One of the most common behaviors in domestic parrots is that, when they eat, they throw a lot of food out of the bowl, causing dirt in their habitat. We are not talking about food scraps, but whole foods.
Have you ever wondered why your parrot throws away food? Do you think it's because he doesn't like it or because he enjoys watching his human partner pick it up over and over again? In this article on our site we will talk about causes that explain why a parrot throws food and the possible solutions
The parrot diet
The parrot diet is a factor to which we must pay special attention, as it is essential for them to stay he althy. An incorrect and deficient diet can cause problems in the development of the animal, the appearance of diseases and even the death of your parrot, in addition, inappropriate behaviors may appear.
The correct diet is one designed in a balanced way, with a variety of foods and that takes into account the needs of the species, age and vital moment of the parrot.
We have two options to feed our parrot:
- Extruded feed: this type of feed is formulated to provide complete nutrition to our animal. In the market we can find many brands with different formats and choose the one that suits us best. For us it is a very simple way of feeding our pet, but it can be difficult for the parrot to accept it if it has not been used to it since it was a child. Even so, if we decide to give this type of food, veterinarians usually recommend giving an extra supply of fresh vegetables and fruits.
- Seeds, vegetables and fruits: if we want our pet to follow a diet that is more similar to what it would have in its natural environment, we must feed it daily with a mix of seeds, either buying the packages already made or making our own mix. Seeds account for 50% of the food ingested by the parrot on a daily basis, vegetables are 45% of the diet and fruit 2.5%. The other 2.5% will be the food supplements that we must offer our parrot on a rotating basis, such as nuts, calcium (cuttlefish bone or calcium blocks for parrots) and grit (small stones that help digestion are the seeds).
Finally, something very important to know is what foods these animals should never eat. Foods of animal origin (meat, fish, dairy products…), fried foods, sugary foods, spices or alcoholic beverages cannot be part of a parrot's diet. You will find a lot of information on this subject in the article prohibited foods for parrots also on our site.
Causes that cause the parrot to throw food
Wondering why your parrot wastes so much food? In general, we could say that parrots are somewhat "messy" when it comes to eating, but in certain cases, the amount of food discarded is high, reason enough for us to wonder why.
One of the reasons why parrots throw away their food is because search for and select the most appetizing foods for them. If we feed it with seeds and vegetables, it will discard what it does not like and will eat its favorite ingredients. If you think this is the reason why your parrot is behaving like this, one option is to change the diet to one with extrudedfeed, although it is really complicated for those animals that are not used to since childhood.
There are some fun techniques you can try to get your pet to accept and enjoy the pellets, this same technique can be used to introduce any new food. What you should do is treat the new food as a toy and introduce it in the same way that you usually do with these, you can make little rattles that attract their attention and offer it so that it tries to extract its content.
The boredom is another reason why a parrot excessively wastes its food. Parrots are animals that constantly need mental challenges and new stimuli, they have a highly developed intellect with needs that must be met in order to have good mental he alth and can be happy. We must ensure that our pet's habitat has adequate environmental enrichment.
Using toys, mirrors or practicing with them small puzzles will make our pet feel fulfilled, likewise, we will develop our relationship with him in a he althy and fun way. If you suspect that your parrot may be bored, do not hesitate to visit our article about symptoms of stress in parrots.
Another reason why they may have this behavior is the monotony of eating Always eating the same fruit or vegetable, or the same seed mix can be boring, but it's not he althy at all. In addition, it is interesting to encourage foraging behavior or search for food, hiding bits of his favorite food in his cage.
Frequent mistakes in parrot feeding
Below we will show you 4 frequent errors in parrot feeding that you should consider if your companion does not stop throwing the food:
- The bowl seems full but not. Some parrots leave the shells in the bowl, giving the feeling that it is full. We must remove these shells and change the food daily since we can fall into the error that we comment below.
- Old food. Leaving the same food for several days will make it less noticeable and the parrot will stop eating.
- "He only wants to eat seeds". A diet based solely on seeds is not correct. Despite being an extremely complicated challenge, it is vitally important to try.
- Dirt in the food bowl. As we maintain the hygiene of the cage, the feeder should always be clean, free of past food and feces.
I'm sure your experience with parrots has helped you to completely master these errors and I'm sure you know many more, don't hesitate to comment and help more peoplewith this problem.
