not eating much?

[coral]

marty hasnt really been eating his pellets i can tell because hes a dunker and its starting to worry me he has been eating his dried fruit and nuts and whatever but not his pellets should i be worried?

[pchela]

How is the food set up? If he has the choice between eating pellets and nuts and fruit, he's going to choose the nuts and fruit. He hasn't stopped eating completely so he should be fine. If he's not going to eat his pellets, he needs to have fresh foods (veggies, sprouts etc) daily. Well, he needs those anyway but especially if he's off pellets.

[coral]

he has 3 bowls one with a mixture of pellets and dried hot peppers, 1 foraging bowl with just a little fruit and nuts, and one water dish. he gets fed an assortment of fruits and veggies everyday. but his cage has been like this since December when i got him and hes always eaten pellets :/ but actually he just dunked a pellet a minute ago so im not sure. he just hasnt seemed hungry :/

[Michael]

Maybe he's not eating much because he has sooo much food all the time? My birds are fed twice a day so when it is time to eat, the drop what they are doing and actually eat.

[coral]

he has normal eating habits though and he hasnt been doing those thats why im concerned, i leave his pellets and foraging stuff out and feed him fresh stuff once a day and leave it out a few hours for him to eat, idk im probably just being paranoid.

[pchela]

Do you have a gram scale? Best thing to do if you're concerned (and you probably are being paranoid but better safe than sorry!) is to weigh him every day. If he drops weight, time to call the avian vet. They will mask their illnesses so if you think the slightest thing is off, check it out, just to be sure!

[coral]

ill see if my grandma has one if not ill call the parrot shop or vet and have him weighed there thanks

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Most inexpensive food scales will do the trick.

[GlassOnion]

I also like the idea of designated meal times. I find my birds are more likely to try new foods/whatever I feed them because they have been waiting to eat. Change the papers to perhaps paper towels so you can easily monitor the droppings and make sure you keep an eye out on amount/frequency. Many birds can die within a matter of days from starvation.