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Doesn't play with toys

Yoli

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Hello,
About a month ago I adopted a 3yr old Female Eclectus. She is very sweet and beautiful. She seems to get along with both female and male.

She came from a retired couple so she had human company all day. They gave her up for adoption because the husband was handicap and they didn't have time to give her the attention she needed.
I have taken care of many parrots before from sun conures to B&G Macaws. I did a lot of research before bringing her home. One of the first things I wanted to change with her was her diet as she came from an all seed diet. In the 4 weeks that she has been with me, she now is eating veggies, grains, legumes and to my shocking surprise she actually loves Harrison's Adult Course Pellets.
One of the things I've notice though, is that I do not see her playing with her toys. So I went out and bought new toys, thinking she was bored of her old ones. But she wanted nothing to do with them. I find that odd, because my other parrots that I owned loved playing with their toys.
She is very alert, loves to eat, especially if she is on her stand eating her veggies and I'm eating at the dinner table.

The fact that she does not play with her toys really concerns me. I'm wondering if she is getting enough stimulation.
I work and I'm out of the house at least 11 hours. I have a small dachshund as well and they don't seem to bother each other. Because she doesn't play with her toys I wonder if she will get bored in her cage while I'm out at work.

Any ideas on how to keep my Lupita entertained and stimulated while I'm at work or any ideas on how to enticed her to play with her toys.

Thanks for the advise.

YC
 

Erikalynnha

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Try different textures and materials. My blue crown conure and sun conure prefer hard wood that has been dyed bright colors like pine and they go crazy for snappy beads! My black capped conure and ggc like thin wood pine and soft wood like balsa or sola. My black capped, Uchtred also likes noisy toys like stainless steel spoons and bells. All of them have fun with foot toys too! Perhaps she is not use to toys in her cage and just needs to find one that catches her interest.

There are some really good vendors on here that sell toys.
Oliver's Garden Bird Toys, Tweety Pie's Bird Toys and Seriously Nutz are some of my fids favorites that offer a variety.
 

Mococo

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Try different textures and materials.
This. The people I rescued Coco from said she hated toys. It turned out they had only bought her things with bells (which she hates) or soft cuddly things (that bore her). She loves to throw wiffle balls and completely tear apart wood and cardboard. Now her toys are basically those three kinds and she plays all the time.
 

Mizzely

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I have one bird that "never" plays with toys. He just has very specific likes and wants :p If it doesn't involve food, he isn't interested usually. Have you tried a variety of foraging toys for her?

She may just not know how to play, either, depending on how she was brought up.
 

TikiMyn

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Keep trying! Try showing her how to play, add treats to the toys, shred them together with her, play with them yourself where she can see you, act like toys are the single most amazing thing in the world and see if that gets her interested. If that does not work, try to protect them, sometimes acting like toys are your amazing little secret peeks their interest. Natural branches with the leaves still ion could be a start to shredding, I haven´t had a bird yet that refuses branches and flowers! My cockatiel was old when he came to me and didn´t know how to play either, and neither did one of my lovies. My cockatiel was crazy for natural enrichment, and sunflower seeds in straws lol. You could also give foraging a go. Foraging is defiantly the most loved activity around here. As she loves veggies and fruit, you could use those. Give her a big plate of veggies and maybe sprinkle some spouts between it. You could also get some SS skewers and put pieces of veggies on it together with toy parts.

edit: Do make sure the trees/flowers are safe and not sprayed with chemicals. If you have safe trees that carry berries or blossom near you, those might be well loved by her as well. You could add other toy parts to them to peek interest, and strip the branches of leaves and such once she likes it. Then you can string those on a toy and add different materials, She might then decide to try the other materials as well.
 
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WallyLoopey

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I was told Walter didn’t play when I got him. The truth is, he loves to chew wood and shred things.

I would try easy shreddables, even things that are made for parakeets or cockatiels and work your way up.

Heck, even balsa! They need something that they don’t have to work hard for at first, them you can move to harder woods and materials.

Congrats on your new baby!
 

Yoli

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Thanks folks. Great advise.
I will definitely keep working on introducing new toys and try some of these great ideas.

Yoli & Lupita
 

BirdManDan

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Wild birds spend about 1/3 to 2/3 of their day foraging for food which is one thing our companion pet birds generally do not get to do. That is why it is so very important to keep them used to foraging for food even if it's simply hiding some food all over their cage or bird room. Also having some food in several locations not just sitting in a single bowl. Keep your birds stimulated with plenty of ways for them to get their food. To get them started foraging you can even start by simply covering their food bowl with a piece of paper with a tear in it then gradually make it harder by eliminating the tear then move to putting a string or rubber band holding the paper in place with a tear in it then no hole next. Wrap an almond or pine nut in paper and put it in their bowl. This will help keep them from destructive behaviors. They don't have to be expensive foraging wheels like the one in the picture. You can make them yourself with bird safe things around the house. This link will give you several places to get some great and creative ideas for what you can do to make your own DIY foraging toys. www.google/pictures DIY foraging toys - Google Search
Sally Blanchard has a great website you can check out here about bird foraging in their natural & wild environment. day in life
 

TikiMyn

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I don’t know if your Ekkie would destroy this, but unsused pill boxes are a relatively easy way to start foraging too:)
 

Mococo

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I don’t know if your Ekkie would destroy this, but unsused pill boxes are a relatively easy way to start foraging too:)
Great idea! I got a little plastic set of drawers for Coco and put her favorite treats inside. Once she figured out how the drawers worked, she developed a trick. She would knock it over so the drawers would all open but the treats wouldn't fall to the floor - she was very proud of herself.
 

TikiMyn

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Great idea! I got a little plastic set of drawers for Coco and put her favorite treats inside. Once she figured out how the drawers worked, she developed a trick. She would knock it over so the drawers would all open but the treats wouldn't fall to the floor - she was very proud of herself.
Smart girl!:D
 

CarlB

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My male Eclectus, Boo Boo, of 22 years had absolutely no interest in toys his entire life. On occasion he'd have fun with a paper toy he could shred. Foraging toys were never touched. He just preferred to sit on his playpen, watch what was going on, sit with us, and that was it. Very quiet, sweet, and also never spoke a word. My Umbrella Cockatoo, Sugar, is the same way! The few toys she'll play with on the rare occasion have to be plastic or metal.
I guess it all depends on each bird's personality.
 

Shinobi

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There are many things you can use as a toy. Punch a hole through a phone book and hang it up. We got a couple of newspaper pages roll them up and just tied it around the playgym. Henry loves it.
 

CarlB

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There are many things you can use as a toy. Punch a hole through a phone book and hang it up. We got a couple of newspaper pages roll them up and just tied it around the playgym. Henry loves it.
Great idea! I'll try that. Thanks.
 

issajoy

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Some birds aren't as into toys as others! My mom's Ekkie (14 years old, male) has never been interested in really playing. Sometimes he'll chew up a toy, but rarely. He loves foraging though.
When my mom's at work, she leaves radio on for him. He loves music and hearing the conversations, he learns a lot of vocalizations from it!
He also loves to watch TV when he is out. He will fly right into the living room and wait for someone to turn the TV on for him. :D

For my B&G, sometimes we will put Sesame Street on for her with the TV on a sleep timer, so she watches a couple episodes. She loves the funny voices and the colors of the puppets. And of course, Big Bird is her favorite.

Congrats on your new fid! :hug8:
 
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