Bored Bird! Need suggestions

Mthood91 · Mar 10, 2017

I got my Red Fronted Macaw who just loves attention..and deconstructing pens. I have found ZERO other things he likes. He doesn't do wood, scrap paper really, or anything besides pens. This is a bird that starves for attention so he definitely gets bored if you're not interacting with him. He can be out on a perch next to me and that's not enough and I want to find something other than my usable pens ha

Any recommendations based off this behavior?

gracebowen · Mar 10, 2017

Round dowels. Just a random thought. Never owned a Mac.

Mthood91 · Mar 10, 2017

Yeah not interested. Its like he needs something to deconstruct? it can't be something plain really. he has to be able to break it what not. he also doesn't seem to like any wood. only plastic, maybe acrylic

BeatriceC · Mar 10, 2017

I had to actually teach my rescue macaw how to play with toys. Perhaps your baby just needs to be shown what to do?

marxxx · Mar 10, 2017

How about foraging toys, plastic nuts and bolts, foot toys like the barbels, stainless steel bell with hidden clapper (they can't tear the clapper out so they go nuts).

Take a piece of wood (like a 2x4 perch), drill holes in it and pound shelled nuts into the holes. A lot of times the birds will spend days trying to get them out. You could also run some rope through those holes and tie knots on either side, he/she may desire to untie the knots.

Also, take a bird safe cooking spoon and smear peanut butter on it. They will spend a long time trying to get it all off. You can use natural peanut butter for less sugar. While peanuts aren't ideal, I do use it as a treat once in a while.

Just a few ideas, hope it helps!

marxxx · Mar 10, 2017

You can also buy stainless steel nuts and bolts. Either thread the bolts into the wood, or run them straight through and put the nut on the other side. Let him un-thread the nuts and pull the bolts out of the wood.
You can also put some pvc connectors (caps, t's etc) on pieces of pvc and let him take those a part (just be careful he doesn't chew on the pvc too much, that's not good for them ingest).

Also, baby toys can be good. Put the plastic rings together let him tkae them apart. My mac likes to unscrew the connector I use to hang his toys, then he pulls the toy off and drops it to the bottom of the cage.

A lot of these are relatively cheap and easy to try.

Hopefully you find some things he likes.... Does he like swings, orbs, anything like that?

ParrotLover2001 · Mar 10, 2017

Foraging toys. It keeps my birds busy. Although i have small parrots, not a macaw. And not all birds are alike. But if you put something in the toy that your macaw can not resist, he might just play with it.

EllenD · Mar 10, 2017

Plastic baby toys are cheap and they can spend hours trying to disconnect them...Plastic rings that hook together, plastic keys on a key ring, etc. Just go to Walmart and go to the baby section. They have tons of plastic toys that they can work on.

"Dance like nobody's watching..."

GaleriaGila · Mar 10, 2017

Quoting Marxxx
"You can also buy stainless steel nuts and bolts. Either thread the bolts into the wood, or run them straight through and put the nut on the other side. Let him un-thread the nuts and pull the bolts out of the wood.
You can also put some pvc connectors (caps, t's etc) on pieces of pvc and let him take those a part (just be careful he doesn't chew on the pvc too much, that's not good for them ingest)."

Cheap, safe, fun!

Bored Bird! Need suggestions

Mthood91

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gracebowen

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Mthood91

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BeatriceC

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marxxx

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marxxx

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GaleriaGila

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