Lazy, Stubborn Budgie

[solodude101]

I own a parakeet and his name is Budgie, I have owned him for just under a year. Budgie was on a seed diet when I first got him and I have been trying to add in some vegetables and fruits to his diet and eventually switch over to pellets with fruits and vegetables on top of that. Budgie has only tried a few of the fresh food that I have attempted to feed him, and I leave the food in his cage for a couple hours to see if he will try it more but he doesn't. Another concern is that Budgie never plays with his toys and is what I call a "Perch Potato", I have been feeding Budgie mostly from foraging techniques so he will move a little bit through the day. I have a variety of toys including swings, bells, balls, foraging toys, rope perches, natural perches, and a basketball game which I sometimes use a foraging toy. I switch around the toys and perches in his cage regularly and I make sure it is not too crowded to move between the toys. I take Budgie out almost everyday for at least 2 hours but he tries to fly back to his cage several times every session. I can't properly trick train him because he is in his cage but I have managed to target train him with him touching a chop stick and I give him a treat with the aid of a clicker. Budgie is just under a year and a half years old and I know that I shouldn't expect too much from a parakeet but they are very intelligent and learn from everything. Budgie is also hand tamed and allows other people to handle him. Any advice would help, thanks.

[pennyandrocky]

have you tried eating the fresh food with him? that usually makes mine at least try something new.

[solodude101]

I have tried this and I even made it sound like it tasted extremely good, but he didn't fall for it.

[Pralina]

With fruits and veggies you gotta be more persistent than him.
Carrots are one of the best ones you can offer, so stick to carrots and every day give him a piece. Try offering it in different ways: grated, mashed, a big chunk pinned on the side of his cage.... until he tries it.

As for the pellets, if he doesn't know what they are obviously he won't eat them. Mix them in with his seeds, so put in gradually less seeds and more pellets in his bowl....