Terrific
rescue story! Looks like you've got plenty of great suggestions already. I know
s have a reputation for being really playful, but ours too doesn't really seem to play with much unless it's related to his/her fave food. I wonder if its a bird age thing since ours is known to be fairly old. PeeWee, though not a plucker, did have a small history of abuse, and he/she continues to be somewhat phobic and clingy at times. But, given enough time and TLC, he/she became really well resocialized-- one could argue **too** socialized as all he/she wants to do is be on my shoulder and eat the foods I eat etc. So our challenge has been getting PeeWee to enjoy playing and being independent. I know that his/her fave thing in the world are pistachios, so perhaps you could experiment with offering GB different foods to figure out which he likes best. Once you have a fave treat identified, it'll work wonders. PeeWee won't forage unless we repeatedly show him/her that there's a pistachio in place "X" like 50 times. But after a while PeeWee has learned to associate certain toys that we make or toys we bought for foraging as a source of pistachios, which has helped immensely. He/she's also a really good paper shredder, so there's a nice paper shredder toy in the cage as well. It's all a matter of experimenting as you are doing and seeing what the bird is comfortable with continuing. And it's really wonderful of you for having taken GB under your wing, so to speak.