Safe Fruit Seeds for Parrots

Although stores sell commercial parrot food mixes, some parrot owners choose to supplement the diets or make their own mixes. The bulk of the parrot's diet consists of nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and cereal grains. To introduce a new food, parrot owners mix the new food with foods the parrot has proven to enjoy. Once the parrot has accepted the new food for a few days, owners can introduce another new food.

  1. Tropical Fruit Seeds

    • Because parrots naturally live in the tropics, they enjoy the seeds from tropical fruits. The minute seeds in bananas appear to be particular favorites amongst parrots. Papaya seeds provide some of the best nutritional value for their size, and most parrots take to them quickly. Pomegranates prove especially nutritious because the parrot eats the fruit as well as the seeds. Serving the parrot half a pomegranate allows it to practice its foraging skills as it extracts the seeds.

    Temperate Fruit Seeds

    • Cantaloupe seeds provide parrots with one of their favorite seeds. In fact, parrots enjoy eating all melon seeds, including honeydew and watermelon seeds. Some parrot owners serve the sections of the melon with the most seeds to try to get the parrot to eat more fruit. Parrots also eat citrus seeds, particularly orange and lime seeds, even though a lot of parrots will not eat the citrus pulp or rinds. Owners can also cut seeded grapes in half and have the parrot remove the seeds on their own.

    Less Common Seeds

    • Although they are not necessary for a captive parrot's diet, researchers have noted parrots eating fruits from trees that people do not eat, including some fruits that do not even bear names. The Spix's macaw eats seeds from the blackwood tree's fruit, and the Senegal parrot eats seeds from the African mahogany's fruit. In general, a lot of parrots also eat fig seeds. However, parrot owners should not feed their parrot's any fruit seed they may find, but instead, they should use more common seeds in their food mixes.

    Unsafe Seeds

    • Although parrots greatly enjoy apples and apple seeds, they must be feed in moderation. Apple seeds contain cyanide-like compounds that poison and kill parrots when they consume more than a couple every few weeks. The pits of fruits, such as cherries, peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines, also contain this toxic compound, so parrot owners must never give their pets a fruit pit. Avocados kill parrots, but no one knows which part of the fruit is toxic. Pear seeds also prove deadly.