My parakeets won't eat fruits and veggies. How can I get them to?

Thanks for reaching out about Sophie. Vegetables are more important than fruit. Try limiting the seed offered so that the food bowl will be empty a few hours after offered. Ensure a second bowl with vegetables and other offerings is within reach at all times. More seed can then be offered later in the day. If a bird is bonded to your and sees you eating something, then offer it to them. Good luck.

The best thing you can do in this situation is to keep trying! Continued offering of various fruits and veggies will eventually spark the curiosity of your birds, and get them to try it out. If they don't like one fruit or veggie, try again at a later time, or try again with a different item. Making it interesting by hanging it up, adding it to a toy, etc can also spark curiosity and exploration and make them more interested in trying it out.

Thanks for reaching out about your lovebirds. Seed is not a complete diet lacking vitamins and minerals and many proteins. Fruit is little better. Birds need to eat a wide variety of vegetables. Seed might have to be rationed. Wait for birds to fledge prior to drastic changes. If the birds observe you eating they might be more likely to try it. Good luck.

If at first you don't succeed, try try again! Patience and retrying are your best bets. Birds can be picky eaters, and sometimes it takes several introductions of the same thing over and over before they decide to try (and like) it! You may want to try introducing those treats again at different intervals or times of day to see if they eventually start to check it out. In some cases, a bird may never be interested in it, especially if they weren't exposed to it when they were younger, and as long as they have a balanced diet otherwise, that is OK- toys or attention can work great for enrichment as well!

Carrots are a great source of nutrition for these parrots, but they may not be appealing for a couple of different reasons: 1) They don't recognize it as food. 2) They are not interested in eating carrots, because they have tastier food available or are full. You can possibly get them interested in eating the carrots by eating some in front of them. Often, they get interested in the food you're eating and want some. If these birds have seeds or other high-fat food available, then they will eat this rather than the vegetables. Just like people would prefer a bag of crisps rather than a bag of carrots; these birds prefer to eat fruits and seeds rather than vegetables. Try offering the carrots at a time when they haven't had food available for a couple of hours. Take a bite and pretend it's really tasty. This might get them to eat the carrots, but I wouldn't expect them to eat that much.

If Mithu is refusing to eat at all I would be concerned that he is ill. It would be best to bring him to a local vet for an exam to rule out issues such as illness, infection, parasites, nutritional issues, etc that could be causing him to feel ill and not want to eat. If he checks out healthy and just doesn't like his food, a balanced seed and pellet diet is a good base diet that provides plenty of nutrients. You can then add in fruits and veggies as treats to help add some variety and balance things out. Visit the Petco website for some [parakeet foods](https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/category/bird/bird-food-and-treats#facet:43057809711497107101101116&productBeginIndex:0&orderBy:&pageView:grid&minPrice:&maxPrice:&pageSize:&) we offer so you can get a feel for what to feed.

The best thing you can do is to keep offering them. If they won't take it from your hand, start by just placing the treats in a cup in your budgie's cage so that they can try it out on their own terms. If they enjoy the food, you can offer it to them every time you come by, but without giving it by hand. Once they are comfortable eating with you just observing and staying near, you can then work up to offering it by hand and then interacting with them more closely. If they become stressed out, or don't want to try the item, give them some time to relax and settle down before trying again.