How to feed live food?

[Emma4]

When you feed live worms and bugs to your bird, how do you do it without the feeder leaving the cup and wondering off in your house? Or do you have to just remove the feeder if not eaten right away?

[lovezebs]

Emma4

Hi Emma,

With mealworms, I just place them in a glass dish, and they never crawl out.

With flightless fruit flies, it's a little more tricky.
When I get them, they come in a covered plastic container.
What I do:
Place the container in a shallow dish of water.
Poke a tiny hole in the top,
Put the whole thing in the flight, giving the container a little shake.

As the fruit flies pop out, the birds pick them off
The ones which they miss, fall into the dish with the water where they either drown or get picked up by the birds.

[Emma4]

Thank you Elana for sharing valuable experience. I am looking to buy fruit flies. I think my green singer wiuld like some.
Where do you get yours? I looked online and found a "fruitfly shop" but I'm unsure. Can you direct me to a source that is safe for birds?

[lovezebs]

Emma4

I buy them at my Pet Shop, so not sure where else you would get them, where they are sold for lizards.

Just make sure it's the flightless type, otherwise you'll be overrun by the darn little things

[Emma4]

Thanks! I'll venture into the reptile section...

[lovezebs]

Emma4

Just don't let them talk you into the preserved bugs in a can, seeing as no body wants to eat those.

[Emma4]

Emma4

Just don't let them talk you into the preserved bugs in a can, seeing as no body wants to eat those.

Bugs in a can was what I bought one time many years ago! My GS not only would not eat them, he made a face like "Eewww!" He was so disgusted by the sight of those things, that he stayed at the far end of the cage until I removed them. So I never tried bugs again. But now I'm going to try live fruit flies.

[lovezebs]

Emma4

Yea, I know that face, my crew did the same thing when I tried canned bugs.... and you know, I have to agree, they were gross, lol.

[cindy]

if feeding mealworms make sure you gut load them first... if you feed pellets to your birds feed them to your mealworms... give them peeled washed dried carrots for moisture.... what you feed your mealworms is what your birds will eat.

make sure when you get you mealworms put them in clean substrate like bran flakes to clean off first before feeding them to your birds...

[cindy]

try this company for mealworms.... http://www.rainbowmealworms.net/

[cindy]

if you order your mealies in from a company, put the bag in the fridge first for about 30 minutes... slows the mealies down and easier to dump them into a container that way.... you can also gut load the mealworms and freeze them if you do not want to risk them getting away (if they get into dry wall they will eat it).... gut load them with nourishing food, freeze and take out the amount you want to serve, thaw a little and serve.

[Waxbillman]

Hi I posted a question in a different thread before noticing someone had started this thread. Maybe it is a bit old but I just recently got my mini mealworms today and was just wondering if anyone had any tricks as to how to remove 500 mini meal worms from their packaging without using tweezers? I'd like to put them in egg food to load them up or I guess the term is called gutloading. Thanks guys
Pete