by Eric&Rebecca » Mon Mar 25, 2013 6:15 am
I got my cockatiel to eat fruits and veggies by making the most of his foraging instincts so hanging the from the ceiling on a stainless steel kabob or, more recently, using a feeding platform. Also hand feeding works well, if i am eating fruit i cut off some bits and leave them in mind hand and he will come down and nibble them. Although he does prefer veggies, cockatiels aren't big fruit eaters. He loves carrots, spinach, pear, asparagus, watercress, pink lady apples (skin removed) and many other veggies!
Sometimes its not the fruit or veg but the consistency. Try grating, chopping and mashing. My cockatiel will only eat carrot if it is cubed and he will only eat apple without skin. Try experimenting with that.
Pellets are a good way of getting them to eat fruits and veggies, because pellets are dry they begin to adore the juiciness of the veggies. I use TOPS pellets for my tiel and ever since we've (FINALLY!) got him on those he's really liked eating more veggies and fruits.
The other thing you can try as a treat is Lafeaber PELLET berries, NOT nutriberries. They are the same thing but instead of seeds they use pellets. They are advertised as a complete food but I wouldn't use them as that personally I use them as foraging treats. They make great treats because they have fruity chunks in (dried) and still use pellet based ingredients and they can be picked up in their feet which my tiel unusually does!
a grape once (Seedless) and he ate it, after that he didn't seem interested at all in apples, grapes and bananas etc
