what's your birds fav foraging toy?

[Macawlover12]

Does you bird have a favorite foraging toy?

 

[MomtoPercy]

Anything he can rip to pieces! LOL! Especially cardboard things.

He loves small boxes stuffed with paper and a treat or toy.
A stack of corrugated cardboard squares strung onto a string (stuff a sunflower seed here and there into the corrugations).
Rolled up cardboard pieces, tied with sisal, stuffed with whatever and tied to the cage bars.
He also likes to forage in his toy bowls.
Oh, and icecream cones stuffed with a toy, veg, whatever, strung onto a string, hung in the cage.
And a new thing I've found - the bottom bits of small cabages or pak choi. Thread a string through the thick centre stalk and stuff food and/or treats here and there between the white cabage/pakchoi bottom "leaves. Hang in cage and watch the destruction

Also check out this site for lots of ideas Foraging for Parrots

And this one http://www.google.co.uk/url?q=http:...kQFjAF&usg=AFQjCNGC0R26H3ayOBE9h_S_9jrlglyXtw

 

[Kiwibird]

Kiwi is not much of a chewer/shredder, so those types of toys go mostly untouched. He prefers foraging toys where he can see the treat but really has to think to get it. His favorite one is the purple pyramid with different shaped holes We've had it as long as we've had him, and he never seems to loose interest in it. We rotate his foraging toys in and out about every 2 or 3 days. He has a hollowed-out giant "tropical" nut one in his cage currently, but these are the rest of his "collection"-

 

[Anne]

The wheels of Fortune is an absolute winner in popularity here! Also the treasurebox is very popular with one of my Senegals.

 

[Macawlover12]

Percy, I love all your ideas and that they are mostly homemade! I think that you can create something more interesting than what toy manufactures can do.
Kiwi, you have three of my favorite store bought toys. Rings of fortune ( which by the way I bought 4 of recently, they are on sale for 10.00 each at my petsmart), the treasure chest, and the stainless steel cage. I have not seen tge others in your picture before.

 

[MomtoPercy]

Yeah, I can't get the cool toys that Kiwi has because they don't sell them here where I live so I have to make my own.

 

[Allee]

My U2 has the treasure chest but after he took all the pieces out a couple of times he lost interest. He likes paper lunch bags, with toys or tree nuts inside, twisted into the cage bars and he never tires of shredding paper. I can't wait to try some of the cardboard toys and the ice cream cones.

 

[Macawlover12]

The paper bag idea is a really good one. The thrill in finding a treat in something they destroy is awesome.

I bought some small wiffle balls and boiled them in water for a couple seconds. When they became pliable I pushed in nuts and then filled with shredded paper. I gave them to a friend of mine and her macaws loved them!

 

[Kiwibird]

Yeah, I can't get the cool toys that Kiwi has because they don't sell them here where I live so I have to make my own.

That may be true, but you also save a lot of money making your own. Kiwi's only interested in "thinking" and foot toys, with an especial fondness for acrylic which unfortunately, isn't cheap. We worked very hard to train him not to chew stuff outside his cage to prevent him from damaging woodwork and whatnot in apartments. It was unintentional, but he learned not to chew ANYTHING as a result. About the most "destructive" activity he does now is untie knots. When we first got him, he would happily shred up a cracker box or newspaper. Now he "demands" $30 acrylic toys and gives me the "stink eye" when I substitute 25cent baby toys from the Goodwill instead:09:

 

[MomtoPercy]

I bought some small wiffle balls and boiled them in water for a couple seconds. When they became pliable I pushed in nuts and then filled with shredded paper. I gave them to a friend of mine and her macaws loved them!

Oooh, Getwozzy gave me that idea a while ago but I forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder! Once the ball cools, do the holes go back to normal? And if so, how do the macaws get the treats out? Do they destrou the ball? I'm going to try this RIGHT NOW!

 

[Macawlover12]

Percy, the holes will go back to almost normal, provided you act quickly. If you let it cool to much while your working on it, it will cool stretched out.
To get the nuts out they will destroy the ball and believe me, they will love doing it!

 

[MomtoPercy]

I did it. He wasn't very keen to start and dropped the ball after a few minutes. I put the ball in his toy basket and then he went after it with a vengance!

Forgive his messay appearance - he's had a shower

 

[Macawlover12]

He looks happy with his new toy:-D let me know how long it takes to get the nut.
He looks great by the way. Handsome boy!