Won't eat veggies?

[Fallen_Parakeet]

My parakeet, Pete, won't eat veggies. I keep putting veggies and fruits in his cage but he never eats them. Today I put some grated apple,carrot, cucumber, and some kale in his bowl with seeds but he only eats the seeds! He is still young so I want to find something he likes before he's an adult. Any ideas?

[Michael]

Budgerigars are insanely picky. They seldom eat anything besides their seeds. You can just keep trying. They are less likely to learn by modeling or social learning so not too much point in doing that (though it works wonders with the bigger parrots). One thing we did when Duke was around was mix the veggies with the seeds so that the seeds stick to them. That way at the very least they have to see the veggies and get by them to eat the seeds. Inevitably they'll at least taste it.

[zazanomore]

Try some dried vegetables. My budgies (and cockatiel) took to them right away.

[Fallen_Parakeet]

Oh okay thanks for the advice! This morning I made a cut up a bunch of vegetables and sprinkled seeds over them, he only ate the seeds off the top of them.

[Zoom]

Here's a trick I learned from a bird book. Spread a little peanut butter on the food you want him to try. Just a very thin layer. Then press some seeds into the peanut butter. He'll go for the seeds, get a little taste of peanut butter, and if he likes that, he'll dig a little deeper and sample the veggies. If you're lucky. I've never tried it with a budgie, but it worked on lovebirds.

[TheNzJessie]

my budgie went straight for spinach/silverbeat or any leafy green vegetable clipped to the side of his cage

[Fallen_Parakeet]

Okay thanks for the ideas