decaf tea? Is it poisonous?

[LucyP]

I have a bit of a strange question.

Diablo is really fussy and won't eat much in the way of fruits and veggies. Usually she takes a beakful of something if it's mushy (e.g. strawberries) then darts up my arm and rubs it all over my shirt without apparently tasting any.

So, I have noticed she will drink juice and she loves decaf green tea (like her flock... bad example setter). So, the juice is organic, no sugar added and watered down and the tea is decaffeinated... but I don't want to make her sick.

What do you think? Should I stop her? If I do, any ideas on how to get her interested in non-seed foods, short of my current tactic of not letting her have them until she's actually eaten at least one beakful of soemthing fresh...

[Pado]

Good question – I’m not sure if decaf tea would be a problem – I can’t see how it could be bad but maybe someone else knows more about tea.

Try mashing some pellets and mix with fruit juice – or mash some fruit and mix with Diablo’s fav juice.

I smash Harrison Fine pellets with juice and both my birds love it – it makes a paste - I sometimes heat it a bit – it’s worth a try ;)

Other than that just keep offering and trying different things. Mine didn’t always like - everything they like now - but I always put it out even if they don’t eat it and eventually they try it and it becomes a favorite.

When I got my first bird he wasn’t fond of vegetables – but I would clip whole pieces of broccoli and carrot and apple etc to the sides of his cage and eventually he started ripping them apart (as they love to do with everything :D and now carrots and broccoli are among his favorite vegetables.

Also when Diablo is out with you – you can munch on some fruit and vegetables – mine always want what I am eating – :D

I’ve been told that Parrotlets usually smush up fruit for the juice and drop the pulp – anybody else heard this? :confused: I see mine swallowing some pulp but mostly they leave it in ripped up tiny pieces :)

[lily]

Tea is not on any of my toxic-to-birds lists. The only caution I can think of is HOW it is decaffeinated. The usual method leaves traces of solvents in the beverage. You can get "naturally decaffeinated" teas which are decaffeinated using water.

Gee... I just got this funny flash of what a parrotlet would be like on caffeine.... help us...