And learning how to play
Parrot toys can be fairly inexpensive and you can even make your own. Custom making toys for your pet bird is an especially good idea when you know exactly what your bird likes. For example, my CAG loves to chew his wooden toys into splinters and nibble on long pieces of frayed rope, so I try and improvise with squashed-down toilet roll tubes and soft cotton rope. You can make more complicated designs if you're creative, but remember to make sure the materials you are using are not harmful to the bird (they will not ingest anything poisonous to them) and that the toy cannot injur them (by getting their feet caught in it or hurting themselves on sharp edges etc.).
Not all birds seem to play with toys. A possible reason for this is that the bird doesn't know how to play. Although this may seem strange, it's true. If this is the case with your bird, you need to teach it how to play. You can do this by taking a variety of toys that he/she will have in the cage and show your bird how much fun you have playing with the toy. Inspect it, handle it and generally play with it in close quaters of your parrot and act as though you're having a brilliant time. This hopefully will intrigue the bird and spark it's interest in the toy. After a while, try handing it over to the parrot and let it inspect the toy. If he/she shows no interest, you may want to try again or have a go with another type of toy.
This may seem like a lot of work and a bit silly, but it is vital that a bird is capable of entertaining itself. It is unlikely that you will constantly be there to play with your parrot, so it must learn to play with its toys when you are not there to provide the entertainment. A bored bird can become stressed, a feather plucker, screamer, biter or recluse (please see my page on screaming)
it is also a good idea to rotate the toys in your parrot's cage so that it does not become bored of playing with the same things. If you cannot afford lots of different toys, even just switching the positions of the toys to provide a 'change of scenery' can brighten your bird's day!
There's nothing quite like watching my grey swinging upsidedown from his big hanging toy literally screaming with delight! He is possibly the most playful parrot I have ever seen, and as well as entertaining himself, he does a wonderful job entertaining everyone else with his stunts and acrobatics!
"My Parrot doesn't play with toys- she just destroys them" What is wrong with this sentence????
I once asked a parrot owner, "why don't you give her some toys to play with?" I was told that the parrot "didn't play with the toys, she just destroyed them." Well that is exactly how parrots play with their toys! 'Search and destroy' is a favourite game of most parrots. It's what comes naturally to them. My grey has a lot more fun destroying his ladder than he does climbing up and down it, and that's fine by me if it keeps him happy and occupied.
At the moment, in my African Grey's cage, there is a ladder, a swing, a large hanging rope-and-wooden-blocks-combo toy, a smaller rope and wood combo toy, a long cotton rope with knots running down it, 3 wooden perches and a pedicure perch. That may sound like a lot of toys to have in one parrot's cage but the cage is quite large and the toys are arranged so that he has lots of perching, running, climbing and stretching space. I simply let him do as he wishes with the toys (mainly dismantling, chewing and shredding into lots of tiny pieces), and when he has destroyed it, I replace it with a new toy for him to repeat the process! I do not, however, allow any of his toys become dangerous. For example, if he were to partially destroy a toy that had any sharp or pertruding edges, or cotton rope that could get him tangled, I would immediately remove that toy.
This may sound like an expensive process, but it really isn't. You can buy thousands of different types of parrot toys that start at very reasonable prices. Plus, it's unlikely that your parrot will be destroying one toy per day or even per week (although don't hold me to that depending on your bird!) Besides, it is your responsibility to care for your bird in the way it deserves. They are intelligent creatures that require a lot of stimulation to maintain happiness, good mental health and a desireable personality. Nobody wants a depressed bird with behavioural problems!
Make-shift/cheap toys and games for parrots
- Try ripping up long strips of plain paper and weaving them in and out of the bars on your parrots cage. Your bird will have pleanty of fun pulling out the strips one by one and shreading them to pieces
- A flattened toilet roll tube provides lots of chewing fun! Tikki doesn't stop untill the entire thing is in a million pieces on the bottom of his cage!
- many parrots that I have met seem to have had a fetish for toothbrushes. Possibly because they're easy to hold and they like the texture of the bristles? I don't really know, but when you finish with your toothbrush, hand it over to your pet bird
-When my Grey is out of his cage and starts getting 'fidgety', the best and pretty much only way I can keep him entertained while my back is turned it to give him something to get his beak into! He will spend ages ripping things to pieces, so when I'm at the computer in the office, my dad'd compliment slips come in very handy! I just twist 'em up and hand them to Tikki to destroy! (Sorry Dad...)
If you have any handy hints, DIY toy suggestions, ideas, comments or stories to share, please e-mail me. I'd love to hear from you and I'll reply to you as soon as I can!
