Blueberries & chihuahua's

[Loriusgarrulus]

I bought some blueberries today and put some in Karo's dish. I don't think he had had them before and he promptly started chucking them out of the dish.
One large one landed outside the cage on the floor and was promptly grabbed by Brenne my deerhead chihuahua.
Brenne decided it was a ball and proceeded to throw it up in the air and bat it round the room. Which provided a lot of entertainment for me and Karo.
Eventually Brenne realised it was edible and it was gobbled down with glee.
Karo has yet to realise they are edible.

[Wolf]

Sit with Karo early in the morning before giving him his regular breakfast and start eating the blueberries in front of him, but do not give him any of them until he starts to demand a bite. You can also use this method any time that you get a snack that is bird safe, for yourself. He may still spit them out at first but if you are consistent with this, I know of no better way to teach a bird to eat a new food, except for having other birds that already eat the new food to eat the food in front of him. This is because the sharing of food is a natural bonding activity for them. Parrots in the wild never eat alone.

[alienlady]

I bought some blueberries today and put some in Karo's dish. I don't think he had had them before and he promptly started chucking them out of the dish.
One large one landed outside the cage on the floor and was promptly grabbed by Brenne my deerhead chihuahua.
Brenne decided it was a ball and proceeded to throw it up in the air and bat it round the room. Which provided a lot of entertainment for me and Karo.
Eventually Brenne realised it was edible and it was gobbled down with glee.
Karo has yet to realise they are edible.

Liseth will not eat blueberries no matter how long I have tried sharing them with her.

[liz]

In the wild or in a confined flock they learn from each other. What the older on eats is okay for the younger one to eat. Yes, eat in front of him and don't let the dog have them. It is a miracle your house is not blueberry marked.

[Wolf]

In so many ways parrots are just like us humans, they do have their likes and dislikes and there is no way to know in advance what they will like or not. They may not touch a certain food for months and then suddenly decide that it is the best food in the whole world or just the opposite in that after eating a certain food for months they will suddenly not want anything to do with it. Sometimes the reason for their not eating a certain food has more to do with the presentation or the texture of it than any other reason. By this, I mean things like some will eat a grape or blueberry only if it has been peeled for them or they may only like it if it is cut up in the right size or some foods they will only eat if it is cooked or any combination of these things.

I have birds that love apples but will only eat them cut into small pieces and others that like large pieces that they can hold more easily and even one that will only eat apple if I cook it for her. I have a bird that likes blueberry muffins but will not touch them any other way.

Another thing is to forget about or concepts of time as they mean nothing to the bird, Kiki loves pears cut up small, just barely large enough for her to hold but it took almost 2 years before she would try the first bite and now she gets mad as hell at me if I eat a pear and don't give her some small pieces of it, while Kookooloo is very similar when it comes to cantelope or watermelon.

You just never know with these birds. If they won't try something after a week or so, I often try something different and then offer it again the following month. No sense in wasting any more than need be.

[Pajarita]

I don't think there is a bird (even the finches and the button quails like them and they hardly eat any fruits at all) that doesn't really like blueberries, it's just a matter of getting them to try the first one -something that took 5 years with a gray I used to have! What I do now is open one up and offer it with the 'meat' out. In most cases, if you insist, they will grab it from your fingers just so they can fling it far (with a "Get that thing out of my face already!" gesture ) but, in the process and because the berry is inside out, they get a little bit of it in the tip of their beak which makes them taste it. Do it a few times and they will start eating them.

[Loriusgarrulus]

I have started chopping them up now so he gets the taste when he picks one up and he ate some today.

[liz]

Their are things my Amazons will not try that I put on their plates but will steal from mine if given a chance. Myrtle has even tried taking my oatmeal bowl from me.