Bird Care

Can parakeets eat bananas? Safe & Unsafe Fruits List

The important thing being a parakeet’s parent is to make sure it’s getting proper care and healthy food. We never want to put our feather friend at risk simply by feeding something unsafe. In this blog reading, we are together going to find the answer to the questions “can parakeets eat bananas?” Is it safe fruit for parakeet budgies?

Parakeet budgies can live between 7 to 15 years, but the average lifespan is often a lot less than that due to unhealthy diet, lack of proper care and knowledge about bird care.

Bananas are usually readily available everywhere, and won’t take any effort to prepare for parakeets. Simply peel off the skin and it’s ready to serve for your parakeets. Due to this fact many people think of providing their birds with bananas as a treat.

Let’s know the nutritional value of bananas, whether or not bananas are safe for parakeets, how often bananas can be fed and how to feed them.

Nutrition Facts for Banana

The nutrition facts for a medium-sized banana (100 grams) are:
Calories: 89
Water: 75%
Protein: 1.1 grams
Carbohydrate: 22.8 grams
Sugar: 12.2 grams
Fiber: 2.6 grams
Fat: 0.3 grams

Unripe bananas are a rich source of carbohydrate and sugars in ripe bananas. The carbohydrate composition of bananas changes significantly during ripening.

Banana also contains:

Iron
Antioxidants
Potassium
Magnesium
Vitamin A and C
Vitamin B6

Can Parakeets eat Bananas?

Yes, parakeets can eat bananas and it is safe fruit for any type of parakeet including budgie. In fact, some parakeets love eating bananas more than anything else. However, lots of bananas may lead to obesity, which no budgie owner wants.

Check the freshness and limit the number of bananas you feed per week. And it’s important that you take out the leftover bananas after a couple of hours of offering it to your parakeets.

Why feed bananas to parakeets?

Bananas are rich supplements of minerals like potassium, magnesium and vitamins which are a key diet requirement to keep parakeets in good health and happiness. Feeding bananas to parakeets provides them magnesium, which is best to alleviate magnesium deficiency. They also give antioxidants and potassium that your feather friend needs.

Nutritional Benefit of Banana

Iron

Iron is used by the parakeet’s body to make hemoglobin and myoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to body parts. Too little iron and the bird could suffer from anemia, too much and it can lead to iron storage disease. So, be careful with the number of bananas you feed.

Antioxidants

Antioxidants are substances that protect body cells against free radicals, cellular damage, cardiac disease, toxic products of metabolism, aging and various diseases in birds. It also plays a significant role in maintaining bird’s health and breeding performance.

Potassium

Potassium in bananas helps in the rapid physical growth of the parakeets. Do you have young budgies? Feeding your young budgies bananas results in a better growth rate.

A low potassium level can make muscles feel weak or even become paralyzed.

Magnesium

Magnesium has essential functions in cellular metabolism and bone development. Without enough magnesium bones, beaks, feathers, muscle coordination, nerve impulses, brain neurons and heart health suffer greatly in parakeets.

Deficiency in Magnesium may lead to poor growth, lethargy, and even death of the parakeets.

Vitamin A and C

Vitamin A plays a significant role in the health of your parakeet and lack of it can result in skin and feather issues. Without vitamin A, your bird may deal with respiratory disease, poor growth, and a lowered immune function.

Vitamin C is beneficial for birds under any sort of stress, including heat stress from exposure to hot weather. Vitamin C helps to enhance bird’s immune system and alleviate metabolic signs of stress. So adding bananas in your bird’s diet helps to keep them healthy.

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6, a water-soluble vitamin also called Pyridoxine helps in the breakdown of proteins. If you are planning to breed your parakeet/budgies, feed them bananas. Vitamin B6 helps to boost egg production in egg laying parakeets.

Deficiency of Vitamin B6 may lead to poor egg production, loss of appetite, and poor growth.

Can budgies eat bananas?

Yes, budgies can eat bananas, infact most of them love more than anything else. All budgies mayn’t like bananas. But most them like bananas.

Can budgies eat banana?

As mentioned above, remember to limit the number of bananas. They can get obsessed if fed many. You can use bananas as treats for your budgies.

If you just got your parakeet budgie from a pet shop then he might not be fond of eating bananas. Due to the fact that it had never been introduced with bananas before. You can now introduce the bananas gradually.

Do not force the budgie to eat bananas. Peel off the skin and place it inside their cage. You can also dunk a piece of banana in seed mix and give it to your bird. If the birds do not eat it for a couple of hours, remove the banana. Provide a new piece of banana the next day. Do this until your bird starts eating bananas.

Can budgie eat banana peels?

Yes, parakeets can eat banana peels and some of the budgies are fond of eating the peels. Give them the fresh because budgies do not like dry banana peels. Banana peels are safe for parakeets.

How to feed banana to budgies?

