On a rare occasion, I like to eat some papaya or otherwise known as pawpaw.
The first time I was introduced to papaya, I was on vacation and absolutely loved it.
It was a weird taste to begin with, but I shortly decided that I really like it.
The taste just seemed to intrigue me as it tasted like a mixture of mango and banana and I’ve been eating it ever since.
Whenever I’m preparing papaya, my parrot always seems to be rather interested.
That when I thought, can parrot’s eat papaya?
I should probably read up on this before giving it to him.
The answer to this is yes, parrots can eat papaya. Fruits like papaya are an important part of a parrot’s balanced diet and they should be eating the right amount every day. Papaya is considered a superfood to parrots and has high levels of vitamin C. Vitamin C acts as a natural stress relief for birds and can boost their immune system.
In this article, we’ll look at what parts of a papaya a parrot can digest and the benefits behind it.
It’s important to know the benefits of certain types of food that you feed your bird as it can help with their general wellbeing.
I’ll also discuss what fruits you could alternatively give your parrot.
Although papaya is considered a great fruit to give your bird, it’s always best to change the diet from time to time.
This will increase the bird’s appetite and they’ll be more inclined to eat the food you’re feeding them.
Can Parrots Eat Papaya Skin?
As you can see papaya is a great fruit to give your parrot, but can they eat the skin?
Like most fruits when they are in the growing stages, they are sprayed with pesticides to reduce the number of non-edible fruits that they can sell.
If a parrot eats any fruit skin which has been sprayed with a pesticide it can cause long-term health issues such as a loss of appetite, a decrease in fertility and a decrease in the chances to hatch a healthy egg.
However, theoretically speaking the papaya skin alone isn’t toxic to parrots.
If you have your own papaya tree and don’t spray the fruit with any pesticides through the growing stages, you’ll be able to feed this to your parrot.
Can Parrots Eat Papaya Seeds?
Moving our way through the papaya fruit, can you feed your parrot the seeds?
The seeds are perfectly fine to feed your parrot and are commonly found in most parrot seed mixtures.
Unlike the fruit, the seeds hold a lot of oleic acid within them.
Oleic acid is great for birds and can be looked at as a natural energy source for them.
It can even decrease the chances of any heart conditions that may occur with your parrot.
As you can see, you can feed your parrot mostly everything of the papaya fruit, apart from the skin.
It’s a great fruit to introduce into your parrot’s diet.
The fruits and seeds are also commonly found in pre-made mixtures of bird food.
It’s considered a superfood to birds and both the fruit and seeds hold a lot of nutritional value which your parrot can benefit from.
The papaya fruit and seeds both have a good amount of fiber, carbohydrates, vitamin C and A.
These nutrition all play a vital role in keeping your parrot fit and healthy.
Benefits of Papaya for Parrots
There are a ton of benefits when it comes to feeding your parrot papaya, so I’d thought I would mention a few.
The first benefit of feeding your parrot papaya is that it lowers the disease rate that it can be affected by.
Both of the main vitamins found in papaya act as a safe-haven by protecting it from potential diseases.
These main vitamins are vitamin A and vitamin C.
Vitamin A helps their general wellbeing and can strengthen their senses, bones, and minimizes the chances of your bird catching any respiratory diseases.
Now vitamin C can act as a natural fat burner for your parrot and a natural toxin that can relieve stress.
It is commonly known that birds can become increasingly ill from stress, so looking after your parrot’s lifestyle and health is crucial to a long-living bird.
Next, is that it reduces the chances of egg binding. Egg binding is when a female bird is having issues with laying an egg.
If your parrot cannot lay an egg, they can become very ill and you’ll have to seek veterinary help.
The vets will then try to massage the egg out of the parrot’s reproductive system.
It reduces the chances of egg binding because papaya is rich in potassium, it can help regulate muscle contractions and nerve signals used to pass an egg through a parrot’s body.
This fruit can also act as a natural energy boost which will generally help with the overall alertness of your parrot.
Lastly, is that it’s an extremely low-calorie fruit. This is great if you have an overweight bird that needs to go on a low-calorie diet to steer away from long-term obesity issues.
It also contains a high level of folic acid, folic acid can increase the production of amino acids and antibodies.
A bird requires this cell production to decrease the chances of them catching an immune system disease.
Without adding a portion of food that contains folic acid within your parrot’s diet can cause them to be less protected by any immune diseases.
Typically, if your bird gets an immune disease it could lead to something much worse.
As you can see papaya can have some great benefits when it comes to your parrot’s overall health.
However, it should only be introduced as part of a balanced diet. Just feeding your parrot papaya can lead to some long-term issues.
This is due to the lack of other nutrients your parrot needs from different foods to help grow and develop the right way.
How Should I Prepare Papaya for My Parrot?
Papaya is a great fruit to feed your parrot, but how should you prepare it for them?
The first way you can prepare this fruit for your parrot is by juicing it.
Just like most fruits, you can squeeze the juices out of it or alternatively use a juicer.
Adding juiced papaya to your parrot’s diet every now and then can improve their appetite.
Just be careful on the amount you give them, it can be easy to overfeed a parrot with a juiced fruit.
Next will be slicing it. To prepare sliced papaya make sure you peel the skin, this is because the skin may have been sprayed by pesticides.
Once peeled, you can slice it into small piece. You’ll also be able to include the seeds or add the seeds to a seed mixture for a later date.
It’s great to introduce both variants to your parrot and you should continue doing so.
Giving your parrot the same food constantly can cause them to lose their appetite and can eventually lead to your bird losing weight.
Although juicing and slicing your fruit may taste the same, the texture will keep the bird interested.
Alternative Fruits Like Papaya to Give Your Parrot
Depending on where you live in the world, papaya can seem quite an expensive fruit to feed your parrot.
See below other alternatives that share a similar nutritional benefit as the papaya and can (sometimes) be purchased at a cheaper rate.
My first and favorite fruit to feed my parrot which is similar to papaya is mango.
Mango is commonly known in the parrot world and is used in most parrot mixtures.
This is because it’s one of the most eaten fruits that wild parrots consume each day. It provides a load of benefits and is a great healthy alternative.
Just like humans, birds can also get high blood sugar levels which can lead to a lot of issues.
The South Asian fruit, jujube or commonly known as red or Chinese dates can reduce this.
It also shares all the same benefits a papaya fruit can offer.
The next fruit is quite peculiar and is considered the smelliest fruit on earth.
The durian is a strange fruit but can provide great nutritional benefit to your parrot.
I must say it’s not a fruit I commonly buy but I have given it to my parrot a few times.
Now the most common fruit out of the above, is a pear.
Pears hold the same amount of value that the papaya has to offer and can be found in nearly every supermarket you visit.
I can assume this depends on where you live, but most countries have an easy supply of pears or pear-like fruit.
As you can see there are a ton of fruits that offer similar benefits to papaya.
It’s important to mix these fruits around, as it can increase appetite and the overall wellbeing of your parrot.
I understand that papaya isn’t found in all supermarkets and that’s why I made this small list.