Pretty Boy

[Pajarita]

Thank you, Shira! He is getting there. Today is the third day he has gotten just plain gloop (no pellets or seeds in it) and he now actually looks forward to it (he climbs down and waits by the little food bowl door for me to put it in and hardly lets me lock it in place before he starts eating). And, believe it or not, even though he is a sun conure, he is not a screamer

My husband is now saying that taking him in was a mistake because we will now 'get stuck' with him He calls him Pretty Bird instead of Pretty Boy (we had an amazon named Pretty Bird for almost 19 years).

[Pajarita]

I am happy to announce that Pretty Boy is now eating fresh produce! So far, he has tried blueberries, pomegranate seeds, pumello, romaine lettuce and green cabbage.

[liz]

That is wonderful.

Maggie has taught Lola and Flutter to eat grain but not Phoenix. Maggie is still the only one in that cage to eat fresh food. She had a great time today playing and eating in the Romaine lettuce. The others watched but did not join in.

[Wolf]

Keep trying, they will get there!

[Pajarita]

Pretty Boy is doing fabulously. He loves his gloop and continues to expand his raw produce menu. He now eats apples, blackberries, blueberries, grapes, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, butternut and spaghetti squash, sugar snaps, snow peas, celery, carrots, papaya, oranges, corn on the cob, cantaloupe, pomegranate and -drum roll- leafy greens! To be honest, he has only eaten them twice, once a romaine and once an escarole leaf but leafy greens are the hardest thing to convince them to eat and the fact that he has done it just in a few months is actually pretty incredible!

He now not only allows me to scratch his head, he has also learned to lift his wing to get tickles under it (this is not something I recommend is done with parrots because it is an arousing caress to them but he would not let anybody touch his body before and I needed to establish a relationship with him) and he has started giving kisses! He has now switched his primary allegiance from my husband to me but this is mainly because I not only pay more attention to him, I am also the one that feeds him AND, most importantly, the one that gives him the benefit of the doubt and is not afraid of him.

He continues to molt and, although this is the worst time of the year for it to happen because he should be going into breeding mode, it doesn't worry me because I know it's a consequence of his body adjusting to the seasons.

[patti]

interesting story about the transition to gloop. corn is the secret conure ingredient, i guess.

the last batch i made seemed to finally be a good one. i cooked the beans just right, sprouted, with equal mix of veggies, beans, and grains - and even added just a tinch of herb flavoring. finally found a recipe that she loves. and you know what the secret was? CORN!!!! that was what kept her interest, which is hard to do. first she picked the corn out and ate only that ... now she eats the whole thing (excepting what ends up on the floor) all in one sitting... what used to sit in her bowl all day. it is now gloop over pellets! she can't wait for her morning gloop!

success.

lily isn't a screamer either. she squeaks and chirps and clucks.

[Wolf]

That is great news, they really do love their corn, and with equal parts the beans are at 33% of the mix, not bad for a batch that she likes but you should try to get the beans down to about 25% of the mix.

[Pajarita]

I would actually make the bean portion even less than that. My gloop has, roughly, 50% protein food (whole grains and pulses) and 50% veggies but I always use more grains that beans. I really cannot tell you exactly why but I think it's because I regard whole grains as more 'natural' in a parrot's diet than beans... I mean, I've seen parrots eating grains in the wild but I've never seen one eating a bean.

[mikella]

Randomly saw this and was wondering - why are beans included if not a standard part of a wild parrot's diet? Why not only grain and veg in gloop? I know beans are a source of protein, but wouldn't protein from grains (and seeds for 'supper') be sufficient? (And carbs and diff nutrients from veg and fruit as well obv., but just wondering about the protein.)

[Wolf]

Perhaps I should leave this for Pajarita to answer as she is much more knowledgeable in these matters than I am, and she has many, many more years of experience than I do as well. But I like to stretch the limits of what I know and so here is my reply to this.
The first thing that comes to mind is that there is not a single parrot that I am aware of in captivity that eats anything remotely similar to their natural diet. Many of them for the reason that we don't know what they eat or in what quantity. We are aware that their diet changes depending on where they live and according to the seasonal availability of different foods, but we don't know enough to duplicate their natural diet. I would also assume that the cost of doing so, if we could, would also be prohibitive.
It is not just a matter of protein in their diet but also of the different trace minerals, amino acids, we must look at the different types of proteins and fats and nutrients as well as how much of these things each food contains. And it is at this point that Pajaritas superior experience and knowledge begins to show, as I can't honestly say more about this at this point.