new foraging ideas

i need some new foraging ideas for cooper. and i have found a ton online. some i tried. some of them worked great other didnt. cooper is weird with foraging though. he doesnt like typical "puzzle" foraging toys like the "tresure chest" or anything like that. so that limits me a lot. i really like the foraging block from parrot enrichment. but he chews the side with the hole in a few hours and then it is useless. i also made one myself out of balsa that he likes. i need ideas that arent a "puzzle", but still difficult because he seems to get nutriberries and seeds out of every "destructable" toy, without destroying it, within a matter of minutes. i know it sounds weird, i just cant explain it. hahaha. if you have ANY ideas it would be great! thanks!

Maybe he doesn't "like" the puzzle type because he hasn't figured out how to open them?

There are a lot of great websites out there, but here's one that may help give you some ideas!
Parrot Enrichment

My new fav thing to do for my TAG, who can not do some things because of missing top hook is to wrap his berries like a candy and then hang them all over the cage.

hey thanks for the really fast response monica! i have already been on parrotenrichment(alot) and have used a lot of their ideas. some worked great, some not so much. i have tried to show cooper how to use some of his toys. but i am not the best teacher i guess.... how would you reccomend teaching how to use these:

Jungle Talk Mazy Munch Small - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

Push and Pull Foraging Toy by Creative Foraging - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

i have both of these and he isnt very interested and i dont know how to teach him. i also have this one that he does use and likes but he gets treats out within 5 minutes. any idea on how to make it more challenging without it being to hard so he gives up?

JW Pet Nut Case for Birds - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

any any tips on these? (toys i want to get but need to know more on how to get him interested before i buy)

Star Bird SpinaRoo Small ***NEW*** - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

Foraging Wheel X-Large by Creative Foraging - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE
(i would get a smaller size of this for a quaker but same toy)

Nature's Instinct Parrot's Treasure - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

and of course DIY ideas are always welcome. and sorry im asking a LOOOOOOOT. you really dont have to answer all these questions. but every little bit helps

Some of those toys you need to partially solve them so that the bird can see the treats and possibly get at them.

The Mazy Munch might be a little difficult to teach without teaching him to push and pull on it, but I would definitely start by putting treats in there at different levels, including one at the bottom.

The Push and Pull toy probably does require teaching him how to do those exact behaviors so that he can learn to get his food... although it may be easiest to teach him to pull the parts using targeting behavior.

The Pet Nut Case you might try filling with safe dried grasses, safe paper confetti, or other chewables along with his treats. Maybe even teach him to open up a mini muffin for a treat, then taking the treat filled mini muffins and stuffing tose into the Nut Case? Dollar stores have these usually? Maybe even a store like Walmart?

The SpinaRoo you would probably leave partially opened so that he can see the treats but can't get them immediately, which may prompt him to push/shove at the wood to great to the reward.

I suspect the Foraging Wheel may also be difficult to figure out for him without some training... as well as the Treasure Chest toy if he's not mechanically inclined.


Just trying to think of some possibilities!

well i know where ill be buying my next toys from,they have all those toys at local pet shop but they start at $39 up to $70 well i wont be buying from the shop on line only by the looks of it.

thanks for the help monica! i have tried trainign him how to pull those slats but to no avail yet. just going to keep trying! once i get him useing these ill get some new ones too.

May I ask, how exactly were you trying to teach him to pull the slats?

mrgoogls said:

hey thanks for the really fast response monica! i have already been on parrotenrichment(alot) and have used a lot of their ideas. some worked great, some not so much. i have tried to show cooper how to use some of his toys. but i am not the best teacher i guess.... how would you reccomend teaching how to use these:

Jungle Talk Mazy Munch Small - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

Push and Pull Foraging Toy by Creative Foraging - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

i have both of these and he isnt very interested and i dont know how to teach him. i also have this one that he does use and likes but he gets treats out within 5 minutes. any idea on how to make it more challenging without it being to hard so he gives up?

Click to expand...

I have the second one. My guy has recently gotten bored with it so I am looking for something to replace it with.

Anyway I got my guy started with the push and pull toy by putting some treats at the very bottom where he could reach them and made sure each level had a bit of food so when he moved it at all food would come out. From there he worked out how to use it.

mrgoogls said:

Foraging Wheel X-Large by Creative Foraging - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE
(i would get a smaller size of this for a quaker but same toy)

Click to expand...

Do smaller one's of that even exist? If so I would love to get one.

MonicaMc said:

May I ask, how exactly were you trying to teach him to pull the slats?

Click to expand...

i was TRYING to teach him by letting him eat a bit out of the botom and while having food in all levels pull the slats to let it fall and he could then get it. he tried to grab the slats a few times but soon got bored and stopped paying attention.

mrgoogls said:

MonicaMc said:

May I ask, how exactly were you trying to teach him to pull the slats?

Click to expand...

i was TRYING to teach him by letting him eat a bit out of the botom and while having food in all levels pull the slats to let it fall and he could then get it. he tried to grab the slats a few times but soon got bored and stopped paying attention.

Click to expand...

Another thing that helped with my guy was I put some treats on the slats them self. Each slat has this little hole grip for the bird you can put a treat in.

You can turn food into foraging toys.

This one I used a screw from a destroyed toy and put an apple on it. I used a carrot peeler to poke two holes in the apple and placed some french green beans in it.



With this one I ran out of the wooden bars this toy uses so I put baby carrots in their place.


Here is a version of this foraging toy.
House of Treats by Creative Foraging - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

What an AWESOME idea you had there, MagegrayWolf!!!