That Bird Blog – Bird Care and History for Pet Birds

 

“Softbill Select” bird food  is designed to meet all of the nutritional requirements of toucans, mynas and similar birds, collectively known in the pet trade as “softbills” (however, there’s nothing “soft” about a toucan’s bill, trust me!). It is a quite unique product, combining 15 fruits and vegetables (i.e. coconut, papaya, apricot, sweet potatoes, dates, spinach, broccoli, carrots) and a variety of vitamins and minerals in a soft pellet.

Using Softbill Food for Parrots and Other Birds
Because they package so many nutritious foods in one convenient pellet, I have long used fruit and vegetable-based softbill diets for numerous creatures other than the birds for which they were formulated. Canaries and other finches; budgies, cockatiels and other parrots; button quail, doves and nearly all other popular pet birds relish fruits and vegetables and many consume “Softbill Select” eagerly. I use it as a treat for most birds, and as a large part of the diet for the softbills mentioned above, and for shama thrushes, white-eyes, turacos and Pekin robins as well.

Invertebrates, Reptiles and Mammals
For those of you who keep pets other than birds, try adding some “Softbill Select” to the diets of forest tortoises (i.e. red-foot tortoises), green iguanas and other non-desert-adapted herbivorous lizards, sugar gliders, mice, rats, chipmunks, land hermit crabs, millipedes and roaches.

Further Reading
For further information on the role of fruits and vegetables in pet and wild birds’ diets, please see my articles on Carotenoids  and Alternative Bird Foods.