Saturday, August 27, 2011

Feeding Your Zebra Finch

By Marjorie J McDonald


Zebra Finches are local to the Australian tropics, living in dry areas. They're a hardy variety of grass finch and were regularly found in grassy or brush lands, open areas, pastures and fields.

In natural habitats, their first food was grass seed. They gained recognition as cage pets thanks to the ease in caring for them and their cheerful dispositions.

As a pet, the finchesfood should really be composed of basically seeds, supplemented with other foods such as fruits, like apples or pears, and plants, such as spinach, alfalfa or lettuce.

Other foods including mashed up hard boiled eggs, bread or corn bread make good additions to their diet. Most natural foods can be eaten by your finches. You can experiment with different foods to see what your bird likes and is not keen on but be sure you avoid foods like peppers and cabbage as they could cause upsets with your finches digestive system.

Plan not feed your bird too much of the extra food, only as much of the fresh food as they can finish eating in twenty four hours. Remove uneaten food before it's got a chance to begin to spoil. Check occasionally to see that their food bowl is clean and to keep their food bowl filled with seeds.

Sometimes the bowl may still look full of seed, but is basically just full of the empty shells of eaten seeds, so it is important to empty and re-fill the bowl frequently.

These birds are hardy, and a fresh healthy food supply is vital for their survival.

They are great pets and their companionship with you and the others birds in the cage is delightful to look at and experience. If you haven't ever been around this active, cheerful bird you might want to switch to finches because they will be able to make a great social companion, are fun to look at and are simple to care for as a pet.




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