Parakeets are adorable colorful birds that always lighten up the mood just by their presence. They love eating various fruits and veggies to meet their dietary needs. But, what about bananas? Can parakeets eat bananas?
Fortunately, your pet parakeet can safely eat bananas. They are filled with essential nutrients and ensures your parakeet stays healthy and happy. The antioxidants and potassium content of bananas also fulfill the dietary needs of your pet, as long as you feed them in moderation.
Your pet friend will love to have a go at the soft flesh of a banana, but, do not let their love for bananas distract you. They can only eat a minimal amount and there’s a good reason for it. Continue reading to find out more!
101 Guide To Feeding Bananas To Parakeets – 3 Basic Matters Uncovered
Parakeets being the funny little creatures, have a keen interest in eating different fruits and veggies. They never get bored of any food and will be as excited as day one when you feed them fruits like bananas.
But, does this mean you can feed them bananas every day? Or, does this mean you can feed them bananas in unlimited quantities? To find out the answers to these questions, let’s dig in a little further.
1) Do Parakeets And Bananas Get Well Along?
Unfortunately, not all parakeets like eating bananas. Some might get along well with bananas, some might simply not. Just like other animals, parakeets too have different likes and dislikes.
If your friend’s parakeet enjoys eating a banana, that doesn’t mean your pet would too. The chances of your pet friend not liking bananas are slim since most parakeets like eating bananas.
However, if your pet turns its head away or runs away when you feed him/her a banana, do not force it. They may make noise if they are not fed with their favorite diet.
There are plenty of other fruits and veggies that you can feed your parakeets, so don’t worry if your pet misses out on bananas.
2) Are Bananas Good For Your Pet Birdie?
Yes! they are good for your pet. In terms of nutrition, bananas are filled with nutrition and can benefit your pet in a number of ways. With bananas, your pet bird can see an improvement in its overall health.
When fed in moderation, your pet parakeet will receive the following nutrients:
| Iron | Antioxidants | Copper | Manganese | Potassium |
| Magnesium | Vitamin A | Vitamin B6 | Vitamin C |
Trace amounts of other nutrients are also present in bananas which will be discussed in the latter part of this article.
Just by looking at the vitamin content of bananas, it can be concluded that your bird will stay healthy, lively, energetic, and get all of the energy that they need from bananas.
3) Should You Feed Baby Parakeets Bananas?
Fortunately, you can feed baby parakeets bananas. However, you cannot simply put a banana on your baby parakeet’s plate and let him/her have a go at it.
With soft foods like bananas, there is a risk of banana flesh getting stuck in the tiny beak of your baby parakeet. Don’t worry, there isn’t something wrong with your pet friend and it happens to all baby parakeets.
The downside to food getting stuck in the beak is that it can lead to beak defects, which can be avoided pretty easily.
When feeding a banana to baby parakeet’s make sure you clean their beaks afterward. You can do this by using a toothpick and cleaning the underside of your baby parakeet’s beak.
To further lower the risks of beak defects, you can also clean the underside of your pet’s beak after every meal.
If you have these lovely colorful birds at home then why don’t you try this brand new home (cage) for them? They will definitely love their new home.
2 Factors To Consider When Feeding Bananas To Your Parakeets
Bananas are undoubtedly healthy for your birds, but there are certain factors that you should be concerned about.
1) Are There Any Possible Risks Of Feeding Banana Peels To Your Pet Birdie?
The answer to this question is yes! Banana peels are harmful in a number of ways. Although they are packed with nutrients and contain many vitamins that your pet can benefit from, they are still not recommended.
Here is why:
- One – Banana peels contain cellulose. It cannot be processed by their small and sensitive stomachs, due to this it can lead to digestive discomfort.
- Two – Banana peels are sprayed with pesticides and chemicals. Feeding your pet birdie banana peels will take a toll on their health due to the pesticides lingering on them. Despite their nutritional value, it is best to avoid feeding banana peels to your pet parakeets.
2) Is It Safe To Feed Bananas To Your Pet Birdie Every Day?
Fortunately, yes you can safely feed bananas to your pet birdie every day, as long as you feed them in small quantities and never in excess!
Bananas are an excellent fruit to add to your pet’s daily diet. Your pets will simply not be able to take their beaks away from eating bananas. But, this can be a cause of concern.
