i bought my first budgie from the petshop yesterday and i automatically bought seed from the petshop but when i got home i came on the internet just to swot up on my new pet and it says diet should be seed pellets and fresh i went back to the petshop and they said budgies dont eat pellets? im confused whats right?

Hi and welcome!

You've found out today that petshops know very little about the animals that they sell! The best diet for a budgie is a pellet diet (yes, they do eat them!), but you will find converting them to any kind of new food is difficult and a long process. Well worth it! Have a look around the forum, some great tips for converting your bird.

Lots of fresh foods too, a good variety. Again, if your budgie is not used to it, he/she will just look at, and possibly act like you are trying to murder him/her! Keep perservering, eventually they will try it! again, have a look around here, lots of tips and hints on how to help your budgie adopt a healthy diet!

If you'd like to post a picture we love them! And someone will be able to tell you if it's a boy or girl, and if it has gone through it's first moult or not.

Welcome to a life being a budgies slave!

Just remember, that it is best to give them a portion of seed every day still. An all pellet diet has been linked to renal failure in some of the smaller parrots (like budgies) so they should get about 30% pellets, 30% seeds and 30% healthy fresh veggies and such. There is a topic about this in the FAQ that is a little more detailed: What you should feed your budgie. An all seed diet leads to malnutrition so be persistant in getting your budgie to eat a variety of foods.

 

Here is a link to another topic where getting your budgies to try new foods was brought up. There are some suggestions but I'm sure others can come up with more: Getting a budgie to eat healthier foods.

 

 

Welcome!

Unfortunately Ive given up on pellets, I spent almost ?100 trying to convert and they wouldnt even sniff them grrrrrrrr.

 

I do however feed a big variety of fruit and veggies and cooked foods.

 

Beak Appetit was a no no again too.

 

But I have success with baby foods with rice and boiled egg, wheatgrass just to name a few.

 

My birds are SPOILT hehe!

You're not being very encouraging, booms! You must be persistant. What methods did you try?

Yeah sorry Terri I just realised that didn't sound very positive but I tried everything.

 

Pellets with seed.

Pellets

Pellets stuffed in treats

Pellets in their fave soft food (they just didn't tough any of it)

Pellets only in the morning when they are most hungry geven in their favourite food.

 

Honest I did try and its cost me a fortune. But I do give them the best alternative diet I can I make the effort in other areas.

 

Hey Kirsty you little one may take to them straight way I hope so. My birds are stubborn!

The Healthy Bird Cookbook says that a good base diet is 25% pellets, 25% seeds, and the rest fresh foods. An all pellet diet is just as bad as an all seed diet, and what IS most important is the fresh foods.

i tried all of those too booms, nothing worked, but the hoorah for the mirrored treat dish! the effects were almost instant. for my next trick...beak appetite!

Hi kirstygayle, welcome to the forum, you should be able to find all the information you need on here and have fun in the process.

You might have to try several different brands of pellets before you find one they like. It may help to try the next size down (canary/finch) instead of the budgie size. It's closer to seed size. :budgiedance: Mine eat two different sizes of pellets, and seem to like the mash size best, which is finely ground up.

 

And eterri - I've read about the renal failure with an all-pellet diet too, but not too much information on why that might be. Have you found any studies that give any clues why that happens sometimes?

 

**topic moved**

Edited October 20, 200519 yr by Rainbow

That's a good point Rainbow! Mine won't touch Roudybush mini pellets so the first time I got them I ended up smashing them with a little hammer. It was fun. :budgiedance: They love teeny specks of food.

 

About the renal failure, I haven't read anything that says why but I'll let you know if I do.

I tried the mash and the superfine and the power chunks too. They didn't touch any of it.

 

Believe me I would love them to convert but it really was costing me a lot of money with no results at all. I might try again with a different brand but not for a bit.

ive onlyhad my bird 4 days but hes hand tameand i didnt think he d be as entertaining as he is. he took to fresh broccoli and carrots the first tie i tried im gonna have to 2

hunt for any kinds of pellets since the pet shop was useless. im gonna introduce different fresh foods thanks forall your support it looks like blinky is a boy and cananyone tell me will it cause problems as he only has 4toes? 2front 2back

That's all the toes he's supposed to have.