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You’ve certainly run across these little, usually fuzzy superfruits with green centers at your local supermarket. Kiwis are attractive tropical fruits native to China, but they’re grown almost all over the world.
Kiwis are packed with all kinds of beneficial nutrients for many avians, including your conure. However, like other fruits, kiwi should be offered to your pet in small quantities (mostly due to their sugar content).
What Are Kiwis?
You’ve certainly run across these fuzzy brown superfruits with green centers at your local supermarket. Kiwis are attractive tropical fruits that are often grown in Chile, California, France, and New Zealand, but they can grow in various settings.
Kiwis are packed with nutrients that benefit many birds, including conures. However, this item should be a treat and not part of their everyday diet since they are chock full of natural sugar.
Kiwi Nutrition Facts
- Calories: 42 kcal
- Water: 57.3 grams (g)
- Carbohydrates: 10 g
- Sugar: 6 g
- Fiber: 2 g
Source: USDA
The protein and fat content of kiwi is near negligible. Kiwis do contain various vitamins and minerals, which could definitely help your conure. However, given how kiwi and fruit in general usually comprise a very small amount of a pet conure’s diet, these benefits, too, would be somewhat minimized.
Conure Natural Diet
Conures are herbivores, but wild conures are specifically categorized as frugivores (fruit eaters). A fruit-heavy diet is justified for wild conures because they spend most of their day flying around foraging for food, so they get the amount of exercise that would justify such a high-sugar diet.
Pet conures lead sedentary lifestyles and, when given a choice of fruits, will often pick and choose their favorites and readily overeat. This makes it very difficult to justify such a diet for a conure.
Pellets have greatly improved pet bird welfare and are able to greatly help companion birds manage their weight. They are often advised as a starting point for a pet parrot’s diet. The rest of their diet can often be summarized as follows.
It is, however, important to keep a few things in mind.
- The guide above is a general guide and may not necessarily apply to every pet parrot. You should always consult your veterinarian for more information specific to your pet’s needs.
- Everything in the guide above is considered necessary for your pet conure. This means that, contrary to popular belief, fruits shouldn’t be considered treats. They should be considered essential since they play an important role in their health and welfare.
- The dietary guidelines for nestlings, fledgling, ill birds, or reproducing birds is entirely different from the guide above.
Conures Can Eat Kiwi
Conures, like any other living creature, require balance in their daily diet. So, even though these delicious green fruits are perfectly safe and even healthy, they are best served in moderation. Conures should have fresh foods once a day in appropriate portions that cover a variety of food groups.
Kiwis have a great amount of natural sugar, which can wreak havoc on your conure’s digestion system in large quantities. So, even if your conure demands more, you need to cut them off after a light portion. Stick to a few slices per serving, with a maximum of twice a week. It’s best to incorporate kiwis in a rotation of different fruits that you offer your parrot.
How to Serve Your Conure Kiwi
When you feed your conure kiwi, you need to spend some time prepping the fruit. Since kiwi sometimes have a coarse, fuzzy brown outer layer, you may need to peel it first thoroughly. Once you do, dice it up into tiny pieces that your bird can easily pick apart and eat. Do keep in mind, though, that some parrots have individual preferences on how big of a chunk they prefer to eat. Likewise, many parrots enjoy having the skin of the fruit on the morsel you offer them.
Always remember to wash any raw fruits or veggies to remove any chemicals, and remember that organic is often safer. Conures can be very sensitive to pesticides and other chemicals.
Final Thoughts
So, now you know that conures can absolutely delight in a good piece of kiwi. But, of course, you need to save this sweet treat for special occasions. You can get creative making quite a tasty mix of fruits and veggies for your birds to enjoy.
Always make sure to peel, wash, and chop the kiwi into bird-friendly, bite-sized portions. You can also serve your bird some delicious freeze-dried kiwi if they accept it. It is just as healthy and delicious for your conure. Happy snacking!
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Featured Image Credit: Photo Mix, Pixabay
