Can Parrots Eat Bananas? Yes, Peel and All, in Moderation

Banana is a safe parrot fruit

VCA's list of suitable fruits and vegetables for budgies includes banana, and the same foods suit conures, African grays, Amazons, cockatoos and macaws. Banana is not toxic to parrots in any form, including the peel.

It is also one of the most useful fruits for owners. Its soft texture and sweetness make it easy to mash, and a little mashed banana mixed with pellets or chopped vegetables can help a reluctant bird try new foods, in the same way VCA suggests using moist foods to help convert a seed-eater.

Why sweet fruit stays a small share

VCA's conure guide says fruit is high in water and natural sugar, and suggests it make up about 10 percent of daily intake, with vegetables and greens at 20 to 40 percent and pellets at 75 to 80 percent. VCA's cockatoo guide gives similar proportions.

Banana is denser and sweeter than most fruit, so a little goes a long way. A parrot given large pieces of banana often may eat less of its pellets and vegetables, which is the balance VCA's guidance is built to protect.

How to serve banana to a parrot

Wash the outside of the banana. Cut a round with the peel on; many parrots enjoy pulling the peel off themselves, which turns a snack into a small foraging task. For smaller parrots, cut the round into pieces.

Serve banana in a separate dish from pellets and water, and remove leftovers after a couple of hours. VCA warns that fresh fruit left in the cage all day may spoil and cause digestive upset. Skip banana chips, which are often fried and sweetened, and banana bread.

Fresh foods spoil fast in a warm room; offer them in a clip-on dish in the bird cage and remove leftovers within a few hours, or hide a piece in a foraging toy.

How much banana for different parrots

VCA notes that a small handful of food for a cockatoo is like a dinner plate-size portion for a person, and that about a tablespoon of table food is plenty for a conure. Use that sense of scale for fruit too.

As a guide, a round about the thickness of a coin, a few times a week, suits a conure. An African gray, Amazon or cockatoo can have a round about the thickness of a finger. Macaws can have a little more. Rotate banana with other fruit and, more often, with vegetables.

Foods to keep away from your parrot

VCA says avocado and onions are potentially toxic and should never be offered to any parrot. Lafeber adds that avocado contains persin, reported to be a cardiac toxin to birds, and that the pits of cherries, plums, apricots and peaches, along with apple seeds, contain cyanide.

VCA also lists chocolate, caffeinated drinks such as coffee, tea and soda, alcohol, processed snacks such as cookies and chips, and foods cooked with oil or butter. Banana splits, banana pudding and chocolate-dipped banana are for people only.

When to call an avian vet

Call an avian veterinarian if your parrot stops eating, fluffs up and sits on the cage floor, has diarrhea, or seems weak. A change in droppings that lasts more than a day is also worth a call.

If your parrot ate avocado, chocolate or another toxic food, call your vet straight away. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 and Pet Poison Helpline at (855) 764-7661 can also advise; a fee may apply.

This page is general information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot replace an examination by the vet who knows your pet.