If you feed them a large chunk of bananas every day, you may be exposing them to a risk of obesity. Due to this, you need to feed them the recommended serving size proportions only.
The How-Much And How-To Of Bananas – Best Way To Avoid Health Hazards
When it comes to feeding bananas to parakeets, you should know how much to feed them and how to feed them. This will avoid the possible adverse effects and ensure your pet birdie’s safety.
Here is everything you should know regarding feeding them treats like bananas.
1) How Many Bananas Are Safe For Parakeets?
A good way to determine how much of a banana is safe for your pet birdie is to find out if your pet friend likes eating them. Give your pet a medallion with 2 – 2.5 cm thickness.
Let your pet friend have a go at it and see if he or she likes eating it. If your pet bird likes eating it, you can feed him 3 – 5 medallions of 2 – 2.5 cm thickness.
A good rule of thumb is to feed your birdie enough bananas that he or she can eat in an hour. Anything more than this will be discarded and will be turned to waste, so stick to feeding your pet 3 – 5 medallions of a banana.
2) 5 Easy Steps To Feed Banana To Your Pet Birdie:
The best way to feed your pet birdie a banana is to serve them raw. But, that’s not all, here are 5 easy steps to safely feed your pet parakeet a banana:
- Find a raw banana, and wash it thoroughly to remove any pesticide or chemical residue from them. Parakeets should be fed raw bananas only to ensure they benefit from all of the nutrition in them.
- Ideally, it is recommended to remove the peel but if your pet birdie likes eating it, you can serve him/her, as long as you have washed it thoroughly.
- Cut the banana into small pieces with 2 – 2.5 cm thickness and feed your pet raw. Avoid feeding your pet birdie-cooked or raw bananas since they contain certain additives that can be harmful to them.
- Serve the cut pieces to your pet birdie. Make sure your pet’s food bowl is clean and has no other leftover foods.
- After your pet is done eating, make sure to remove the leftover banana. Since bananas can mold with the passage of time, doing this will prevent your birds from eating them.
Why Feed Your Parakeet A Banana – Nutritional Values
Bananas are rich in nutrients and just to give you an idea of how beneficial they are for your pet parakeet, here are their nutritional values.
Keep in mind, these are based on a 100 gram serving of banana and can vary based on the serving size you feed your birdie with.
| Water 3 g | Energy 97 Kcal | Protein 74 g | Total lipid 29 g | Carbohydrate 23 g |
| Dietary fiber 62 g | Sugars 23 g | Calcium 5 mg | Magnesium 28 mg | Phosphorus 22 mg |
| Potassium 326 mg | Zinc 16 mg | Copper 101 mg | Vitamin C 3 mg | Thiamin 056 mg |
| Niacin 662 mg | Vitamin B-6 209 mg | Folate 14 µg | Choline 8 µg | Vitamin A 1 µg |
| Carotene, beta 8 µg | Vitamin E 1 µg | Vitamin K 5 µg | Lutein + zeaxanthin 22 µg |
As you can tell from the nutrients, bananas can be significantly healthy for your pet. But, make sure you keep their serving size small or you will risk making your pet obese.
Bananas Can Improve The Overall Health Of Your Parakeets – 7 Proven Gains
Are the nutritional values not enough to convince you to feed your pet bird bananas? Here are 7 proven ways how a banana can benefit your pet parakeet.
1) Lower The Risk Of Anemia:
Birds can be exposed to a greater risk of anemia. But, bananas can help avoid the risk of your pet friend suffering from anemia.
They contain iron, which aids in the production of hemoglobin and myoglobin in your pet’s body. This can significantly improve your pet’s blood conditions and protect your pet against iron deficiency.
2) Supports Your Bird’s Healthy Growth:
Potassium plays an important role when it comes to the healthy growth of your pet birds. They require an adequate amount of potassium in their diet which aids in the healthy growth of your pet parakeets.
It can also help lower the risks of kidney complications which can put your pet in pain. Additionally, a potassium deficiency will also lead to stunted growth in your pet, which can be avoided by feeding them bananas.
3) Better Utilization Of Proteins, Fats, And Carbs:
Parakeets need magnesium to convert proteins, fats, and carbs into energy. Fortunately, bananas are a good source of magnesium and can effectively serve the purpose of better utilization of nutrients into energy.
