Lisa,
Parakeets are generally slender, long tailed parrots. There are many different types of parakeets - mostly from Australia, but some are from other countries.

My birds all love pizza, pasta, perogies, potatoes, toast (with or without a tiny bit of peanut butter), and virtually anything else that I might be eating.

It IS hard to convince a seed junkie that other foods are acceptable, but since Baby has now tried a cracker, he may be willing to taste a few other things.

Mavis...thanks for pointing out that cockatiels don't pick things up with their feet. I guess I hadn't made that connection yet. I thought it was just that my grandmother always "spoiled" Baby by holding his millet sprays for him to munch on. I think I'll get a "clip" for his cage, since I find that he will eat the crackers while I'm holding it for him, but ignores it when I break it up in his dish. I'm sure he misses the attention he got from my grandma and all the nurses in the Nursing Home. Her mental condition has deteriorated so much in the past couple months that she wasn't able to take care of him like she used to. And with me gone to work all day, he just has my other pets for company. He goes nuts when I come home and has, at least, stopped biting me...so, I guess we're making progress!! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm sure that Baby does really miss all the attention he got in the nursing home. Its just nice that he was allowed to be there with your Grandmother for as long as he was. I'm sure progress seems slow, but since you are making progress I'm sure that you & Baby will become great friends. A clip to put foods on would be a great idea - that way he can nibble on whatever you put on it while you're not there.

I thought I'd update you on my progress, or lack of it, with Baby, my grandma's cockatiel. So far, he'll go for most anything dry, like crackers, pretzels, bread, etc. I held an orange slice for him and he just fluffed up and froze...kind of shook like he was afraid of it. Same thing with a green bean and carrot stick. He actually "licked" an apple slice but then backed off. Sooo, no much luck so far, but I'm keeping at it. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Sometimes it takes lots of patience to convince a bird that strange foods aren't going to hurt him. So, basically keep doing what you're doing & I'm sure he'll catch on. You could maybe try even smaller pieces - put a piece of orange or spread a tiny bit of banana onto that toast or cracker.

Thanks for keeping us updated & let us know when he starts trying new things.