senegal not interested in toys

[gigi]

Hello,

This is my first posting. I have a senegal that will be 7 in March. I used to breed birds and she was born and hand fed at my home. She has no interest in toys. She never was very interested in them all that much but now she plays with nothing. She is healthy and loves to be with me or alone..prefers to be with me. She is very sweet and cuddly but just not interested in playing with anything, except my earrings. But she listens when I tell her not to. She is a real sweetie. Does anyone else have sennies that ignore all toys?
Gigi

[Michael]

Kili isn't too crazy about toys. Not that she doesn't play at all but she much prefers a treat or attention to toys. Truman on the other hand is obsessed with toys. So perhaps it's a Senegal thing. Let's see what others say. Mona?

[MIKEPOPER]

hi,
i have a sun conure and actually he consider anything he can chew(paper,cardboard...)as a toy...
he also loves balls....
but he prefers me or my dad...

[Mona]

It's not a senegal thing. Senegals love their toys.

When I first got Bailey, he didn't play with toys much either. I think his previous keepers just didn't give him very many toys and he didn't have others to watch. Because I have a flock, he watched the other birds play with their toys and now he is a big chewer. I do think they need to chew.

If you have a little hen, try something soft and elastic. Babylon loves to chew towels and she really liked the elastic on underwear. I found that the Senegals tend to like soft leather, popsicle stick toys and very thin wood toys. I also threaded some thin paper sissel like stuff around her cage bars and she really goes to town on these.

In my experience, Senegals tend to be extremely focused so they can keep themselves entertained with a toy for hours. They don't seem to mind being in their cages as long as they have something to chew and destroy.

I think the answer is to keep trying. Leave different things in her cage. If she likes your earrings, you can substitute that for something safe for her to chew in the area, just to give her the idea. The beaks on birds continue to grow, just like fingernails so they really do need to chew to flake off parts of their beaks. Chewing and playing is also great enrichment and a lot of fun. My boys are very rough on their toys and they like to hang from them, swing, yell, hop - get lots of exercise and they basically work very hard for my attention. They make me laugh daily.

Does your bird have a boing? Senegals also tend to really like hopping around on boings.

I don't think I'd give up. I think I'd keep working to get her interested in toys because otherwise, she's missing out on a great exercise and a great enrichment. You are also missing out on the fun of watching her play and destroy her toys. I'd take a look....it may be the toys you are giving her are too big. In the wild, Senegals nest in Bao bao trees so they also tend to like that texture, which is very close to cork. You could try giving your bird some safe corks to chew on as well.

Good topic and thanks!

[Marnie]

thanks for all the suggestions Mona. my Sennie does not care for toys much either. she does love to chew on the soft leather strings of her one toys and was very good at untying the knots.
she absolutely HATES mirrors or bells and will go on the attack if i dare put on in there.
i wiil have to try harder to find things she likes

[entrancedbymyGCC]

she absolutely HATES mirrors or bells and will go on the attack if i dare put on in there.
i wiil have to try harder to find things she likes

Are you sure that's not a form of playing? Scooter has this orange saucer thingy that he LOVES to hate. He attacks it every so often when it's in his cage, sometimes quite vigorously, and when I've rotated it out for a while I have to be careful about where he is when I put it back because he will begin attacking again as soon as he sees it. But it is clear to me that this is play for him. FWIW.

[MandyG]

Mojo is the same, he loves bells but he makes so much noise and plays so enthusiastically it looks like he absolutely hates them!

[zazanomore]

For the first 4 months I had Einstein, he avoided his toys. I began switching them around, and gave him a variety of different toys. Now he loves playing with toys. Which makes me relieved because I'd hate for him to do nothing while I'm gone during the day,

[TheNzJessie]

as my lorikeet as got older hes become less and less interested in toys unless its involves food or paper...or food wrapped in paper...


my budgie on the other hand will play with anything that has bells or something he can sit on that moves i.e a swing. so i bought him a swing that had a bell and its his favorite toy

[gigi]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I have tried all those suggestions in the past. In fact I have cupboards full of toy parts since I had to sell all my other birds. She is very intelligent, just not interested in playing with toys. She's lazy maybe. lol She does have a boing and she loves to SIT on it. I won't give up.