4 month old Senegal - best diet? This is what was suggested

[cledford3]

Hi,

I bring my parrot home tomorrow! I'll be going by this evening for my daily visit and to pick up the food and cage items I need to finish getting his new home ready.

I was hoping to get some advice on what exactly to feed him. He is 4 months old. Here is what I was suggested by staff at the store - although I'm not quite sure about it and was hoping for input:

set the cage up with 3 food bowl system, with a 4th bowl for water.

1st bowl - 50/50 Mixture of "Roudybush" Pellets "Zupreem" Fruitblend Flavor puffs. (These look like human "Trix" cereal"

2nd Bowl - Kaytee Forti-Diet ProHealth Seedmix (Cockatiel version - so seeds are appropriately sized for baby senegal...)

3rd bowl - fresh vegetables, fruit or treats - see what he likes and mix it up

Daily or every other day supplemental feeding of "Snack Attack Proteen Egg Food" meal (seems like a warm gruel type mush made of eggs, honey and bread - advertised for "nesting, breeding and conditioning" birds" and recommended because of the age of my bird.)

Any comment advice or input on this? Changes? Additions? Substitutions? I know I've heard some good things about Harrisons bird food, which they also carry... Also, I thought I'd read somewhere where "colored" foods (ala the Zupreem flavored puffs) were not good for parrots...

Thanks for any help!

-Calvin

[zazanomore]

It sounds like you are very prepared.

I have 4 bowls in my cages as well.

The first cage is their roudybush, the second is their premium seed mix, the third is water, and the fourth is for table scraps, fruits and vegetables.

I think it's important to give your birds as much variety as possible.

The only thing I have a problem with is the fruitblend pellets. They have a bunch of artificial colors and flavors, which really are not the best for our feathered friends.

[TheNzJessie]

what i find hard is what percentage of each food to give them. liek for seed eating birds how much of a percentage of there diety should be seed how much should be pellets how much should be fruit and how much should be veg


for jango iv done a lot a research on wild lorikeets and its worked out to be 50% nectar mix 40% fruit 7% vege and 3% sunflower seeds

but of course its different for seed eating birds i dont think they would have as high of fruit content in there diet

[michellet]

It all sounds good to me... and very close to what I feed my Green Cheek Conure....1 bowl for water, 1 for pellets, 1 for seed mix, and one for fresh/wet foods (a selection of the following : sprouted seed/grains, veggies, fruit, cooked bean mix, cooked brown rice, and a similar conditioning food to the one you mentioned). I also have a 5th bowl that is used a few times a week in which I place a few nuts and sunflower seeds. I also place a selection of vegetables on a "kabob" each day and hang it in different places around the cage, and i also use small empty boxes in which i place a couple of nuts and a toy or 2 and some shredded paper for her to forrage through. Check out the threads on "forraging" for some ideas to mentally and physically stimulate your baby.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

In any event, I'd start out with what the bird is used to, and only make any changes after he's settled in to his new home. I think what has been suggested is a fine starting point. I'd probably make a few changes, but I think almost every owner has a slightly different take on the whole nutrition thing, so you may want to consult with your avian vet to see what his or her advice is. Here, you'll get plenty of different suggestions, I expect!

For a Senegal that eats pellets, I might relegate the seeds to treat status after a while. Some folks hate the colored ZuPreem, others think it is fine and birds do tend to like it. For my GCC, if I gave him a pellet dish and a seed dish, he would never eat any pellets, so I make a mix and hope he eats at least some of them, so I tend to use three-dish system: dry mix (pellets and other shelf-stable things, I mix it up myself from purchased items), "wet" dish (fruit and veggie in the AM, sprouts in the PM) and water.