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Why Won't She Play?

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Why Won't She Play?

Postby Aloysius » Tue Oct 01, 2013 8:28 pm

Okay, this topic has probably come up before (I hope, for the sake of my vanity), but here I go anyway. I have a female Quaker parrot and, though I supply her with an almost incalculable amount of toys (it seems, to my wallet), she still won't play with them. She will basically only play with her foraging toys, you know, the ones you fill up with food, and the bird reaches through tiny holes in the toy to get the food. She ignores woven grasses (or whatever that stuff is), plastic, most leather articles etc. etc.. So, I was wondering if there were training techniques for solving this problem. I don't want to have to get her out even more than I already do (several hours a day) for fear of her getting completely spoiled, and I feel guilty about leaving her in there all day when she won't play with her toys. I'm thinking maybe I should leave her in there more, but such practices don't always work with the other types of animals I know, so I'm hesitant. Any suggestions, accusations, hints, or any type of advice at all will be appreciated!
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Re: Why Won't She Play?

Postby Dbeguy » Wed Oct 02, 2013 7:43 am

A question (bear in mind I'm more of a novice than you, Aloysius).

Are you sure that she doesn't play with them when you're gone? It seems kind of like the refrigerator light. Does it really go off when you close the door? Even if its the case, it doesn't mean she's bored. She just might love her foraging toys to the extent of ignoring the others.
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Re: Why Won't She Play?

Postby Aloysius » Wed Oct 02, 2013 7:42 pm

Well, given the (loud and somewhat irritated) comments from my siblings who are at home when I leave, I would say she doesn't play with them any more than she does when I'm nearby. And she doesn't exactly love her foraging toys. She'll play with them for a minute or two, then get bored, to return to it the next hour or day. But still, I should try putting up a camera to test the play-when-you're-gone theory, when everyone is out of the house, such as when we're on vacation later this year.
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Re: Why Won't She Play?

Postby Pajarita » Thu Oct 03, 2013 2:56 pm

LOL - Quakers are not the kind of bird that would waste time playing, they are the industrious type. They build. Give her paper twisted into a loose rope or just folded and stick it between the cage bars or put a hill of sticks (you can get the kind they sell in arts and crafts stores or you can use little branches) at the bottom. Branches and leaves are what they use to build their nests in the wild (as well as anything else they can carry in their beak and it's pliable enough to 'weave') - my female steals the newspaper off the bottom of the cages where the handicapped birds live and carries it to a corner of the room to build her nest. The place varies as she changes it from time to time but she does this every single day of her life (in the wild, they are always adding to the nest) to the point that if I say her name and "Look what I have for youuuuu" with a newspaper double page (NY Times size) in my hand, she would fly and grab it in her beak while hovering in the air to carry it to 'her' nest and the bigger the paper, the more she likes it -LOL
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Re: Why Won't She Play?

Postby LadySaphine » Thu Oct 03, 2013 6:45 pm

Haha, Pajarita, your quaker sounds so cute! :lol: I knew quakers built nests but I forgot that they would do it in captivity!

It'd be cute to see what people's Quakers come up with.
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Re: Why Won't She Play?

Postby Aloysius » Thu Oct 03, 2013 7:31 pm

Well, that would be great, and amusing, if she did that. I have seen some Quakers weave nests. But do they do them when they are only a few years old? Mine is only a little over two years and as I understand it, they are only full grown at around three years? Thank you for the idea, by the way!
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Re: Why Won't She Play?

Postby imikanwar » Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:13 am

My cockatiel peaches loves to roll in the water I give her she loves bathing and she loves the blow dryer too :D
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