What veggie could my budgie eat? (limited options)

[David]

Hi everyone.

So, I have a 2 to 3 month-ish baby budgie that I was able to "save" from a pet store. I'm saying "save" 'cause the pet stores here on our town are known for selling sickly budgies. I saw this little critter all happy and healthy, so I decided to buy him to save him from ending up being sick and all.. and of course because he's just so adorable. Named him Pepper! ;D

Anyways, turns out, he's not that healthy though, 'cause in another thread I started (which included pictures of Pepper for sexing and stuff), a lot of the members said that Pepper may have a mild case of PBFD or french moult. Okay, that doesn't bother me a lot. Having a runner budgie would be okay for me. So anyway...

Getting on to the issue, I want my budgie to eat veggies. I started giving him 'bok choy' or what some people call 'chinese cabbage'. It's a very popular leafy veggie given to budgies here in our country. But I want my budgie to eat a variety of veggies. The problem is, I don't know which of these are safe. Here is a list of what we have available in our town:

Bok Choy (chinese cabbage)
Water Spinach
Horseradish (moringa oleifera)
Sweet Potato
Carrots
String Beans
Eggplant
Balsam Apple (ampalaya)
Garlic
Onions
Tomatoes
Lime
Lettuce
Cabbage
Mung Beans (sprouted)
Okra
Celery
Onion Leeks
Peas
Sweet Corn (kernels)
Potato
Cucumber

These are the one off the top of my head. I'd still have to remember others, but I will include them later on. I've already read about some of these not being safe for budgies, but I'd just ask for your opinion about these, if which are safe and not safe to give to my Pepper. Thank you guys.

Oh, and by the way, I was on my way to the market this afternoon to buy some bok choy (which my budgie loves) and they ran out. I then settled with moringa (horseradish) and wondered if these were safe for them. Moringa's known to be very VERY nutritional to humans and even pets such as canines and felines, but I was wondering if they were okay for birds, since that's all I've got right now.

David
Philippines

[stace]

Bok Choy (chinese cabbage)
really good choice vege

Water Spinach
Not sure about this.

Horseradish (moringa oleifera)
Not sure about this one either.

Sweet Potato
Good choice. Can be fed raw, unlike normal potato which must be cooked.

Carrots
really good vege

String Beans
Eggplant
Balsam Apple (ampalaya)
No to these ones, but I don't know what balsam apple is.

Garlic
Can feed a little, don't go overboard

Onions
No

Tomatoes
Lime
Can feed, but may not like them

Lettuce
Normal iceberg has little goodness. Dark red leaf lettuces are okay, in moderation. Lettuce is so much water, can givee them diarrhea.

Cabbage
Mung Beans (sprouted)
Okra
Not sure about these. I hear cabbage is no good, so I don;t use. Okra may be okay, you'll have to check further. Mung bean sprouts may be okay also, just check further.

Celery

Yes

Onion Leeks
I don't think so.

Peas
Sweet Corn (kernels)
Potato
Cucumber
All okay, but potato must be cooked, not raw. Sweetcorn is usually popular.

Make sure you wash everything before feeding. The water used in markets is often not good.

[David]

Jun 3, 2012 22:22:36 GMT stace said:

Bok Choy (chinese cabbage)
really good choice vege

Water Spinach
Not sure about this.

Horseradish (moringa oleifera)
Not sure about this one either.

Sweet Potato
Good choice. Can be fed raw, unlike normal potato which must be cooked.

Carrots
really good vege

String Beans
Eggplant
Balsam Apple (ampalaya)
No to these ones, but I don't know what balsam apple is.

Garlic
Can feed a little, don't go overboard

Onions
No

Tomatoes
Lime
Can feed, but may not like them

Lettuce
Normal iceberg has little goodness. Dark red leaf lettuces are okay, in moderation. Lettuce is so much water, can givee them diarrhea.

Cabbage
Mung Beans (sprouted)
Okra
Not sure about these. I hear cabbage is no good, so I don;t use. Okra may be okay, you'll have to check further. Mung bean sprouts may be okay also, just check further.

Celery

Yes

Onion Leeks
I don't think so.

Peas
Sweet Corn (kernels)
Potato
Cucumber
All okay, but potato must be cooked, not raw. Sweetcorn is usually popular.

Make sure you wash everything before feeding. The water used in markets is often not good.

Wow! Thank you for this detailed reply. Just exactly what I needed. For those you were not sure of, hope someone comes along who knows something about them.

