MissileMe]

A healthy bird should eat about 20% of its body weight. Now keep in mind that 100grams of dry pellets is not equivalent to a 100 grams of iceberg lettuce.

First of all, before your bird gets addicted to sweet stuff, you need to cut down on it. It's unnatural for birds to be addicted to sugary stuff. In the wild they eat unripened fruits and vegetables. These things are usually bitter.

Secondly the most important vitamin is A.

Thirdly Vitamin C is not important to birds. They can produce it in their body.

All that said, try feeding yam, squash, orange/green colored pumpkin. It is high in Vitamin A. Birds usually love this stuff. Steam it then cut it up and feed it.

If they eat that, the next step is to mash the food above and start dicing different vegetables and mix it into the mash. This way they can't pick and choose so easily and the taste of the food above will mask the vegetables.

This is just the starting point. Start adding more food types. Chunky, mashed, as is, etc etc.

On top of all the vegetables start sprinkling some pellets that are naturally flavored (ie Hagens Tropican) without the coloring. Gradually start giving them harrisons, TOPS, Foundation, etc etc. The organic ones usually taste bad (trust me, I've munched on most of them and it's a fact, organic pellets are quite bland) so don't expect them to just start munching on them without any type of introduction via fruity flavored pellets. The initiation is VERY VERY important. You don't want to mess that up.

I hope that helps.

One last thing, water bottles are for rodents. It's good to get them used to water bottles in case you travel by car, but the best is to put a water cup into their cage along with the water bottle.

[Oscars Mom]

Did you try to moisten the pellets? another good way to get them to eat pellets is to stick them in bird bread.I wouldnt give the bird bannana chips and dried fruit cause their like candy .I think a peice of banana is way better. Im assuming the pellets are the same as his handfeeding formula if not Id get pellets from that companycause hes used to the taste. Id try to give him sprouts too cause usually even picky eaters love them.there are lots of companies on the web that sell balanced mixes for birds

[tielfan]

If you have a scale that weighs in grams, you can check his weight every day to make sure his weight is staying steady. It's normal to have a little fluctuation from day to day but you don't want to see a steady downward trend. A postal scale from an office supply store works great for this.