Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there!

I feed my birdies with a large variety of seeds, vegetables, fruits, etc.
Unfortunately, one of my budgies is a glouton and eats just too much, makes "her" male "feed" her and, worse, she is damn lazy!!

She likes to play with her toys, but she is a "biter", not a walker or flyer .
She follows the law of the minimum-effort .

Anyway, the drawback is that she's become fat! I want her to lose weight and am trying to introduce pellets in her diet, to make sure she has all the right nutrients without eating that much!

I can not make her follow a diet by putting her away from her companion, because they are so attached one to the other, that they get literally crazy (sad, anxious) when I separate them. And it worries me not as much for my fatty "lady" but for her companion, a male who is about 8 years old. He is very healthy and fit, but he lives FOR her, trust me (I have never seen a couple so "in bird love".

The point is, I can't separate them but can not cut on the food intake of the male, because he is old and extremely active: he needs to eat a lot to keep up with all the energy he uses up and with "feeding" sometimes her lazy lady! He is too old for me to risk to restrain his varied diet that seems to work so wonderfully for him.

So I've been trying to feed them both with pellets... The lady bird is not fond of pellets, and to a point it is better that way because she eats less or asks less her mate to regurgitate even some more food for her .

But the thing is... I am trying to introduce pellets in their diet, but that mischievous big birdie does not only not like pellets but takes them out of the mix of grains and fruits I give them. She literally throws them in the air and makes them land anywhere and everywhere, to get to the seeds and food items she likes.

How on earth can I make her get used to pellets and not make them fly around? I can not feed her with pellets that have already fell from the feeder and maybe dirty (but I can not pay for pellets just like that: here where I live they are super expensive).

I am making this budgie "work out" a lot more, but it's not enough. She needs a diet. And I don't know how to get her used to pellets!

Help!

Well a bird should not get "fat" from a vegetable and fruit diet so my guess is she is eating more of the grains or seeds that are being added. That being said if the male will eat the pellets then the best idea would be to offer the vegetables as usual with only pellets during certain times of the day. Do not remove the seeds or grains completely but say from 8:00 to 2:00 only have veggies and pellets in their cage (or you can make it later if you work and are gone). Then during the evening you can offer veggies with pellets and seeds or grains. Usually birds have two main eating times during the day one is earlier in the morning the other in the late afternoon to dusk. They may eat more throughout the day and night but they will do their largest intake at those two times. By only offering the pellets and veggies for at least one of those times she is forced to eat them. Then just in case she is not eating enough or the male is not eating enough the seeds and grains can be there for the later eating time but again with pellets added in.

Hope this helps your little "pudgie budgie" LOL!

Loved your advice, thanks!!!!!!!!!