What should I feed my new budgie?

[misslinda]

I am new here, and a new budgie owner. I purchased "Kiwi" last Saturday evening at Petsmart. I had no idea what kind of food was best, but after trying to read several labels, I purchased Kaytee's "Forti-diet Egg-cite". I of course, want to feed him the best diet I can. So far he has refused to eat any of the fruits and the one veggie I have offered him. My question is about pellets. Are they better for a Budgie, than the seed mixes? Are they LESS messy? Why are some people converting their Budgies to the pellets? If they are better, which brand it best? If they are not, which is the best brand and seed mix to feed my new baby? .....He still has the bars down to his cere. Thanks Linda

[HEATHEsaurusREX]

Ok so... the pellets thing is a loaded question. Nutritionally yes they are far better then feeding your budgie a seed only diet. However they're also... how should I say it... Boring. Imagine eating white bread the rest of your life cuz it had all the right nutrients in it. No fun right. That being said, I feed my birds a mixture of seeds, pellets, and dried fruits as veggies as well as trying to get them to eat fresh veggies. Most parakeets bought at large pet stores as opposed to breeders dont eat fruit or veggies because they've never had them offered before and dont know what they are, you ahve to trian your budgie to eat them. A few ideas are eating a peice of carrot as loudly and happily as you can, you know crunch away and MMMM and YUUUMMM so it looks fun and when your budgie looks interested offer her a bite if she backs off then back off and continue to munch happily. Some people hang wet greens in the cage because the budgies will bath in them AND eat them at the same time. However given the fact that your budgie is most likely not finger trained yet, you may want to work on that as well sa bonding before lovingly shoving a carrot in her face :)
I honestly swear by my budgies mixture for food, They get nutrients when they 'accidentally' chomp on a pellet but still have to do the work to open their seeds (a huge part of a budgies day in the wild is finding and opening seeds, if you take that away they have a lot less to do) and the seeds are tasty. or well... they like em.
If you do decide to switch your budgie to an all pellet diet I cant tell you which are best, I buy my food already mixed at a large bird store in Burlington NJ called Bird Paradise. The one time I bought food from another store (I wasnt home wiht my parents) I bought Kaytee Fiesta and they loved it. SO I spose kaytees a good brand. To switch start putting a few pellets in your budgies seed then slowly but surely add more and more untill your all pellet no seed. So like... 1/4 pellet 3/4 seed then half and half then 1/4 seed 3/4 pellets. Make sure throught the whole thing that your budgie is eating. If you think they arent go back a step (add a bit more seed) until they get used to the idea of pellets and then begin moving forward again.
I hope that was helpful :)
I'd love to see photos of your baby :)

[misslinda]

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question so throughly. The way you explained it, made so much sense... I plan to go along with your advise. I bought a bag of Kaytee Exact Rainbow, and added a very small amount to his Forti-deit Egg-cite seed mix this morning. I have been trying to get "Kiwi" to eat some raw fruit to no avail, but last evening he did eat and seemed to enjoy some red leaf lettace, and this morning he tried a little brocolli...I'm so proud!
This is Kiwi's 5th day with me, and I was able to get him to sit on my finger, inside his cage for about 5 to 10 minutes this AM...until the phone rang and I had to get him back onto the perch.
Again, Thank you so much. If I did my signature correctly, you'll be able to see my little baby Kiwi...Linda

[Budgiekin]

I too have a budgie named Kiwi! Nice choice of name!

I also provide a variety of foods for my budgies; pellets, some seed, fresh veggies, a little bit of fruit on occasion and the rare treat of millet....The key to introducing new foods is patience. Even if your budgie doesn't touch the food, keep offering it daily. Persistence, persistence, persistence!

There are some tricks you can try to get Kiwi to eat pellets. One is to try crushing them and sprinkling them on the seeds. That way, he gets exposure to them and may acquire the taste for them.

[Ruta<3]

When offering fruits and veggies dont give millet or seed in the cage. It says to them why eat this weird junk if I can have REAL food!

[Budgiekin]

In the beginning, you will want to make sure you don't just offer them only unfamiliar foods like the pellets and veggies; Budgies may starve to death if they are reluctant enough eaters and won't try new foods. Try starting out by introducing pellets mixed in with their seeds (you can use a 50/50 mix). Then you can gradually reduce the number of seeds over a period of several weeks, or even months (depending on how quickly your budgie develops a taste for the pellets). Remember the idea is not to eliminate seeds completely from the diet, but to limit it to a couple teaspoons per day. It will take time so monitor your budgie to make sure he is eating enough.

One thing you may wish to try is to keep the seeds out of the cage for the morning and only offer the pellets and veggies. After a couple of hours, put the seeds back in (while still leaving in the pellets and veggies). The idea here is that budgies are hungriest in the morning and will be more likely to try whatever foods are given to them. When you notice your budgie eating more and more of the pellets, you can delay offering the seeds until later in the day.