Yeah, I guess some of these are not popular in other countries that's why. The water spinach and bok choy are really popular here. As well as the horseradish or what they call moringa. The water spinach is really called 'kangkong' in our country. I just did a google translate on it and google said water spinach. As well as the horseradish, which in our country is 'malunggay'.

So, I was wondering about the tomatoes though. Tomatoes are very cheap here and can be bought almost anywhere, but how do I serve them to my budgie? Slice it up? Leave the seeds on? Remove them?

Oh, and I've searched about moringa's health benefits and stuff, and a lot of sites said that not only is moringa healthy for humans, but also for pets. Most especially for nursing ones. And all I've read about them is that the only toxic part is the root. But I don't plan on feeding the root anyway. So I'm guessing the leaves will be fine. That's all I was able to buy yesterday, and I just hung a big piece on my budgie's cage. He seemed to love it.

[stace]

Slice the tomato. They can eat it all, although most don't like it for some reason. Mine will have a tiny nibble every now and then, so you never know. Sometimes things they don't touch at first, they will eat later.

Any of those chinese choy type leafy greens are good. Bok Choy, Pak Choy etc. With the leafy greens, if you wet them thoroughly and hang them up, or even lie them flat outside the cage with the water trapped in the leaves, they often like to wash against them. It's their natural way of having a bath.

[stace]

Just looked up a reference I trust, and Okra is okay.

You can also give them fresh herbs, like coriander (cilantro), and basil. Also bell peppers, and chilli peppers, mango, and melon. Apple, but not the seeds (toxic as the seeds contain a natural pesticide, I think arsenic??).

Definitely NOT avocado, chocolate, onion - these are poisonous to them.

Marianne has a thread somewhere called "Interesting things I feed my budgies." Worth a look.

[Marianne Marlow]

Here is the thread: budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=budgiefeeding&action=display&thread=2222

I would guess that Okra is like courgette (zucchini) and safe.

Stace gave a great reply. I do not know about the other veggies either!

[David]

Jun 4, 2012 7:42:13 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

Here is the thread: budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=budgiefeeding&action=display&thread=2222

I would guess that Okra is like courgette (zucchini) and safe.

Stace gave a great reply. I do not know about the other veggies either!

Okay, I'll try giving them okra next time. I have hamsters too, and I also feed them other stuff than their usual seeds. But I was wondering if I could also share their treats with my budgie. My hamsters love okra and other greens, so I just wanted to be on the safe side.

Oh, and by the way, YOUR THREAD IS AWESOME! (had to type it in all caps cause that's just how awesome it is!) ;D The food you prepare for your budgies looked so tasty, I WISHED I was one of your budgies!!! Haha. ;D Very nice thread. Am reading it now. Gonna bookmark it too and try to copy some of your recipes if that's okay with you. My only problem is the quantity. Good for you that you got lots of budgies to finish all of the food, while I only got one. So my budgie would just have to share with my hamsters and rats. ;D

[David]

Jun 4, 2012 3:47:14 GMT stace said:

Just looked up a reference I trust, and Okra is okay.

You can also give them fresh herbs, like coriander (cilantro), and basil. Also bell peppers, and chilli peppers, mango, and melon. Apple, but not the seeds (toxic as the seeds contain a natural pesticide, I think arsenic??).

Definitely NOT avocado, chocolate, onion - these are poisonous to them.

Marianne has a thread somewhere called "Interesting things I feed my budgies." Worth a look.

If you wouldn't mind, could I ask for the reference? Or is it a person? I'm anxious to do some reading too as well.

Hmmm. Chili peppers, eh? Like those small, red ones that are really hot? We got them growing in our yard, but I don't know if budgies can take them. I mean, they're REALLY hot! Haha.

[David]

Jun 4, 2012 3:34:27 GMT stace said:

Slice the tomato. They can eat it all, although most don't like it for some reason. Mine will have a tiny nibble every now and then, so you never know. Sometimes things they don't touch at first, they will eat later.

Any of those chinese choy type leafy greens are good. Bok Choy, Pak Choy etc. With the leafy greens, if you wet them thoroughly and hang them up, or even lie them flat outside the cage with the water trapped in the leaves, they often like to wash against them. It's their natural way of having a bath.

I've read somewhere that tomatoes can make their poo very runny 'cause of the water content? Is this true? If it is, it's different from having diarrhea, isn't it? This is somewhat true with my hamsters. I give my hamsters small nibbles of tomato every now and then but not too much though. It might get their poo runny or may even cause wet tail or diarrhea. Will this happen with budgies?

