Brands and Suppliers?

[amandae]

Super Excited! I get to pick up my babies Benji n Skyla this Saturday....Yay!!! ;D ;D

I'm having a little problem with choosing a brand of Seed and Pellets to feed my Lovies..

Would anybody know a good brand/product i can use n get in the south-west Sydney area easily?

The breeder will be giving me some of the weaning mix for them as comfort food and has been weaning them on Trill lovebird mix. When I look for it all i can find is the small parrot one..is this the one I'm not to sure on this product idk......

I have read heaps of posts on here regarding diet n would like them on a mixed diet of fresh food, pellets n seed..

What do u use/recommend?
Any help would be grateful... Thanks

[avinet]

That's great - only 4 sleeps to go

Small Parrot and Lovebird mixes are essentially identical. In the supermarkets the best quality seed mix is the Bird Munchies brand - get their cockatiel mix for use with lovebirds. When I used to have my pet shop I regularly did sprouting tests on different brands and Bird Munchies always had fresher seed than either Trill or Golden Cob, while the no-name brands were usually terrible. Basically the fresher the seed the greater the percentage that will sprout.

Whether it is called cockatiel, lovebird or small parrot mix doesn't really matter - it should look like a budgie mix with some added sunflower and safflower seeds. A good mix will not have sorghum - a smallish round red seed which the birds do not eat but which gets added to mixes because it is heavy and very cheap - hence providing greater profit to the manufacturer.

For pellets I always have thought Roudybush is the best quality - but only a few pet shops will sell it. If you can find it the mini size is the best size for Lovebirds. More likely you will only find Vetafarm pellets - their maintenance pellets are OK, not great but OK. Some shops will sell Hagen pellets which is a good brand nutritionally but I can't stand the smell and neither did my birds when I tried it. Kaytee and Pretty Bird are also good brands but hard to find.

cheers,

Mike

[twr]

Mike, you don't like the smell of the Hagen Tropican pellet? I love the fresh herb smell and Tinga took to them straight away. He absolutely loves them. I buy mine through

www.parrotrescuecentre.com/ubg/shop_home.php

I like that the profits go to parrot rescue.

[avinet]

Jul 6, 2011 0:11:45 GMT 10 twr said:

Mike, you don't like the smell of the Hagen Tropimix pellet? I love the fresh herb smell and Tinga took to them straight away.

Smells a bit like turps to me - but I have never especially been into herbs - although I don't have a choice when wife or daughter are cooking, maybe that is why I do most of the cooking

cheers,

Mike

[amandae]

Is the Hagen Tropimix pellets not available anymore one the PRC website or am I just not seeing it? And is this ok to give my lovebirds as part of a mixed diet?

[twr]

It's just me using the wrong word. Doing that a lot lately. It's Hagen Tropican Pellets. PRC just refer to it as Tropican pellets. I think they buy in bulk and repackage. I bought a much larger size than I need, I think because it was all they had. You can freeze it (I split it amongst several Chinese takeaway type containers). If freezes loose and stays loose.

The link takes you to the pellet page, not actually to the Tropican pellets. You have to scroll down the page. I'm fairly certain I bought the Tropican Cockateil pellet. Zarita from PRC is very helpful so you could email or call her to ask which size is appropriate. She always gets back to me quite quickly.

www.parrotrescuecentre.com/ubg/shop_sub_prod.php?subcat=14&cat=4&subcat_name=Pellets

There is Hagen Tropimix, which is a nut, seed, dried fruit mix. That was where my confusion came from. I don't use Tropimix, but I got mixed up because Tinga's old owner fed him Tropimix and I was given a bag of Tropimix when I got Tinga. Sorry about that.

[amandae]

Thanks

We all get our words mixed up sometime so all is good..

I love The PRC site.. I just got a clicker training pack n Skyla has learnt "up" in a few sessions, I'm so proud of her ;D

Benji doesn't seem to want much to do with me unless i have his buddy with me... Training him is going to b hard lol..

I am waiting to hear back from a Roudybush supplier and if I can not get that ill be buying some of the Hagens.

Thanks again

[avinet]

Jul 27, 2011 15:48:21 GMT 10 amandae said:

..

I am waiting to hear back from a Roudybush supplier and if I can not get that ill be buying some of the Hagens.

Thanks again

if you are able to get Roudybush (and it is the best) be sure to get the mini size pellets for lovebirds

cheers,

Mike