Can't get my Sun to eat fresh food! D:

[Cuervo's mama]

I have zupreem pellets and he eats those well enough. And he loves almonds and his papaya bits but I can't get him to eat anything else. I've offered pasta, steamed broccoli, cooked carrots, green beans and even scrambled eggs. He ignored his dish completely and once I have to remove it I offer the pellets again and he goes to town. Should I be worried that he's not eating fresh foods or is he fine with the pellets? I know they're usually not picky birds but I can't even get him to eat Strawberries or bananas.

[Wolf]

Surprise, surprise, surprise ! I guess you just never know as despite the generalization of not being picky eaters they are still individuals after all. You will have to ask someone other than me about your chosen brand of pellets as I just don't use them. But the best way to get them to try out any new food is to share the food with them and making a huge fuss over how good it is. Even then it may take several times to get them to try it. once they try it they may not like it or they may just not like the way that it is prepared. so you may have to try it cut into larger pieces, or smaller pieces or shredded or cooked or ... well you get the picture. And then you may have to try it several times, especially when they say that they don't like it.
Beyond this patience and persistence are your best allies when it comes to getting the to try new foods. You may have to get really creative when doing this project.

[Pajarita]

You have to keep on trying, it takes a long time to get them to eat a good diet. You need to stop free-feeding pellets because, as long as you free-feed the high protein food, you will never get him to eat a large range of produce (also because conures are mostly fruit eaters in the wild and a high protein diet will damage their livers and kidneys in the long run). Offer the fresh food in the am and leave it there (you'd do better if you add some whole grains cooked al dente mixed with the cooked veggies) but you also have to figure out how he likes each food prepared: is it cooked or raw? is it in chunks, grated, julienned, sliced, etc? Tucked between the bars, put in a bowl, on a skewer, etc? My birds like very lightly steamed broccoli (still quite hard to chew) but they also like it raw. And they all eat cooked and diced carrots but, when it comes to raw, some like it coarsely grated, some in slices and some in sticks tucked between the bars of the cages. He won't eat it the first two days or so but he will and he won't starve as long as you give him a good dinner in the evening. But, at his age, he also needs a couple of soft foods in his cage. Babies love soft food and the good thing about them is that you can add baby jar food to it and start them on a good diet without them even noticing!

Your best bet is taking out the dinner protein food out after he goes to sleep with the sunset and eating fresh produce with him in the morning (yes, I know it's not what we would prefer to eat for breakfast but it's the best method to teach them because they always want what we are eating).

[Cuervo's mama]

UPDATE: So I tried crushing up a small amount of the pellets and mixing it in with his fresh food. He gobbled down the fruit and then the rice later. Now I don't even have to mix the pellets in! He's trying a lot now and while he's not fond of strawberries (I think this pack was too tart) he'll eat nectarine and banana, kix cereal and he likes dry, white popcorn. I'm picking up more stuff for him at the store today. Hopefully he loves peppers and oranges as much as the store birds do.

[Wolf]

The kix cereal is not good for him,and neither are any of the other ones, They are full of sugar and loaded with chemicals and preservatives. I don't put them in my body much less a birds, especially as they are not equipped to deal with these things.

[Pajarita]

Human cereals are also loaded with iron because they are meant for human consumption and our dietary needs require it but birds don't so it ends up destroying their livers (where it's stored).