Dungeons and lovebirds

[Gddmsam]

Hi everyone! I'm a new parront of a beautiful lovie named Boba, some of you may already know this. I've had the delight of his company for four days now and have begun planning a training curriculum for him when he's ready.

I'm an avid dungeons and dragons player, aka nerd, and I was thinking about how to teach him to roll dice (d20 and lower.) So he can join in the fun. He really liked watching us play last time and has a d20 in his cage that he likes to nudge along the bottom of his cage.

Only problem is, I'm not sure how to shape this sort of behavior, should I just click and reward when he nudges it, or is there a better way? I won't be teaching him this till he has all the basics down so I have time to ponder this.

Thanks for the input!
Sam and Boba

 

[sunnysmom]

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Is the die small enough so he can pick it up with his beak? I would first reward him for touching it, then reward for picking it up, then reward for dropping it. You can say commands like touch pick up, and drop for each behavior.

If he drops it from a distance, it's more likely to "roll" than if he just drops it on the table he's standing on I would think, so you might need to figure out where you want him to drop it.

It's kind of the same behavior as those boxes and colored discs you can buy where you teach the bird to drop the coin in the box.

 

[Gddmsam]

Awesome idea. He is getting his own special dice that have ridges around the edges for his little beak to grab on to. I'm going to make little bins that are differently shaped. One for attack, one for damage and one for actions, where he can "roll" his dice. Each bin is actually a dice roller and will drop the die out the bottom into a tray.

I think he will like playing, as all last night he hopped around his cage and watched us play. He nudges his d20 that I put in his cage a few times too.

 

[Mizzely]

I was going to suggest a dice roll "tower" as well, so he could just drop it in and it would roll Fun idea! Jingo usually just sits on my shoulder when we play!

 

[Gddmsam]

That's awesome, I can't wait till Boba is ready to hang out on my shoulder. Jingo sounds like an awesome bird.

 

[zoo mom]

I will want to see a video of the dungeons and dragons love bird. I assume he will want to be a dragon or other flying character.

 

[Gddmsam]

As soon as he is comfy being out of his cage he is getting his own YouTube channel.
I was thinking he would be happy as a Kenku (giant humanoid bird) as it reflects his big bird attitude. He's pretty sneaky too, so I thought he might like to play a rogue class.

 

[zoo mom]

Only marginally familiar with dungeons and dragons but it sounds about right for a lovie.