Re: if you have to be out for the entire day: If you can try this while you are around and see what happens, I would try putting some portion of his daily seed out with veggies and pellets in the morning. Then see how long it takes after he gobbles up the seeds before he gets hungry enough to go for the veggies or pellets. I've been testing this out myself and have found that if Sweety feels he got a "decent amount" of seeds early in the morning (seems to him this would be about 1/3 of his daily seeds), then a few hours later he is getting into the pellets. And he will be fine with pellets for quite a long time after that, but will eventually of course will become ravenous for more seeds so I let him have some more for dinner.
If I only put a little bit or no seed, just pellets and veggies, then he is just mad about it. He may eventually head into the pellets but he is literally cussing me out while he does it and only picks at them. Then he acts frantic as long as it takes until he gets seeds, crawling the bottom of the cage seeing if he can reach one that fell down through the gate, squawking loudly, and generally behaving as if he is starving to death.
I'm also finding that if he begins to know that he will have a certain amount in the morning, such as about 1/3 of his daily total, he will actually ration himself on the seeds (because he knows no more are coming until later in the day). Of course he will always ultimately eat every single one of them. But if he has a small belly full for a short time, it seems to keep him satisfied longer and he is more willing to eat pellets.
If I only put a little bit or no seed, just pellets and veggies, then he is just mad about it. He may eventually head into the pellets but he is literally cussing me out while he does it and only picks at them. Then he acts frantic as long as it takes until he gets seeds, crawling the bottom of the cage seeing if he can reach one that fell down through the gate, squawking loudly, and generally behaving as if he is starving to death.
I'm also finding that if he begins to know that he will have a certain amount in the morning, such as about 1/3 of his daily total, he will actually ration himself on the seeds (because he knows no more are coming until later in the day). Of course he will always ultimately eat every single one of them. But if he has a small belly full for a short time, it seems to keep him satisfied longer and he is more willing to eat pellets.
