Fruit and Veggies

Fruit & Veg should be a large part of your Eclectus daily diet. Their extra long digestive tract & extra high sensitivity to the environment & foods compared to other parrot species means you need to be careful with the diets you put them on. The larger the variety of fruit & veg the better. An Eclectus diet is ideally 80% soft foods & 20% everything else. They also require high vitamin A, high vegetable protein & low meat protein. Berries should be given daily. Bright yellows, oranges & red fruit & veg the higher the nutritional value. Veg that is rich in dark green are also high in nutrition. The paler the green, the more water content & less the nutritional value. These are veg like celery & ice burg lettuce. These are fine offered occasionally as a food. Unlike most people believe the watery veg does not cause diarrhoea, it just makes their poop watery because of the content of the water in the veg.

Cricket eating carrot, rocket, bok choy and broccoli

Fruit & Veg mixes should be as different as you can make them for each meal. Eclectus do tend to get bored with eating the same food every day, so large variety is important to keep them interested in eating.


You can also add a variety of nuts (excluding peanuts) & a few seeds like sesame seeds, poppy to the fruit & veg mixes. Almonds are one of the healthiest nuts for an Eclectus & it also one of the most popular nuts liked

Here's a list of fruit & veg you can offer. This list is only some of what you can offer to any parrot. It is not a complete list.


Apple (sparingly)

Asparagus

Bananas

Beetroot & leaves

Berries (any in season)

Bok choy, pak choy (any asian green)

Broccoli (broccoli leaves are very high in Vitamin A)

Capsicums & seed, all colours (red is higher in vitamin A)

Carrots & carrot tops

Cauliflower

Celery (sparingly)

Cherries

Chilli & seed

Citrus Fruits (mandarin, orange lemon, lime etc)

Coconut

Cos Lettuce

Curly Lettuce

Custard Apple

Figs (sparingly, very high in sugar)

Grapes (sparingly)

Grape seeds are fantastic to offer your parrot

Guava

Kale

Kiwi fruit

Lime, lemon or orange (any citrus, including the seed & rind)

Lychee

Mango

Mangosteen

Nashi pear

Passion fruit

Paw paw & seeds

Pears & seeds (different colours & varieties)

Pepitas

* Persimmons

Pineapple

Plums, apricot, peaches

  (when in season & pips removed)

Pomegranates

Pumpkin & seeds (Japanese &

  butternut are the sweeter ones)

Star fruit (seeded)

Radish  (can be grated to release anti oxidants)

Red giant mustard greens

red mignonette lettuce

Red mizuna

Silver beet (not to be mistaken for Spinach)

Snow peas or snap peas

Spinach (not to be mistaken for Silverbeet. Please read note below on this vegetable)

Starfruit

Sweet Potato

Tomato (leaves & branches are toxic to parrots. Only offer the fruit)

Tamarind

Turnips (can be grated to release anti   oxidants)

Watermelon (no seeds but I am not 100% sure about this just yet)

Zucchini

Squash (yellow is usually the better one)

Persimmons is on some toxic lists. Unripened persimmons contain the soluble tannin shibuol however, you can feed your parrot persimmons. Persimmons is safe when it is completely or over ripe as it is only the under ripe fruit that conatins the soluble tannin shibuol. You can also cook it if you choose to. Spinach & Silverbeet. Believe it or not, they are not the same. Silverbeet is very closely related to the beetroot. It is essentially a beetroot without the bottom. It is a relation of the spinach but not as close. Spinach is OK to offer once every 3 to 4 weeks. Regular intake of the veg can inhibit your parrots calcium absorption which will cause health issues. Once every now & then will not hurt your parrot & Spinach does contain a lot of other vital nutrients for your parrot. Silverbeet is very high in dietary fibre, folic acid, vits C & B6. It does contain extremely high amounts of Oxilic Acid so only offer sensible amounts & to avoid high acid intakes you can slightly cook the silverbeet. Oxilic acid is a great deal high than normal acid in acidic food such as citrus which can cause kidney problems if given too much. Most veggies are great for parrots & nearly all can be eaten by parrots but there are a few that are poor quality. Poor quality foods usually have very little nutrition in them & your parrot will not benefit from them. Iceburg Lettuce Celery Potato Corn These foods don't need to be excluded in your birds diet. They're not toxic & most enjoy these, they're just low in nutrition so shouldn't be offered a lot of.

Washing Fruit and Vegetables

It is important to scrub your fruit & veg weather it’s local, organic or not. Fruit & veg always has to be washed to get rid of any harmful bacteria, dirt, chemicals, waxes that is on. Buy organic & local when ever you can but it isn’t always possible to do.


A good scrub with a soft bristle brush under water will get your fruit & veg clean. You can also try Safeguard Fruit & Veggie Wash. It is a local product(western Australia) so is only available locally. Some other states may have them but it is not available over seas. Fruit & Veg Wash is organic & the main ingredients are aloe vera, citrus, olive leaf extract. It removes all wax & residues, chemicals that you can’t remove from washing in water. You can also make a spray out this.

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