Re the leafy greens, I've also read somewhere that dark green leafy veggies are all good for budgies. The darker the shade of green, the better. The lighter, the less nutrients. Hence, iceberg lettuce is not recommended, not because it causes diarrhea, but it makes their poo very runny with all of the water content. And besides this, iceberg lettuce contains very little nutrients. So it's just a waste of space in their stomach, but it's not technically harmful or poisonous though. Do you think this is true? That dark green leafy veggies are generally good for them? 'Cause if it is, then wow! Wet markets here are packed with green leafy veggies at very cheap prices, whilst other veggies may cost more, so buying the dark green leafy ones would be better.

[Hezz]

That is so, David, regarding leafy greens. But make sure you wash the veggies very well, with clean water. As for iceberg lettuce, just a waste of space rather than dangerous, yes. Such a high water content and low nutrients - the bird is much better off having anything else unless you are looking to clean out it's bowels for some reason.
There is another link here with basic household veggies:

budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=budgiefeeding&action=display&thread=509

I wouldn't feed chillis to a bird. I feel you would just be going looking for trouble.

Something not mentioned so far, but loved by mine, are seeding grasses, as in the link above.

[stace]

Chilli peppers are fine, Hezz. I feed them all the time. They don't have the same hot receptors in their taste buds as us, so it doesn't taste hot to them.

[David]

Jun 5, 2012 4:40:00 GMT stace said:

Chilli peppers are fine, Hezz. I feed them all the time. They don't have the same hot receptors in their taste buds as us, so it doesn't taste hot to them.

Okay, this is good news, 'cause we have lots of chili peppers here. You can buy them at a very very cheap price. Is it okay to be fed occasionally, like every day? Or just every other day or once in a while?

[David]

Jun 5, 2012 1:52:44 GMT Hezz said:

That is so, David, regarding leafy greens. But make sure you wash the veggies very well, with clean water. As for iceberg lettuce, just a waste of space rather than dangerous, yes. Such a high water content and low nutrients - the bird is much better off having anything else unless you are looking to clean out it's bowels for some reason.
There is another link here with basic household veggies:

budgerigarsforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=budgiefeeding&action=display&thread=509

I wouldn't feed chillis to a bird. I feel you would just be going looking for trouble.

Something not mentioned so far, but loved by mine, are seeding grasses, as in the link above.

Thank you for the link. That was really helpful! Super! I was ecstatic on reading that most Asian greens are safe for budgies. Being in an asian country, we mostly have asian greens here, so this is very good news.

Re the seeding grasses, I don't know anything about them so I think it's better for me to just stick with the veggies.

[stace]

I try to feed everything in sort of rotation, usually but not always two or three different things at a time - something red, something green, something yellow. Different coloured foods usually means it contains different vitamins and minerals, so you know you are roughly giving them a good spread of goodness.

They don't eat much, so for one budgie for instance, you only need to give them a thin round slice of carrot and a bok choy leaf, maybe a slice of apple, pegged to the cage side perhaps. Next day he'll get a slice of raw corn and a sprig of basil. You might want to chop a wider range of veges really tiny, and make a sort of mini salad.

I just give mine the veges we're having that week for dinner.

They'll only eat about as much as the size of a budgie head every day or other day. It's a really small amount.

[David]

I try to feed everything in sort of rotation, usually but not always two or three different things at a time - something red, something green, something yellow. Different coloured foods usually means it contains different vitamins and minerals, so you know you are roughly giving them a good spread of goodness.

Okay I see So in my case, I think I gotta learn to eat fruits regularly, huh? So that I could share a bit with Pepper.

They don't eat much, so for one budgie for instance, you only need to give them a thin round slice of carrot and a bok choy leaf, maybe a slice of apple, pegged to the cage side perhaps. Next day he'll get a slice of raw corn and a sprig of basil. You might want to chop a wider range of veges really tiny, and make a sort of mini salad.

Okay got it. What I used to do was give him a whole leaf of bok choy and hang it to the cage wall for him to nibble and eat it. I thought he'd eat it more when it's served that way. I'll try your way tomorrow.

I just give mine the veges we're having that week for dinner.

I see. Well, I eat out most of the time, so I'll just really have to pass by the market to buy my budgies his greens.

They'llonly eat about as much as the size of a budgie head every day or other day. It's a really small amount.

Okay okay, this is really helpful. So just the size of a budgie head, eh? Thanks! Now I could give him just the right amount without any spoilage.