Additionally, it will also help improve the muscle movement of your birds which can keep them active and energetic throughout their life.
The magnesium content in bananas can also help avoid the risks of lethargy, and poor growth, which is a great plus of bananas.
4) Lower The Risk Of Cardiovascular Complications:
Bananas are an excellent means of antioxidants for your pet birdie. It will help your pet eliminate free radicals from its body which leads to an improvement in the cardiovascular health of your pet friend.
It will also lower the risks of sudden death due to cardiovascular complications and help build immunity against other diseases as well.
5) Promotes Better Breakdown Of Proteins:
The vitamin B-6 content in bananas can significantly improve your pet’s health by promoting a better breakdown of proteins. It will also be beneficial if you’re looking to breed your pet birdie.
Vitamin B6 also promotes and boosts healthy egg production.
6) Increases Their Appetite:
If you’re worried about your pet birdie not eating much, bananas will come to the rescue. Feeding them bananas will increase their appetite and your pet will start eating the food you serve them.
7) Lowered Risk Of Vitamin A Deficiency:
A deficiency of vitamin A will make your pet birdie severely sick and lead to complications like poor diet, weight loss, dull feathers, a greater risk of suffering from diseases, and eye complications.
Fortunately, bananas contain enough vitamins to help your birdie fight against vitamin A deficiency and ensure they stay healthy.
Why You Should Avoid Overfeeding Bananas To Parakeets – 2 Common Risks
Bananas are beneficial and there’s no denying that. But, they can also become harmful to your pet friend if you overfeed them, irrespective of whether it is accidental or on purpose.
Here are some risks of overfeeding them.
1) Iron Storage Disease:
Birds like parakeets require iron for staying healthy and away from anemia. However, the same iron can become a cause of concern if it is overfed. In such a case, your pet will be exposed to an excess of iron.
The excess iron gets build up in the liver of your parakeet and leads to iron storage disease which can put your pet in severe discomfort.
However, it can be treated by simply lowering the amount of iron in your pet birdie’s diet.
2) Excess Weight:
Bananas can make your pet birdie put on some excess weight. Yes, it is as simple as that. Overfeeding bananas to your pet on a routine basis will lead to a spike in the overall weight of your pet birdie.
As a result, your pet will become lazy, inactive, and will be exposed to heart complications due to being obese. It may end up being fatal which is why you need to keep the serving sizes small.
10 Safe And Healthy Alternatives Of Bananas For Parakeets
When it comes to your birdie’s food intake, they will love to have a go at everything just like grapes. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can feed them everything that you can find.
Here are some safe and healthy alternatives of bananas for your pet parakeets.
| Apple segments | Blueberries |
| Watermelons | Raspberries |
| Broccoli | Carrots |
| Cauliflower | Celery |
| Cucumber spring greens |
Just like bananas, as long as you feed them these foods in moderation and recommended amounts, you shouldn’t have to worry about anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
1) How Should I Serve Bananas To My Parakeet?
The best way to serve bananas to your pet friend is to chop them into small pieces and serve them in a shallow bowl. This way, your pet will be able to eat them with ease.
Additionally, you should keep their food bowl in a cage and once your pet is done eating, you need to remove the leftovers from its cage.
2) How Often Should I Feed My Pet Bird?
Parakeets constantly require energy and the only source of energy for them is food. Your pet birdie should have food in his or her food bowl at all times since their need for energy will make them hunt for food constantly.
The best way to deal with this would be to keep an eye out on your pet’s food bowl and refill it three times a day. Once in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night times.
3) Can Parakeets Have Cooked Or Processed Foods?
Unfortunately, no. Your pet birdie should never be fed cooked or processed foods. In the process of cooking or processing foods, certain additives are added to them that can lead to an imbalance of nutrients.
This imbalance of nutrients may be in the form of excess sugar, and excess of anything is bad for your bird’s health. Due to this, you should only feed your birdie fresh and raw foods.
Can Parakeets Eat Bananas – Conclusion:
Can parakeets eat bananas? Yes, bananas are perfectly safe for them. In fact, they can keep your pet birdie healthy and ensure he or she lives a long, active life.
They can keep your pet’s body protected against a number of health complications including cardiovascular diseases as well. Just make sure you don’t overfeed them or else you will be risking their health.