Parrot Diet

Parrots, like humans, need a good diet to function properly. Malnutrition can cause your parrot to die sooner than he should and a lot of experts believe that malnutrion is one of the main causes of bad behaviour in parrots.

However, to determine the best diet for your parrot is not as easy as you may think, as there is currently not consensus among experts what the best diet for parrots are. Scientists need to do a lot more research before they will have an definite answer, but a good guideline is to look at the natural feeding habits of parrots in nature. In nature parrots eats mainly seeds and fruits and this should form the core of your parrot’s diet.

A lot of  parrot owners believe that a seed diet is sufficient, but nothing can be further from the truth.  Seeds are high in fat content, lacks Vitamin A and Calcium and should form only ten percent of your parrot’s diet. Vitamin A is crucial for your parrots immune system. Aslo keep in mind that the seeds you find on the shelfs are not of the same quality as the seeds in nature.

An improvement to a seed diet alone is the pellet diet. Pellets are typically made from seeds, fruit and vegetables, grains, vitamins and minerals. It should form about fifty to sixty percent of your parrot’s diet.

The pellet and seed diet should be supplemented with fresh fruits and vegetables. Parrots love all kinds of fruit especially tropical fruits like mango, kiwi, melons and  pineapples, as these are the fruits they have been exposed to in the wild. Other fruits you parrot enjoys include, apples, bananas peaches and grapes. Your parrot’s vegetables should not be cooked, as cooking destroys many of the  enzymes,  essential fatty acids and phytonutrients in raw foods.

Certain foods can be harmful to your parrot and these include chocolate, cacao, avocado, caffeine, mushrooms, apple seeds and alcohol. These foods are toxic in nature and can lead to your parrot’s death. Some parrots are also lactose intolerant, meaning their bodies cannot digest the sugars in milk. For this reason, it is best not to feed your parrot any dairy products. Also stay away from junk food.  Your parrot will develop a taste for junk food very quickly and once he is used to junk food, he will develop cravings for these unhealthy foods. He will eat the junk food first and be too full to eat the more nutrious foods. Mal-nutrition will follow quickly. Remember that parrots do not eat junk food in nature and that their digestive system has not developed to digest all the preservatives, salt and unhealthy fats.

You may discover that your parrot does not want to eat in the afternoon at all. This is normal,  as parrots eat early morning and late afternoon in nature and this is also the best times to feed your parrot.

To stay on the safe side, try to feed your parrot a wide variety of seeds, vegetable, fruits and pellets. That way you can rest assured that your parrot receives all the nutrition his body requires.