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Post by banditsmum on Apr 14, 2014 15:08:45 GMT 10
Hi My name is cheryl and i am new here and i am a first time mum of Bandit my galah. Bandit is 4 months old and been with us for just over a week now. He has only been feed seed so at the moment i am currently trying to get him off seed and on to pellets and fruits and veggies. I am a bit concerned that he will loose to much weight ive been weighing him every morning for the last week and he is hovering around 270grams to 272grams. I would really like to see him start putting on more weight or am i just being a worrying first time galah mummy. Thanks Cheryl aka banditsmum this pic was taken 2 days ago sorry its blurry
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Post by avinet on Apr 15, 2014 9:39:21 GMT 10
Hi My name is cheryl and i am new here and i am a first time mum of Bandit my galah. Bandit is 4 months old and been with us for just over a week now. He has only been feed seed so at the moment i am currently trying to get him off seed and on to pellets and fruits and veggies. I am a bit concerned that he will loose to much weight ive been weighing him every morning for the last week and he is hovering around 270grams to 272grams. I would really like to see him start putting on more weight or am i just being a worrying first time galah mummy. Thanks Hi Cheryl and welcome to the Forum Galahs are great birds, incredibly entertaining guys that love to play. It is good that you are converting him to pellets - galahs are very prone to get fat with all the problems that leads to if fed a seed based diet, so pellets and fresh food will result in a much healthier bird. Bandit looks fine in the photo and his weight is reasonable for a young bird. Is he eating some of the pellets or is he still mainly eating seed? And which pellet are you trying him on? I have always found that using small pellets - close to the seed in size, makes it easier to convert a bird. Many owners make the mistake of thinking a big bird needs big pellets - big pellets mean big waste as a lot of it ends up on the floor of the cage, and makes it harder for a bird to associate it as food initially. My preferred pellet is Roudybush and my African Greys (bigger than a Galah) are currently getting the smallest size- crumbles. I also have found that, once I have a small pellet, that sprinkling some pellets over the top of the seed - just enough to cover the seed - means that the bird will move the pellets to get to the seed and in the process realize that those pellets taste OK and are worth eating. Once the bird is eating some pellets then the seed can usually be removed and the bird will eat pellets rather than starve. Getting a bird to start eating vegetables is normally a matter of presenting the food eavery day and eventually the natural curiosity a Galah has will cause it to start investigating and eating. cheers, Mike
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Post by banditsmum on Apr 15, 2014 11:40:41 GMT 10
Hi Mike Thanks Bandit is still eating seed but i have been using vetafarm pellets and mixing it with the seed and water to make what i call his seedypell biccy LOL. I'm not finding much of it on the cage floor. The fruit and veggies and sprouts on the other hand he hasn't touched but i am putting a fresh bowl in each day at the bottom of his cage, so hopefully he will try it at some stage.
Thanks Cheryl
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Post by avinet on Apr 15, 2014 21:46:09 GMT 10
Hi Mike Thanks Bandit is still eating seed but i have been using vetafarm pellets and mixing it with the seed and water to make what i call his seedypell biccy LOL. I'm not finding much of it on the cage floor. The fruit and veggies and sprouts on the other hand he hasn't touched but i am putting a fresh bowl in each day at the bottom of his cage, so hopefully he will try it at some stage. Thanks Cheryl Hi Cheryl Try putting a dish or fresh food next to his seed/pellet dish - he is more likely to try it then. And maybe in a few days give him a dish of just pellets for the day to see if he is eating any yet. cheers, Mike
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Post by banditsmum on Apr 16, 2014 10:39:31 GMT 10
Hi Mike Thanks for the tip on how to get him onto the fresh fruit and veggies. This morning i put the sprouts and veggie and some fruit into his seed/pellet mix and he seems to be enjoying that.He also had his first shower today. I have been spraying him with a water bottle but today he decided that he would follow me into the shower hahahaha i think he got a suprize when he realised that it was alot more water than the sprayer. How often should i give him his bath time/shower time.
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Post by avinet on Apr 17, 2014 11:56:53 GMT 10
How often should i give him his bath time/shower time. As often as he wants to have one - daily won't do any harm and most Galahs love to have a shower or spray. I would suggest though that if it is cold he doesn't get too wet - just a light spray rather than a shower. cheers, Mike
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Post by banditsmum on Apr 18, 2014 9:24:14 GMT 10
Hi Mike Thanks for the great info Im trying him on only pellets today. cheryl
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