New Foods & Foraging Fun

Life has been busy...busy...busy! Moments are few and far between and downtime...well...hopefully spring will allow for more of it.

Viggo is doing exceptional! I am so fortunate for all the advice I received that got us to the point he is at right now. He's going through a light molt, his hormones are still MIA which is more than okay with me and he is eager to learn though not necessarily via clicker training.

Recently I taught him to shake a foot by tapping his toe and saying shake while holding a finger out. I also taught him to high 4 by again tapping his toe then saying high 4 and holding a finger a bit higher. I'll have to post a video. He picked up very quick and no treats required he did it all for praise. We are working on 'Big Bird' which he used to do so well at when he was younger. Now he lifts his wings for more of a wing pit tickle or similar to his morning stretch. We'll get those wings way up...just you wait.

We've tried a lot of new foods lately and gotten more adventurous. I've added more fruit back into his diet and it hasn't seemed to change his hormones thankfully. Food is fun! Especially when it can be combined with foraging!

 


Recent additions to his diet have been (and partly due to molting):

Egg (Hard boiled 1/4 of an egg fed once a week while molting)
Bird Bread (small portion once a week)
Flax Seed
Cooked yam or sweet potato mashed with seed mixed in (yummy warm dinner treat)
Kale- Daily and he's been eating it like it's going out of style! (This is pretty much a staple)

Tamarillos - Low in fat and hence calories

Low in carbohydrates and the carbohydrate present is mainly in the form of fibre

High in potassium but extremely low in sodium, which is a desirable balance for a healthy diet

Contains other trace elements important for health, in particular copper and manganese

Source of fibre

Source of Vitamin A, B6 and C. Also contains Vitamin E and Thiamine

Granadilla - Calcium, Fiber, Iron, Niacin, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sodium, Vitamin A, C and K.
The fruit has a sweet and sour flavour.

Passion fruit -
Delicious, passion fruit is rich source of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and fiber. 100 g fruit contains about 97 calories.

The fruit is a very good source of dietary fiber. 100 g fruit pulp contains 10.4 g or 27% of fiber. Good fiber in the diet helps remove cholesterol from the body. In addition dietary insoluble fiber by acting as a bulk laxative helps protect the colon mucous membrane by decreasing exposure time to toxic substances in the colon as well as binding to cancer-causing chemicals in the colon.

Passion fruit is good in vitamin C, providing about 30 mg per 100 g. Vitamin-C (ascorbic acid) is a powerful water soluble anti-oxidant. Consumption of fruits rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against flu-like infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.

The fruit contains very good levels of vitamin-A(provides about 1274 IU per 100 g), and flavonoid antioxidants such asβ-carotene and cryptoxanthin-β. Current research studies suggest that these compounds have antioxidant properties, and along with vitamin A are essential for good eye-sight.

Vitamin A is also required maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin. Consumption of natural fruits rich in vitamin-A, and flavonoids helps to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.

I have been sharing these tasty treats with my green boy and reaping the benefits. I thought I would share the key reasons why I chose to feed them.

Having tried Dragon fruit a while back and seeing Viggo devour it and enjoy every bite I decided to get adventurous. I think he appreciates it. When he was young he was very cautious about what he would and would not eat and new foods were looked upon as poisonous, screamed at and left untouched. Now as he's matured he goes in hesitantly but tries everything. If he doesn't like it I can tell, and if he likes it I know as he devours it first and leaves no trace of it's existence. The picture below very much sums up Viggo and I found it amusing so I had to of course share. The toy one really hit home...

Viggo has been keeping busy foraging and flying. I found a new website that I haven't come across before. I am very impressed with it and highly recommend it to parrot owners. Parrot Enrichment Blog I have found that for the most part animal owners are quite knowledgeable or at least always looking to learn more to better the life of their pet.

One day I will post about cage set up and foraging fun. There's still so much to share, learn and post about. Owning a parrot brings a new step every day.