My Senegal, George, who recently turned 9 years old, has never really shown an interest in toys. I've tried pretty much every kind of parrot toy out there. From time to time he'll have a little chew but he never engages with the toys the way most other parrots do. When he's alone he just sits in his cage with a blank stare on his face, eats food, drinks water, and complains that no humans are nearby. He's not a plucker or anything and he doesn't seem to be suffering when he's alone, but he won't play with toys.
He comes from a rather odd little family. His brother is the only "normal" one. His sister is overly-trusting to the point of endangering herself. She'll say "step up" and start walking towards the edge of the table, and a hand better be there for her by the time she gets to the edge or she'll just fall off the table. She won't perch properly on hands. She knows perfectly well how to perch, but she's so trusting it's ridiculous. I wanted to adopt her but my breeder refused and insisted on keeping her because she's so self-endangering.
And that brings me back to George, who's quirk is an aversion to toys. The only in-cage entertainment I've ever gotten him to engage with is cuttle bones and that's hit and miss. I put one in there for him a week ago and he hasn't even looked at it. Sometimes he'll demolish a cuttle bone in 4 days. Usually it gets ignored like everything else.
What can I do to stimulate his mind more? I find myself having to spend the entire day from 7AM to 7PM next to him and talking to him and petting him when I'm home because he won't entertain himself. That's been fine as I've worked from home for the past 9 years that I've had him and he's never alone for more than an hour or two, if that... but I might be getting an IT job where I'd be away from home more, and this guy needs to learn to entertain himself.
Thankfully he loves to watch TV.
He comes from a rather odd little family. His brother is the only "normal" one. His sister is overly-trusting to the point of endangering herself. She'll say "step up" and start walking towards the edge of the table, and a hand better be there for her by the time she gets to the edge or she'll just fall off the table. She won't perch properly on hands. She knows perfectly well how to perch, but she's so trusting it's ridiculous. I wanted to adopt her but my breeder refused and insisted on keeping her because she's so self-endangering.
And that brings me back to George, who's quirk is an aversion to toys. The only in-cage entertainment I've ever gotten him to engage with is cuttle bones and that's hit and miss. I put one in there for him a week ago and he hasn't even looked at it. Sometimes he'll demolish a cuttle bone in 4 days. Usually it gets ignored like everything else.
What can I do to stimulate his mind more? I find myself having to spend the entire day from 7AM to 7PM next to him and talking to him and petting him when I'm home because he won't entertain himself. That's been fine as I've worked from home for the past 9 years that I've had him and he's never alone for more than an hour or two, if that... but I might be getting an IT job where I'd be away from home more, and this guy needs to learn to entertain himself.
Thankfully he loves to watch TV.