Live food

[societyspice]

I haven't tried offering my birds live food yet, but I was wondering if they would eat it? I have a society and a spice finch and, since I bought both from the pet store, I doubt they've been exposed to live food in the past.

Some questions I have:

1. Will they eat large mealworms? (All the ones at the petstore seem pretty big.)

2. What about freeze dried insects?

3. Are there any significant nutrients that insects can offer?

4. A book I have mentions that many species like ant pupae. Has anyone tried feeding these to their birds? If so, where can you get ant pupae?

Any comments or advice is greatly appreciated!!

[Hilary]

I haven't tried livefood with my societies, though they eat everything I give them so I'd imagine they'd eat livefood as well.

My spices LOVE mealies. I've tried mini, small and medium, and they eat them all. No luck with freeze-dried, though I did buy a "fresh bug" product and they'll eat all of the parts (just not the ones that are still whole). My understanding is that that the main advantage to livefood is the protein provided. I did buy ant eggs (pupae) from http://www.allbirdproducts.com, but nobody seems to like them. Of course, I haven't tried them for awhile, so probably ought to give them another go (especially considering the $12.95 I paid for them!). I'll bet the buttons will eat them - they LOVE bugs!

Hilary

[TammyS]

The Society finch and Spice finch don't require live food like some other species do when breeding. So as long as your birds are currenlty receiving a healthy diet - it is not necessary to introduce live food. If you do want to feed them insects, then I would recommend a food with dried bugs in it or try the ant pupue you mentioned in your post.

If have Strawberries, Owls and Orange Cheeks and did offer them mini mealworms for awhile - the problem with that is the birds would "play" with the mealsworms and drop them outside of the dish. Of course - the mealworms would then crawl away if they were lucky enough. I ended up finding them in other places in my bird room eventually - so I stopped with the live mealworms. Now I feed them the Insectivorous Feast by Birdcare Co. which has dried bugs in it and they seem to enjoy that as well.

[societyspice]

My spices LOVE mealies. I've tried mini, small and medium, and they eat them all.

My spice finch seems to be a pickier eater than my society who is very curious and loves checking out any new food I add.

[Hilary]

My societies are definitely the better eaters, too, but the spices do like the mealies! (I keep them on hand because I also have quite a few waxbills.)

Hilary

[societyspice]

I think I might try feeding some mealies to see if my spice is as big a fan of them as yours are!

[newfinchmom]

My cordon bleu didn't really seem to eat the mini meal worms. It seems like she just threw them all over the cage (or they crawled out of the bowl). The socidety finch just stared at them.

[Hilary]

Check the ones the cordon bleu threw, though - they usually only bite the heads off and the rest end up on the floor. If you have a pan on the floor they can go back at their leisure and eat the remains, but if you have a grate they just lost most of their worm!

Hilary

[debbyloo]

My cordon bleu female loves the mini mealworms - but will only stare at the bigger ones (like from the pet store). I order the mini's from New York Worms. She is teaching the other finches to eat them too, as some of them have caught on that there is something really good in that little treat bowl and they'd better get there quick before she eats them all. I have noticed that she did not seem interested in them until she entered into a breeding cycle. The same with my strawberries. They ignored them until they started laying eggs, and then they could not get enough of them either. Try the mini's. They can be completely devoured on the spot - no "head biting" and losing the rest somewhere else in the cage, no discarding the "shell" after eating the "insides."

I found something that my cordons will eagerly devour any time and that is those pesky little green/tan caterpillars that roll themselves up in canna leaves in the summer. I tear the little silk threads and unroll the leaves (good for my cannas too!), and collect the caterpillars and put them in the little treat bowl. Both cordons will immediately devour them on the spot.