Eclectus Diets
Eclectus diets are very different to that of any other parrot species. They have a longer digestive tract & do poorly on seed & pellet diets. Pellet diets can often cause Eclectus parrots to have an overdose in vitamins which can result in feather destruction, toe tapping & behaviours such as screaming & aggression. Some Eclectus parrots are more sensitive to their diets than others. Coloured or artificial pellets can also have an impact on their health.

It is recommended your Eclectus have at least an 80% natural soft food diet & 20% everything else including seed & pellet.

Eclectus parrots generally eat 3 meals per day but many owners do feed 2 meals per day & their birds do well on this. Eclectus are grazers. They tend to graze on their food throughout the day as well as eating 2 or  3 square meals. They don't tend to become overweight.

Eclectus parrots are healthier on a low nutrient diet than a high one which is why they do so well on healthy human foods such as fruit & veg, sprouts etc...
Some Eclectus parrots are fussy eaters & will only eat certain foods & not others. You can try & convince them the food is tasty by eating it yourself & making it sound really yummy. Most Eclectus are not fussy & are willing to try anything you offer them.

For the fussy ones you can grate the least favourite food & add it to the most favourite. When the grated food  is combined with the rest, it can stick to the rest of the food a lot easier & your bird is more likely to consume some of the grated foods.
Mash is one of the easiest ways to get your Eclectus to eat properly. If their least favourite food is mashed in with everything else then they consume everything that is given to them. Eclectus parrots also enjoy a warm cooked meal.

While some parrot owners swear by a seed & pellet diet, it does not mean it is a healthy diet for them. While Eclectus parrots are said to appear fine & healthy while on these diets, the long term effects can result in a short life span, sudden death or health problems as the Eclectus gets older. If you choose to offer your parrot pellets make it only a very small part of their diets & choose 100% natural Eclectus specific pellets where you can.
Enjoying lemon grass
Offering a sprouted mix daily can give your Eclectus most of the vitamins he needs for the day. Sprouts can be bought or made. 24 hour soaking seed will also give your Eclectus more nutrition than dry seed. High animal protein such as chicken & egg is not recommended for Eclectus parrots unless they feather pluck, are breeding, moulting or hormonal. Any other time a high animal protein diet can cause health issues. Eclectus parrots require a low animal protein & high vegetable protein diet, which can be found in most veggies, beans, legumes.

I don’t recommend you give your Eclectus vitamin supplements unless specified by your avian vet. Offering added vit supplements  without knowing exactly what your Eclectus may or may not need could result in an overdose.

If your Eclectus has the correct pellets there should be no need to offer vitamin supplements.

If you’re out for the day & worried about their food spoiling during this time you Can offer a few pellets & some dehydrated fruit & veg to tie them over until you arrive home.

Once you get into the swing of making the right foods & learning how to store them so they last longer, making the food can become relatively easy to do & you will also find yourself eating a lot healthier.


Eclectus parrots should not be fed egg on a regular basis. This has been known to cause extremely high cholesterol & arteriosclerosis which can result in an early death. It is also an animal protein & Eclectus parrots require vegetable proteins. Your Eclectus should be given boiled egg about once a fortnight only.

A breeding, fledging or Eclectus going through a heavy moult or plucking can have a little more egg than during these times.


Eclectus Diets
eggs
Some foods Eclectus eat in the wild
Pandanus (screw pine)
Nonda Plum
Red Beech
Grewia Papuana Burret
Mackinlaya
Pirrungu
Hopbush
Micromelum Minutum
Dissiliaria Laxinervis

Brittlewood
Nasturtium Tree
Syzygium Bamagenese (myrtle family)
Sarsaparilla Tree
Solitaire Palm
Livistona & Dicksonia Palms
Small-leaved Fire Vine
Crepe Myrtle
Cinnamonwood
These are just some of the plants that Eclectus parrots have been recorded to eat in the wild. They may eat all parts or only certain parts of the plant, fruit, nuts, leavs, seeds.
Wild Eclectus parrots also eat seed producing grasses however they prefer seeds from fruits most of the time. They've been noted as choosing red & orange colour fruits over other colours. These fruits are very high in vitamin A. On rare occasions they also fly to ground to forage for mineral salts.