Changing a Parrot's Diet

By Chris A. Bloor

Parrots are not the pickiest of pets when it comes to food, but once you get them used to a specific diet, you’ll definitely have a hard time trying to change it, especially if it’s a radical change, such as from seeds to fruit, natural to packed food and so forth. So if your pet parrot is having his own way regarding what he eats, here’s a couple of tips and tricks to changing his diet, without causing him, or yourself, too much trouble.

The first thing you need to know is that parrots don’t fall easily for the “starve and conquer” technique. Simply not feeding your parrot for a few days just so that he will be hungry enough to eat anything you throw at him is definitely not a good way to work around your problem, not only because it’s not healthy for him, but also because he might not fall for it.

It’s also imperative that you don’t try the diet change while your parrot is not in his best health. Sick or even grouchy parrots will be harder to “convince”. So as long as you can avoid these two traps, let’s talk about how you CAN change your parrot’s diet.

It’s important to understand that parrots won’t simply choose what they eat for its taste. They’ll be more attracted by two other main stimulants, mainly how the food looks (color, texture, size, etc) and how it smells.

You might find that you’re feeding your parrot some new pellet food and he doesn’t like it, only to switch to the same food type, of a different color and texture and he’ll dig into it like it’s his last meal.

They can also have strong preferences as to the size of the pellets, some preferring whole ones, while others preferring smaller crumbles (this can also be related to the size and age of your parrot). In any event, it’s a case of experimentation with different colors, sizes, textures and flavors for the new diet, as each parrot has his own preferences and has formed his own unique eating habits.

If you notice that your parrot doesn’t really enjoy the new diet you’re offering him, or that he doesn’t eat too vigorously even when he’s hungry, you may want to try a sneakier approach: mixing foods.

For example, you’ve grown your parrot up from a young age on a seed-only diet and now you’re trying to change it to a nutritional pellet formulated diet. Instead of simply emptying his bowl of seeds and replacing them with pellets, sprinkle some pellets OVER the seeds and mix them up. Do so every day, until you notice your parrot is eating the new pellets without any problems. Then, gradually increase the amount of pellets in his bowl, at the same time decreasing the amount of seeds, eventually replacing them entirely.

This said, make sure you don’t change your parrot’s diet too often, since parrots are rather conservative birds when it comes to their food and diet changes can also mean mood swings. Instead, if you notice that your parrot’s diet is missing some key components, such as calcium, vitamins or minerals, try completing his diet with something appropriate rather than changing it entirely. It’s best for your parrot’s health and it’s also a lot easier for you to perform the change.

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