Full Version: To Many Toys?
My wife is afraid that I have to many toys in the cage for Chula. Granted, there are some toys that she has bearly touched, but there are others, including some brand news one, that she has taken to right away. I know that there needs to be a lot of stimulation, but when is a lot, TO MUCH? Your thoughts are welcomed. See attached pics (front view and side view of cage, and of course one of the Princessa herself).
I don't think there are too many maybe put 1 or two outside the cage 
IMO as long as the bird is able to move around the cage without bumping into anything, it is fine. Your set-up looks really nice. What a spoiled fid!
.... mine is more crowded than that, considering there is also a roosting platform Kiko is still uncomfortable with, a couple branches coming off the outside, a rope perch so she can get to the top, two chunks of wood strapped to the top with a half a coconut husk as a bowl... *grins* And that doesn't include her tub playgym in my grooming room or her sleeping cage upstairs! Chula doesn't look overly put out, either. If SHE thought there wasn't enough room in there she'd be fussy about it.
QUOTE (Jen_and_spiggy @ Oct 26 2009, 08:59 AM) 
I don't think there are too many maybe put 1 or two outside the cage
On the outside so that she plays with them from the inside? She is not often left to explore the outside of her cage. When she is out, she is on her playgym or perched on one of the family members fingers and playing or getting love and snuggles. Trying to enforce the no shoulder time rule with the family as much as possible, and she has clipped wings. As for toys outside the cage, would foraging toys be the idea there mainly? I need to give her more destructable toys, because she has one that she has really enjoyed beating up. I want to learn more about how to help her learn foraging, but we have had a difficult time finding a treat that she is crazy over. As it is right now, she has her pellets in her cage all day. Ultimate goal is (I think) to give her food in the morning and then remove it, leaving foraging toys full of whatever for her to find during the day, and then giving her food again in the evening.
QUOTE (Cacophony @ Oct 26 2009, 10:40 AM)
Chula doesn't look overly put out, either. If SHE thought there wasn't enough room in there she'd be fussy about it.
Funny that you mention that, because I have moved things around in the cage and/or put in or taken out toys while she was in the cage. I now read that I shouldn't be doing that sort of thing while she is in the cage. Anyway, while doing so, she is either wanting me to take her out of the cage, or she watches what I am doing very intently. Such little supervisors they are. hehehe
A bird needs to have enough room to spread their wings completely out without hitting anything in their cage that way they can exercise their wings without fear of injury.
As far as teaching her to forage; start out with simple things...find a treat that she likes and play with her with it...hide it in things while you have her out and playing. For instance take a sunflower seed or a piece of dried fruit and lightly wrap it up in a small piece of paper...let her watch you do it. And then play catch with her with it... You can first start out just taking a plain piece of paper and bunching it up into a small ball and just toss it around her, making happy noises offer it to her and if she makes any motion to take hold of it get really excited and tell her good bird...then as she gets comfortable with tossing it back to you you can put a treat inside of it and make sure that it comes out fairly easy so when she plays with it it comes out As she gets more comfortable with it wrap the treats tighter in the paper so she has to work a little harder at getting the treat out.
Then when she has that mastered you can put that type of thing inside another small container and show her what to do with it...For instance take the ball of paper with a treat in it and put it in a small dixie cup or a paper condoment cup and show her then crinkle the cup up some so that she has to work to get the balled up paper with the treat inside and just continue to make the puzzle a little more difficult. She'll get the idea and you can start putting more treat puzzles together for her and you can encorporate some of her regular food into some of the treat boxes as well.
Something else you can do is take a clothes pin and pinch a piece of fruit or veggie between it and hang it somewhere in her cage that is fairly easy to get to, as she gets better at taking it out of the clothes pin you can start making it more difficult for her to get to.
They also have little cat toys or ferret toys that can come apart that you can put things in for instance there are little balls that will come apart that people put cat nip in ...you can put treats in there. There's lots of things like toilet paper rolls that you can cut up and make little slits in and stick things through for them to try and figure out.
They don't all have to have a treat, it can be filled with just shreddable material or your can take popscicle sticks or coffee stir sticks and weave them together and hang them by a piece of leather cord so that they can take them apart.
I've found some of the simpler things are the most fun for them to destroy and before you give them to them, let them watch you put them together. Many times I'll be sitting at the table making things and let the bird sit on the table and I'll play with the thing I'm making piece by piece with them so they know its ok...for instnace a coffee stirrer I'll encourage them to take it in their beak and tug on it then I'll take it away and incorporate it into the toy. That way they know that they can tug on that kind of stuff.
I found some chinese take out food boxes at a Cash and Carry store small ones and I brought them home and filled them with all sorts of different things, some had treats some just had other shreddables or toys in them and I'd give them a box to let them destroy... You can buy the paper condoment cups as well in bulk and use those as well, sometimes I'll buy the snap on lids and use those for puzzle sometimes I just stack a few inside each other. The sky is the limit so use your imagination...just let them help you assemble it the first few times so they know what their supposed to do.
