Yes, parakeets can infact eat this large orange fruit, both raw and cooked and not just as a Halloween treat. Of course as is the case with most fruits, you should feed your little bird pumpkin in moderation and some pumpkin based foods are definitely better than others.
The remainder of this article will dig into this food a little more to provide you with a better understanding of why it may be worth adding this snack into your parakeets diet.
Why Feed Your Parakeet Pumpkin?
If you want to give your parakeet something unique to eat, maybe as treat, pumpkins can be unique fruit to satisfy the birds taste buds.
They’re also not as acidic as strawberries, blueberries or tomatoes that other pet parrots would consume. With only a 3.9 – 4.3 on the pH scale, this means issues with a parakeets bowel won’t be as prevalent although if overfed they could still arise
In turn this does also mean that pumpkins are a fair bit more acidic than the staple food in their diet, pelleted seeds, which falls between 6 – 7 on the pH scale and is ideal considering the sensitive nature of these little birds stomachs.
The Benefits Of Feeding Your Parakeet Pumpkin
Pumpkins are nutrition rich like most other fruits, so here I’ll just be covering all the benefits feeding your little parakeet this fruit can provide.
Benefits Of The Vitamins
- Vitamin A – This is one of the more abundant parts of a pumpkin and helps with protecting the light sensitive pigment in the retina of the eye, upkeeps the immune production, cell recognition and cell function.
- Vitamin C – This vitamin acts as a cancer preventive, allows the respitory system of the bird to be healthy, assists in keeping the kidneys healthy, is great for the healing process as well as acts in a way for parakeets to develop healthy skin due to this vitamins importance in collagen production.
- Vitamin B2 – This vitamin plays a major role in breaking down carbs, protein and fats to help maintain great energy levels within your parakeet. As long as enough is had it will prevent skin issues, riboflavin deficiency among other undesirable illnesses on a bird.
- Vitamin E – This vitamin is important if you want your parakeet to have great eyesight and maintain their heart health.
Benefits Of The Minerals
- Potassium – This is one of the most important minerals any animal can take. It helps regulate fluids, muscle contractions, nerve signals and maintain a healthy blood pressure. Due to these factors, major illnesses like strokes and kidney stones can be prevented.
- Copper – This mineral is critical for a number of helpful bodily functions such as assisting with energy metabolism, tissue growth, red blood cell formation, oxidative defence and immunocompetence.
- Manganese – This is useful in developing connective tissue, bone growth, helps with blood clotting issues and improves the metabolism of parakeets.
- Iron – This mineral is important as it creates hemoglobin and protein within a parakeets red blood cells that carries oxygen to muscles so they can be healthy. It’s an essential mineral for the growth and development of a parakeet. The lack of iron can cause many issues for a bird such as weight loss, anorexia, circulatory failure and more.
- There are also various trace minerals within pumpkins which include magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, folate
Other Benefits
Pumpkin also have trace elements of protein and fiber which are both good for growth and assisting with the digestive system.
Furthermore, pumpkins are 94% water meaning the calorie to size ratio will be minimal and this fruit can also act as a great form of hydration if you want to switch things up for your parakeet.
The Negatives Of Parakeets Eating Pumpkin
Despite all the benefits pumpkins provide, there are a few things you should keep in mind. As pumpkins have high sugar content, feeding parakeets too much will cause issues whether obesity or diabetes.
Its high water concentration and moderate acidity does mean that there is potential for bowel issues to occur if you overfeed parakeets pumpkin slices.
Types Of Pumpkin Parakeets Can Eat
- Organic Pumpkin – Yes, organic is definitely on the pricier side but not being doused with a number of preservatives and pesticides will make it safer for parakeets to eat. With that being said you should still wash the fruit thoroughly before feeding your little parrot just in case.
- Pumpkin Seeds – These are a great snack for parakeets but, it’s best to purchase unprocessed seeds as they won’t be packed with as many additives among other chemicals. You can find seeds within bird shops that should meet these criteria for the benefit of your bird.
- Unseasoned Pumpkin Puree – The reason unseasoned is better has to with a parakeets and most parrots digestive systems not being great at handling seasoning and ultimately digesting salt amongst the other additions.
- Canned Pumpkin – Although you can feed parakeets canned pumpkin, you would need to rinse it a good amount as canned fruits use many chemicals to preserve fruits like pumpkins for longer periods of time. The pumpkins overall acidity does decrease but, rinsing the fruit here is equally if not more important due to the excess preservatives used.
- Pumpkin Skin – You can actually feed parakeets pumpkin skin which is rich in vitamin A and would help in upkeeping the immune system. It should be thoroughly washed to remove as much of the artificial pesticides and other chemicals normally meant to upkeep this fruit for your birds stomach safety.
Types Of Pumpkin Parakeets Shouldn’t Eat
Parakeets can eat most types of pumpkin, only variations that include other ingredients like garlic, peppers or other acidic or hot ingredients found in pumpkin soup for example should be avoided.
Also any pumpkin based foods that contain too much sugar, salt or fat should be minimised as these ingredients that add flavour can also potentially cause serious health problem for a parakeet.
How Much Pumpkin Can You Feed Parakeets?
Parakeet tend to eat between 15 – 20 grams of food with the diet split being 60 – 80% pelleted seeds, 15 – 25% vegetables and around 5 – 10% fruit. If the acidity of the fruit is on the lower end you should be fine feeding your parakeet a bit more but less is recommended due to their more sensitive stomachs.
As a pumpkin is not quite to the same level of acidity as other fruits and is also 94% water it’ll be safer to feed your bird around 1.5 – 2 grams of pumpkin slices per day although ideally I’d recommend spreading it out over the week, maybe 2 – 3 times at most so other fruits can be added to the mix to balance the diet more.
Summary
Overall, parakeets can not only eat pumpkin but, they can eat the seeds within and the outer skin. It’s all extremely healthy for your parakeet provided you feed it only 1.5 – 2 grams a few times a week.
If you want to mix up the treats your parakeet gets to eat, including pumpkin slices into the mix is certainly worth trying as who knows, it may even become their favourite.
References
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/pumpkin#TOC_TITLE_HDR_6ferences
