Greetings!

[Pajarita]

If I were you, I would not worry at all about teaching him to step up because all handfed parrots do it on their own as long as they trust the human who is asking. I hope the dry papaya was not the regular commercial kind with sugar and sulfites...

[owlyssa]

If I were you, I would not worry at all about teaching him to step up because all handfed parrots do it on their own as long as they trust the human who is asking. I hope the dry papaya was not the regular commercial kind with sugar and sulfites...

Yeah, he seems to understand that a hand in front of him means that I'd like for him to perch, but I still reward and thank him for complying. He's definitely getting more and more acrobatic. And regarding the dried papaya, I honestly have no clue... I'm glad that I have a dehydrator to make Kona treats at home, but honestly, I'd rather feed him fresh as much as possible. I'm also interested in making this gloop/glop concoction I've seen mentioned around here so often!

[liz]

I read everything. I get my grain from Rutabaga's which is a health food store. Any dried fruit of vegetable I read to make sure nothing has been added. I even found unsalted pretzels and they love pretzels.

Walmart has an on line warehouse store. It has many emergency foods. I ordered the freeze dried corn, peas and carrots. I had a tablespoon of each in with the dry grain mix that I measure out in snack bags to make the same quantity every time. I even use the dry veggies if I am out of canned or frozen.

Rambo likes the reconstituted carrots better than the fresh.
Myrtle sticks with the grain and fresh veggies.
The cockatiels love the grain and are now eating the veggies too. Fresh carrots seem too hard for them but they love the soaked ones.

[Pajarita]

I use very little dehydrated anything and, when I do, it's always naturally dried (not really dehydrated as in by a machine) and without any kinds of sulfites (this is a preservative used to maintain the soft texture and color of the fruit so, if it looks and feels good to the touch, it's not healthy for them). To give you examples of naturally dried fruits, think raisins, figs, dates, currants... they are all wrinkled and not plump at all but they still retain moisture in them. I also use stuff like unsulfured, organic, naturally dried apple chips, pineapple bits and other stuff which I I mix these into the gloop from here: http://www.barryfarm.com/dried_fruit.htm

[galeriagila]

A big Patagonian HOWDY, and a belated welcome to the Forum.