How to get your Ekkie motivated to play/forage?

Codil7

New member
Sep 26, 2018
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Kentucky
Parrots
1.0 Eclectus
Before I purchased Ekko, I had read that the species is a ā€œpet rockā€ of sorts when it comes to playfulness. Of course there are some that hold to that name and others that break the mold. My boy is only 6 months old so only time will really tell but as of now his interest in toys/foraging/being adventurous etc is at a minimum. When heā€™s let out of his cage he would much rather sit on his perch on top of his cage than move around and explore or play with the dozens of toys Iā€™ve got for him. Even when I move him away from his cage and to a different location to try and introduce toys he wants nothing to do with them and would rather perch up on my shoulder and not move.

Will his curiosity/playfulness increase with time or what can I do to boost his desire for adventure and play? Iā€™m afriaid if this laziness continues he will become overweight, but it honestly might be me overreacting to the personality these parrots truly have. Currently his only playground area is above his cage. Iā€™m in the process of making plans for a jungle gym that will be separate from his home and I think that should help a little.
 

chris-md

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2010
4,349
2,119
Maryland - USA
Parrots
Parker - male Eclectus

Aphrodite - red throated conure (RIP)
Hello and welcome!! Just FYI weā€™re big phot fans here, hint him!

Letā€™s start by saying this: if he gets overweight, itā€™s your fault for overfeeding him. Adjust the food intake in accordance with his activity level.

Yes, the stoner parrot. My boy is 9 and is still mostly interested in chilling.

You need to jumpstart his mind a bit. The best thing you can do is start doing some training with him. Targeting is the easiest. From there you can work up to recall training (coming on command).

For foraging, here is the video of how I taught Parker to forage. You have to start crazy stupid easy for them and work up

[ame="https://youtu.be/KztWdrv4KsY"]Parker the eclectus' first foraging success - YouTube[/ame]
 
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Codil7

New member
Sep 26, 2018
21
0
Kentucky
Parrots
1.0 Eclectus
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I completely agree with it being my fault if he becomes overweight. Iā€™ve had him for 2 months now and the vet said heā€™s at a perfect weight. So far so good. We have target training mastered and have begun with a few simple tricks. No issues there. I appreciate the foraging video! Iā€™ll definitely try out something similar to that.
 

Anansi

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Dec 18, 2013
22,301
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Somerset,NJ
Parrots
Maya (Female Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Jolly (Male Solomon Island eclectus parrot), Bixby (Male, red-sided eclectus. RIP), Suzie (Male cockatiel. RIP)
Great advice and video from Chris! What I've found is that ekkies are not so much pet rocks as just of a more reserved personality type. But then more they get to know and trust you, the more their playfulness will come out around you. They are not extroverts in the way that macaws, conures or 'toos can be, but with a little coaxing they can come right on out of their feathery shells.

With the toys, you'll want to make a big deal of playing with them yourself. Make a giant fool of yourself in your grand excitement over this amazing toy and you may manage to spark some interest.

Also, picking toys with soft woods is more of a sure bet with ekkies. They tend to prefer the soft woods for shredding and tearing over the harder ones. My Maya is a bit of an exception to this rule, as she enjoys whittling hard woods as well. But Jolly, and Bixby before him, definitely show a preference for the softer ones. So if the toys you are offering have lots of hard woods, that might be a contributing factor to his lack of interest.
 

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