Fruits and Veggies

It's important for birds as well as some reptiles to eat veggies.

The bought mixture of seeds for birds isn't enough for a healthy, balanced diet. In my experience, I have found it difficult to encourage birds to eat vegetables and fruit. I have had experience with both budgies and love birds.

Currently, Jelly Bean, the love bird, will eat veggies and fruit but she doesn't always want to. Sometimes it sits in her cage for awhile before she touches it. At first, she wouldn't go near any vegetables or fruit that I placed in her cage. But I was consistent and she started to peck a bit at the veggies and gradually she began to eat them as soon as they were put into her cage. New fruits and veggies are still difficult for her and she takes awhile to try it.

There are some tricks that can be done to get birds to enjoy eating fruits and vegetables. I have heard about eating with the birds, as they are social and usually tend to eat socially with other birds. However, when I tried this with Jelly Bean she acted scared of the food and would back away or fly away. She still doesn't like to eat anything if she is outside of her cage. I have also heard that broccoli can be a good food to introduce vegetables because the tops can look like seeds. This didn't work for Jelly Bean either. The same goes for the budgies that I have had. It was very difficult to ge them to even try the food. One day when I put the food in the cage, they just decided to give it a taste and now they enjoy their veggies and fruit, but it has taken a long time.

When it comes to reptiles, the only veggie eating reptile that I have had experience with is my red eared slider turtle. I feed him mostly King worms and turtle pellets. But I try to feed him veggies. The only way that I have been successful with him eating vegetables is when I have mashed up the vegetables and frozen them. I then break them up into very small pieces (they resemble his pellets). When he sees these floating at the top of his water, he will take a bite.

What experiences have you had with feeding birds or reptiles fruits and vegetables? What has encouraged them to eat and try new foods?