senegal diet

[avianfanatic247]

hello everyone, I might be adopting a female senegal names sunni, right now shes on a current diet of this seed 5 LB Parrot Food by Hartz Mountain 3270097619 - eBay (item 260378857312 end time Nov-12-09 0335 PST) she also is given fresh fruit, like apples,(fruit only. not the seeds) pineapple,and pomogranate. does that sound like a healthy diet? if not, would should i give her instead?

[chapala]

That is a very incomplete diet, overly high in fat, short on some vitamins and minerals, and no complete protein. A primarily seed diet will result in shortened life spans and health problems. Hartz Mountain I have heard (never had it here) is one of the lower quality seed mixes.

It's fine to feed fresh fruit, but it should be a smaller part of the diet, like 5 to 10%. Apples are not as nutritious as other fruits, grapes also in that category - they can be fed but in small amounts and occasionally, not daily. Pineapple and pomegranate are good, as well as any berries, cantaloupe, mango, papaya, etc.

I would suggest you begin introducing a good pellet (no artificial colored or flavored "fruit" pellets) that has Vit. D3 included. Harrison's, Roudybush and Zupreem all would work. Then try to include fresh vegetables in the diet daily. It may take awhile to change the diet, but with perserverance, offering the new food daily, it can be done. Some birds convert more easily than others. Good luck!

[avianfanatic247]

Thanks, thats good to know, what kind of pellets do you recommend?

[chapala]

Harrison's Lifetime (regular or pepper), Roudybush, Zupreem natural. Be sure that any pellet provides complete protein from a combination of grains and legumes and contains Vit. D3 supplementation. TOPs and Foundation Formula do not contain D3, and at least the new formulation for TOPs does not contain complete protein. The three brands recommended above do have complete protein and vitamin D3, as well as other vitamins and minerals. Birds still need to have at minimum 20 to 30% fresh food when eating a diet of primarily pellets. Vegetables and fruits, especially the more nutritious ones, leafy greens, broccoli, carrot, sweet potato, and the types of fruit mentioned above.

[avianfanatic247]

ok, what about these pellets? ZuPreem AvianMaintenance Natural for Parrots and Conures - Food - Bird - PetSmart ? and could these pellets work for eclectus parrots? how often and how much fruit and veggies should i give them?

[brdfvr]

Those are the pellets that chapla is talking about. That is what i feed my Jardine's, Zupreem Natural. However, eclectus should really get more fresh fruits and veggies and not a pelleted diet.

[chapala]

Eclectus are extremely sensitive to processed and supplemented foods, so you need to be very careful of diet with them. Many of them don't do well on any pellets, some can tolerate a small amount of the diet in pellets. They will need a fresh food diet of grains and legumes, fresh vegetables, a little fruit, small amount of seed, and some natural supplements. Check out Feeding Feathers Yahoo forum for a lot more information on parrot diets in general, and species specific questions about Eclectus.

[ilovekiwi]

i give her a mix of roudybush harrisons high potency and totally organics pellets. she gets a seed mix from volkman it also has nuts and dried fruits. She gets beak appetite or bean cuisine every other day or so. i try to give her frozen veggies everyday mixed with organic baby food like squash something i would never buy for myself lol