Encouraging Play

[CheekyandMalolo]

I'm just wondering if any of you have any clues for encouraging our Princess Parrot and Red Wing Parrot to play? The Tiels have no issue, many times I'll go out and see Speckle hanging off a toy going nuts at it, or Mali with her face in a bell. But the boys don't seem too interested in playing at all. Tim would sit there and sleep all day, with the occasional bath, and at the moment Prince is more interesting a scoring with Mali or chasing Speckle than anything.
They both enjoy foraging. The love having a heap of fresh (washed)branch clippings in their cage the chew and destroy, so maybe some foraging toys to encourage some play? Prince loves to throw things, when he was younger he'd hide up on the shelf above the kitchen and throw things on the ground. Grr. Pens go flying, we give them nutrigrain every now and then, and he has more fun carrying each piece individually to the edge of the table and watching them fall. Tim's loves to explore, and just generally eat. He's really not playful, not like the Tiels. But I'm sure he could be, I think he's just a bit bored.
The thing is Prince doesn't play inside the cage, not interested at all.

[Titanius]

Try different things... My tiels didnt play with certain toys I put in front of them the tradition wood block ones...then I got them some nice bright coloured shredding toys and they went crazy with it.. Sometimes its just about striking the right chord with them. Have fun trying to figure your bird out the reward is just amazing to see them playing with something they genuinely like.

[CheekyandMalolo]

Thanks, I've been trying to convince dad that they need more and more toys in there. More variety to play with, he's of the opinion that they aren't playful birds, therefore they don't need too many toys. He's more interested in filling their cage with fresh branch clipping(which they love).
Now that I'm at home again and my 'Tiels are sharing a cage with them again, I can use the excuse that [i]my[/i birds need LOTS of toys in the cage to play with. And he can hopefully see his birds start to play more and more.

[Kim S]

If Tim likes to eat and explore, foragingtoys would be idea.
Some of them are easy to make yourself.
Just take a large cardboard box and fill it with fresh willowleaves, woodshavings or papercuttings. Put some food in there, and voila. Explore and eat toy.

For Prince, you might want to get some foot toys. Put them in a bowl he can throw them out of. Maybe put a string on them so they dont fall all the way to the bottom but dangle somewhere halfway the cage.

If they both love to shred fresh branches you can make toys out of that. I made a swing out of fresh wood. Take a length of wood for them to sit on. Drill holes on both sides so you can put a piece of string or metal through it. Take smaller pieces of wood to drill holes in and string them on the metal or string. Voila. A swing they can chew on.

[minhta]

Hi everyone

I too am pondering the same problem with Roger, my Princess Parrot. He too doesn't play with his toys and I'm concern he'll get bored while I'm away at work during the day. I've bought him a medium size swing with a bell and a colourful cargo net with dummies, wooden blocks, etc attached but he never plays with them. I have read that you need to rotate toys until you find something that they like but these toys cost $25+ each so it's disheartning to buy something they're not going to play with. Now I know how my parents felt when I was a kid, lol.

I've got some foot toys but haven't figured out how to get Roger to play with them and not have them lying on the cage floor where they might get mixed up with the poops and mess so thanks Kim S for the helpful advice about the bowl and tying the foot toy.

The cardboard box idea is also good, thanks again Kim S. I'm going to use a tissue box as I can tie it inside Roger's cage and cut the hole bigger.

CheekyandMalolo, was your Princess Parrot hand-raised or parent-raise? Roger was parrent-raised and he's only 10 months old so I wonder if this could be a reason he didn't know to play with his toys?

In conclusion I'm wondering if there is anyway you can get a bird to become interested in their toy or you just have to bite the bullet and keep buying toys until you hit the jackpot?

If Tim likes to eat and explore, foragingtoys would be idea.
Some of them are easy to make yourself.
Just take a large cardboard box and fill it with fresh willowleaves, woodshavings or papercuttings. Put some food in there, and voila. Explore and eat toy.

For Prince, you might want to get some foot toys. Put them in a bowl he can throw them out of. Maybe put a string on them so they dont fall all the way to the bottom but dangle somewhere halfway the cage.

If they both love to shred fresh branches you can make toys out of that. I made a swing out of fresh wood. Take a length of wood for them to sit on. Drill holes on both sides so you can put a piece of string or metal through it. Take smaller pieces of wood to drill holes in and string them on the metal or string. Voila. A swing they can chew on.

[Kim S]

You can stop saying Kim S everytime you refer to me, it makes me feel like a criminal
I only got this username since Kim was taken already.

[minhta]

lol, thanks Kim.

[CheekyandMalolo]

Minhta, our Princess Parrot is handraised, he's about 4 years old maybe??

He's the most arrogant thing I know, he'll come to you when he feels like it, but step up? Hell no.
The little blue monster can also imitate just about anything imaginable. Especially the really annoying ones.

I love the idea about the bowl of foot toys tied with strings. He'll love it!