won't play with toys

[puff]

i hope this is the best place to post this ?. i have had my tag since june, i get all natural toys, three a month from birdtricks.com. she will NOT play with any kind of toy. she loves the boxes that the toys came in, and toilet paper rolls. with the one exception being her food dishes, she loves to play with anything stainless steel. i have tried modeling the behavior, wearing the toys and putting her favorite treats in them to entice her, nothing works. i would like to see her play independently more, however she doesn't. she has 3-5 toys in her cage at all times, i change them out every 3-4 weeks. she is not afraid of them, she just doesn't know what to do with them (i think). i have all types of toys, sheddable, wood, bamboo, and even foraging toys.
please help any and all suggestions welcome i will try anything!!!

thanks, Jodi

 

[antoinette]

Birds must get used to the toys at a slow introduction. This method could take a few days, remember Rome was not built in a day (so they told me haha)
Place Jodie on the floor, next to you. Hold a toy in your hand and begin kissing it. hey I am not joking here..... you kiss it once then offer it to Jodie. Keep kissing it, sing as well, offering her a chance to kiss it as well. She will probably refuse at first, (and give you the hairy eyeball look) just preserver, eventually curiosity takes over and she will begin to show an interest. If possible hang the toy in her cage, first you play with it, show her it is fun to play with. Make sounds, just be bird crazy and soon she will begin to play with it.

 

[suebee]

hummm nuts like that, make her toys out of things she likes, or put them into the toilet rolls etc i see it as like children, giving them a wii when they want a kinex

as for the foraging toy use it yourself infront of her, with a treat for you! i made the mistake of putting one in nuts cage expecting her to figure it out

how old is your tag an welcome pics please

 

[puff]

lol, i will try that, btw, my bird's name is puff, my name is Jodi. i play with all toys before giving them to her. i will try to make my own toys more, i really appreciate the advice, all is helpful.

 

[MikeyTN]

How long have you had him?

It took some of my babies a long time for them to play with toys, some do it right away though...now they all shred toys like no tomorrow ...lol...

 

[puff]

puff is 10, i just got her in june. i have a youtube page
mspuffmagicdragon

 

[antoinette]

lol, i will try that, btw, my bird's name is puff, my name is Jodi. i play with all toys before giving them to her. i will try to make my own toys more, i really appreciate the advice, all is helpful.

Sorry Jodie I had the names mixed up....... busy with so many things on the forum

 

[mnkeastman]

she is beautiful

 

[BillsBirds]

Many birds that I have taken in do not know that toys are toys. They don't realize that this thing is here to play with. Just have patience. Don't be in a hurry to switch out toys that she doesn't play with. They have to build a trust with this object. Sounds crazy, but I've seen birds look at something for months before playing with it. And then destroying it in days!Or playing with it continually for weeks.

 

[Remy]

Could you put boxes in her cage? You could make a cardboard box into a foraging toy! :-D

I order custom bird toys for Puck from Birdy Booty. He doesn't care for any of the toys I've bought at the store, but he loves the ones I've gotten there. It's nice because you can just tell them a dollar amount, any specifications you might want, and any of your bird's preferences that you have noticed, and they will do the rest.

Puck also really enjoys the tissue paper that the toys come in, so I weave some through is cage bars. He also likes keys, so I put a keyring in his cage.

 

[Spiritbird]

You have to be careful with toys for a TAG. So many things frighten them. You have been given very good advice here by other members. I would only have a few toys in her cage for a while and you can take some out on a table and play with them while she is with you on the table. My Rosie loves bells (SS) and leather strips best. Good luck. Oh I do make many of the bird toys she has.

 

[puff]

wow, you are all so helpful, thank you so much. i have a few new ideas and will work a little slower with the toys. i always have boxes in her cage she LOVES them. i really love the help so thank you again!
Jodi

 

[roxynoodle]

My amazon did not know what toys were when I got him. He is often very afraid of new ones. I introduce them now by laying them next to his cage for a day. Then I clip it to the outside near the bottom, and gradually move it up a bit each day.

If is often also a matter of being with them for awhile to learn what they like. I've now learned he likes bells, things he can climb on and twirl around, and flatter, round pieces of wood for chewing. And after he chewed one of those off, he kept going to the bottom of the cage to get it, climb back up, and hold in his foot to chew. So I give him little pieces of wood to do that with. Once it gets too small, I give him another one.

My Blue Crown conure needed very mentally stimulating toys and was super hard to please. She loved a little acrylic treasure chest with different shaped holes, filled with little wooden shapes that she had to work out of there. She also loved big cotton rope toys that took her a very long time to untie the knots in. She went through one of those every few weeks. Her other thing was undoing all the links that held the toys. So I would put a bunch together in a long string so she could undo them each one by one. I always called her my little mechanic.