New Bird Not Playing!

[shekomeko]

Hello! I am a newbie and have a great little GCC who i suspect is relatively young. He is super interactive and has adjusted well to my home but he is not playing with any toys. My sense is he doesn't know what to do with them. I've tried showing him and playing with the toys myself, but he's not getting it. anything i can do? I've ordered more toys so he has a wider variety. All ideas welcome!

[Pajarita]

I really cannot offer any other suggestion than what you are already doing, namely, playing with the toys in front of him and getting him a large variety. But, I tell you, none of my birds really play with toys. They all have some and, when I first put them in (and if I am lucky to have chosen one that they like) they will 'play' with it but, after a few days, they forget all about it and hardly touch it from then on.

The thing is that parrots don't really play in the wild, they chew, they shred, they forage, they bathe, they interact with one another, etc so playing is not what one would call a natural behavior in them. Having said that, what I do is look for toys that they would like to chew or shred so my cockatoos get wooden ones while my amazons get cardboard boxes and they all get what I call 'shreddies' or 'chewies' which are toys made out of material that is fun for them to destroy (they particularly like the colorful ones made out of many different pieces in natural materials - like these, for example:

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Pleasures- ... toys&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Bird-Creati ... arrot+toys

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Pleasures- ... toys&psc=1

You might also want to try kabobs because the little ones love to chew on them:

http://www.amazon.com/Wesco-Mucho-Grand ... arrot+toys

[shekomeko]

Thanks so much. My bird has shredded paper once in a while but isn't doing anything with his shred kabob. All the photos i see are always of the birds playing, so you make a good point about how they live in the wild. I just ordered some foraging puzzles - maybe that will motivate him since he does love his food. He really just wants to hang out with me. I am able to have him out of his cage almost all day long bez i work from home. I'm on my computer and he's on his perch tree right next to me. Everyone once in a while he has to hop on me and nuzzle. i think we are off to a good start.

[Pajarita]

My dear, in my personal experience and opinion (had four GCCs, all rescues), GCCs goal in life is to hang out with their humans. Period. And, as long as they can do that, they are happy. They are the most needy little things, and don't really seem interested in doing anything else but cuddle on your shoulder, as close to your neck as they can get or to burrow under your top so they can sleep next to your skin. Hard on the human but one cannot help but love them to pieces!