Another favorite is to take some heavier construction paper and make little envelopes and stuff those envelopes with other items, Sometimes I will take coffee stirrers and put them in there, and then I'll get some uncooked spaghetti noodles and put in there, Maybe some bamboo skewers or just some strips of crinkled up paper and I'll take a piece of jute and poke a hole in the envelope somewhere and hang it from the side of a cage. You can use a drop of kids school glue to hold the paper together as you fold it into an envelope. Use different shapes of pasta as well or put some popcorn or something like that in it. As I said, the sky's the limit.
If you have children, you can make it a family play day project and let the bird get in on it as you all sit around the table constructing things. He'll see the kids or you playing with things and he'll definitely want to join in. String cherios or other types of cereals on to things Again, take a piece of heavy construction paper and with a darning needle and a thin piece of jute string or cotton string etc, lace some cereal on to the paper and hang it up in their cage or on their play stand etc.
As far as teaching her to forage; start out with simple things...find a treat that she likes and play with her with it...hide it in things while you have her out and playing. For instance take a sunflower seed or a piece of dried fruit and lightly wrap it up in a small piece of paper...let her watch you do it. And then play catch with her with it... You can first start out just taking a plain piece of paper and bunching it up into a small ball and just toss it around her, making happy noises offer it to her and if she makes any motion to take hold of it get really excited and tell her good bird...then as she gets comfortable with tossing it back to you you can put a treat inside of it and make sure that it comes out fairly easy so when she plays with it it comes out As she gets more comfortable with it wrap the treats tighter in the paper so she has to work a little harder at getting the treat out.
Then when she has that mastered you can put that type of thing inside another small container and show her what to do with it...For instance take the ball of paper with a treat in it and put it in a small dixie cup or a paper condoment cup and show her then crinkle the cup up some so that she has to work to get the balled up paper with the treat inside and just continue to make the puzzle a little more difficult. She'll get the idea and you can start putting more treat puzzles together for her and you can encorporate some of her regular food into some of the treat boxes as well.
Something else you can do is take a clothes pin and pinch a piece of fruit or veggie between it and hang it somewhere in her cage that is fairly easy to get to, as she gets better at taking it out of the clothes pin you can start making it more difficult for her to get to.
They also have little cat toys or ferret toys that can come apart that you can put things in for instance there are little balls that will come apart that people put cat nip in ...you can put treats in there. There's lots of things like toilet paper rolls that you can cut up and make little slits in and stick things through for them to try and figure out.
They don't all have to have a treat, it can be filled with just shreddable material or your can take popscicle sticks or coffee stir sticks and weave them together and hang them by a piece of leather cord so that they can take them apart.
I've found some of the simpler things are the most fun for them to destroy and before you give them to them, let them watch you put them together. Many times I'll be sitting at the table making things and let the bird sit on the table and I'll play with the thing I'm making piece by piece with them so they know its ok...for instnace a coffee stirrer I'll encourage them to take it in their beak and tug on it then I'll take it away and incorporate it into the toy. That way they know that they can tug on that kind of stuff.
I found some chinese take out food boxes at a Cash and Carry store small ones and I brought them home and filled them with all sorts of different things, some had treats some just had other shreddables or toys in them and I'd give them a box to let them destroy... You can buy the paper condoment cups as well in bulk and use those as well, sometimes I'll buy the snap on lids and use those for puzzle sometimes I just stack a few inside each other. The sky is the limit so use your imagination...just let them help you assemble it the first few times so they know what their supposed to do.
Another favorite is to take some heavier construction paper and make little envelopes and stuff those envelopes with other items, Sometimes I will take coffee stirrers and put them in there, and then I'll get some uncooked spaghetti noodles and put in there, Maybe some bamboo skewers or just some strips of crinkled up paper and I'll take a piece of jute and poke a hole in the envelope somewhere and hang it from the side of a cage. You can use a drop of kids school glue to hold the paper together as you fold it into an envelope. Use different shapes of pasta as well or put some popcorn or something like that in it. As I said, the sky's the limit.
If you have children, you can make it a family play day project and let the bird get in on it as you all sit around the table constructing things. He'll see the kids or you playing with things and he'll definitely want to join in. String cherios or other types of cereals on to things Again, take a piece of heavy construction paper and with a darning needle and a thin piece of jute string or cotton string etc, lace some cereal on to the paper and hang it up in their cage or on their play stand etc.
Both of mine have LOTS more stuff than that. 
Your bird's cage isn't at all too crowded. I have often thought I should take some things out, but Jade simply won't allow it, and even Clyde gets huffy if I take anything away. Hubby says you can't even tell there's a bird in Jade's cage because you can't find her amidst all the stuff (he exaggerates, but not much!)
Your bird's cage isn't at all too crowded. I have often thought I should take some things out, but Jade simply won't allow it, and even Clyde gets huffy if I take anything away. Hubby says you can't even tell there's a bird in Jade's cage because you can't find her amidst all the stuff (he exaggerates, but not much!)
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