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What do you use for treats?

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What do you use for treats?

Postby Sallynoobasaur » Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:33 am

I've had a rough time trying to teach Spike tricks as his favourite food he prefers to savour and ohters he just doesn't want.

What do you use as a treat for your Parrot?
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Re: What do you use for treats?

Postby Michael » Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:32 am

The key is to find what your bird really likes. They might not even know it yet that they like it so it's up to you to introduce them.

For my Senegal I use seeds or anything from parrot mix as a treat because she is on a pellet diet. Also use apples, carrots, oatmeal, nuts, or pasta. Basically anything she really likes. To make sure the food remains a "treat" for the bird, it's important to NEVER feed it except as a reward. That means never in the cage and never sneaking them a piece for no reason.
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Re: What do you use for treats?

Postby macawlover2 » Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:31 pm

What you can do is present your bird with a bowl full of all kinds of treats. Whichever one he goes for first is the one he probably enjoys the most. So, just use that treat. But, like stated above, make sure this treat is used only for training, not as part of the regular diet. You want this treat to be "special" and your bird will associate it with doing something good.

As for my grey, his training treat is little bits of Harrison's Power Treats.
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Re: What do you use for treats?

Postby parrotsaver » Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:58 pm

I've heard that one of the best treats is millet , but I don't use it for myself
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Re: What do you use for treats?

Postby Michael » Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:42 pm

That depends on what kind of parrot you have. Budgies and cockatiels loves millet. Other parrots like their own things. It also varies parrot by parrot so you have to experiment with what they like.
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Re: What do you use for treats?

Postby parrotsaver » Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:04 am

Yeah of course . I said millet because whenever I asked someone and told him/her that I have budgies he/she said that millet is good :D :budgie:
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Re: What do you use for treats?

Postby shoi2ti3 » Fri Nov 06, 2009 4:00 pm

I've found that most birds have a weakness for sprouted sunflower seeds. In fact, while working with clients in helping them train their birds, I have never met a bird that did not like sprouted sunflower seeds after they get a taste of it. If the bird never had sprouted sunflower seeds, he might not know what it is and not want to try it. You could remove the shell and give it to him so he gets a taste; once they taste it, they will be almost immediately hooked. In addition, sprouted sunflower seeds are much more nutritious than dry seeds because all of the complex (unusable) nutrients in the dry seed's dormant stage has been converted into usable nutrients for the seed to start growing into a plant. Sprouting is very easy to do and you can google it and find many articles on it.
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Re: What do you use for treats?

Postby Kathleen » Mon Nov 09, 2009 2:26 pm

Not only will the bird associate their favorite treat with doing something good, if they only get it from you (not in their cage when you are not around), they will associate you with something they really, really like. :thumbsup:
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