Feeding bananas to your bird is easy. You just need to peel off the skin and it’s ready to serve for your parakeets. You can serve a whole banana or cut it into pieces and put in a food bowl. It is always a good idea to cut banana into small pieces so that they find it easy to bite and also they don’t poop in it. If your budgie is fond of eating bananas, it will immediately eat the banana.

Feed your budgies raw bananas.

Bananas are sweet and juicy, so budgies find it easy to eat. Parakeets in the wild eat raw food, serve your pet parakeet with fresh raw banana. Cooked with or without extra ingredients cause health issue in parakeets.

Related Q&A

Can parakeet eat banana’s peel?
Yes, parakeet can eat banana peels.

Can budgies eat banana? Do they like banana?
Yes, budgies can eat banana but not all budgies like banana.

Is banana safe for budgies?
Yes, banana fed under moderation is safe for budgies.

How to feed bananas to budgies?
Feed your budgies fresh and raw.

What kind of fruits can parakeet eat?

If your parakeet is familiar with a varied diet it’ll likely go bonkers over many fruits, so it’s just a matter of checking out which. Luckily there are lots of parakeet-safe fruits and barely any that you need to avoid.

Your parakeet might not be friendly to eating anything but seeds and turn up its head at fruit diet. Don’t let this demotivate you! Just keep offering varieties of fresh fruits. Eventually most parakeets will love and go for a nibble.

Can parakeets eat grapes?

Yes, parakeets eat grapes. Any kind of grapes are a fine addition to your parakeet’s diet, so if you buy some for yourself be sure to share some with your feather friend parakeet.

Doubt about raisins? Parakeets can eat raisins as long as they have no added sugar, one or two raisins is plenty as dried fruits are very high in natural sugars.

Read Detailed Post: Can Parakeets Eat Grapes?

Can parakeets eat watermelon?

Yes, parakeets eat watermelon. Feel free to offer some pieces of watermelon to your parakeets if you happen to be munching on a slice yourself.

Read in-depth post: Can parakeets eat watermelon?

Can parakeets eat strawberries?

Yes to strawberries, Like many other fruits they are quite sugary so should be fed limited but if you happen to have some lying around then your parakeet might greatly appreciate a piece or two.

Can parakeets eat blueberries?

Yes to blueberries as well! But note that they are vitamin C as well as antioxidants rich fruits. Not just great for humans but also for our parakeets.

Can parakeets eat oranges?

Yes, peeled and deseeded oranges add a good diet. But again limit the amount.

Can parakeets eat pineapple?

Yes to pineapple. It is high in vitamin C, other nutrients also sugar rich. Feeding it in moderation is best way to go due to the sugar content.

Can parakeets eat cherries?

Yes, a fresh cherry or two makes a great treat for your parakeet.

Can parakeets eat apples?

Yes, parakeets seem to particularly enjoy the crunchy texture of apples. Provide small pieces so that they can nibble.

Can parakeets eat mango?

Yes, I give a slice once a week to my Lemo – the parakeet budgie.

Can parakeets eat avocado?

Avocado contains a toxin called persin, which is hard to digest for parakeets. If a parakeet happens to eat avocado, they may get sick and may even lead to death. They show symptoms within 12 -24 hours, like inability to preach, trouble breathing.

Take your bird to the vet immediately if they consume avocado. Due to the fact that there isn’t much of an antidote for avocado poisoning, but vet can help with flushing with liquids and so forth.

Another fruit that isn’t good for parakeets – similar to the avocado – is the pits of cherries and peaches. They are toxic to parakeets. So be cautious with avocado, cherries and peaches.

Can parakeets eat tomatoes?

Tomatoes are acidic, so don’t overfeed. Parakeets can eat pieces of ripe tomatoes but be cautious it may cause stomach irritation or even ulcer.

Other fruits for parakeets

The above mentioned fruits are not just the entire list of fruits that parakeets can eat and are fond of. Besides bananas, grapes, oranges, strawberries, mango, apples, parakeets can eat most fruits that are available for buying. Remember some of the fruits need to be fed under moderation.

What can parakeets not eat?

The following should be avoided as treats for your parakeet.

Lemon and lime (too acidic)
Pomelo, grapefruit, kumquat (too acidic)
Avocado (toxic to parrots)
Sources disagree: passion fruit (quite acidic)

As mentioned above, some fruit seeds and pits may also pose problems. These include pear, apple and stone fruits like apricots and cherries.

Beside seeds and fruits, parakeets can be feed veggies, learn more about parakeet safe veggies.

Checklist while feeding your parakeet

Replace freshwater everyday
Provide wide variety of fresh foods
Seed must be first food diet
Clean all food and water dishes each day
Provide cuttlebone and extra supplements

Concluding can parakeets eat bananas. Yes all species of parakeets can eat bananas. Budgies also known as parakeets in United States also love to eat bananas, and they are safe fruit to feed. Consider feeding them under moderation. Remove the leftovers after few hours of serving them.

You may also like to read: Can parakeets eat rice?