Keeping Minds Occupied

[mirandasophie]

Hi all,

Just after some hints, tips and ideas- I am worried that Charlie isn't being stimulated enough. What are some really interesting (but fairly cheap) "things" I can give him to allow him to use his brain and prevent boredom?

(He's a long-billed corella)

Any help much appreciated :-)

[avinet]

Usuaqlly things to chew top the list - fresh branches with the bark on, prunning from Grevillea, wattle etc with leaves and preferably flowers. Pine cones are good as are Banksia seed pods.

There are plenty of toys that require manipulation to get treats out - hiding food in various places for him to seek out and find. Wrapping food treats in newspaper for him to shred and find the treat. For my Greys I will rip newspaper up and put it in a wire cage that also has some almond sin the shell hidden in it for them to pull the paper out form to find the nuts. Sometimes I don't put any nuts in, other times there may be several - it is the baffle cage on this web page www.parrotrescuecentre.com/ubg/shop_prod.php?cat=9 There is a whole range of foraging toys on that and succeeding pages

Foraging is an important technique for stopping boredom - look at www.creativeforagingsystems.com/index.html And ther eis also a very good DVD on foraging worth getting - www.birdkeeper.com.au/bird-dvds/dvd91-captive-foraging-the-next-best-thing-to-being-free-dvd

cheers,

Mike

[meandem]

Cheap...........well............to occupy my quaker - who gets bored very easily, I give him a empty toilet roll, he plays with it for hours and then demolishes it when he is finished playing. Cheap, plenty of, and so much fun - for you and the bird. I love watching him.

[mirandasophie]

Brilliant, thank you.

He usually always has fresh branches and leaved and various native flowers or pods to chew but I was worried that that might not be stimulating enough. For example, I've just taught him how to put coins into a piggy bank- something that requires a little bit of effort- gettgin the coin in the right place and at the right angle and dropping it in without his beak gtting stuck in there too.

Have also done the toilet roll thing.

He has soil in the bottom of his outside cage, which we spread seeds and shells through. I just didn't want to give him the same things all the time, you know? I mean, he loves shredding branches and leaves... but wasn't sure it's enough to keep him happy.

Wll do the newspaper thing for sure! He LOVES ripping paper!!

Thanks again!

[squishy]

A cardboard box in the bottom of his cage? My lori loves hers, scratches around and nests in hers, pulls it apart. Now she has one with bedding which she sleeps in. She hates it when I clean out her cage, but she has hours of fun in there, renovating, so it's worth the commotion when I change it.

[meandem]

I gave Chuckles a cardboard box to play in, and she laid 3 eggs in there ............won't do that again!

[Gerard]

Acquire some leather cord about 1/8 inch diameter (Vegetable tanned = bird safe) and some large gum nuts 35mm or larger diameter. Drill a hole though the gum nuts just large enough to feed the cord through. The last gum nut should be drilled through vertically so you can hide the knot inside the gum nut otherwise your corella may undo the knot and they all fall off. Gum nuts are surprisingly durable, even with big birds such as toos and macaws. If you're going to collect them yourself make sure your rap them in foil and put them in the oven at 100 celcius for 2 hours to kill of any pests such as redbacks which may like to call them home. If you don't have any large gum nuts in your area then you can acquire them by the kilo from the Parrot Rescue Centre shop.

[mirandasophie]

Wow!Thank you Gerard! The Parrto Rescue Centre shop is FANTASTIC!!! EXACTLY what i've been looking for- and they are priced very well, too! I've just spend a while "window shopping" for Charlie- so much I want to get him!! Amazing! thank you so much!