Suggestions on keeping him entertained?

[Domothebudgie]

I took gonzo for a checkup a couple weeks ago and the vet said he was great! She managed to trim his beak down to fix the split, so he's doing much better. But I was wondering if anyone has suggestions on keeping him entertained. He has so much energy, every time my dad plays with him, he says he's never seen a bird with so much energy. And he grew up with many many parrots! Gonzo destroys his toys extremely fast, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for good chew/foraging toys? I also try to take him into the living room, so he can be with the rest of the family but he doesn't seem to like it. I am trying to increase the amount of time that he is I the living room, but he gets really bitey when there are other people around. He is still young, so I hope there is something I can do to make him like being with everyone else more, because I don't want him just being in a room all day.

 

[Domothebudgie]

Gonzo also loves to "knit". He loves to thread things around his cage bars and tie stuff around other things. And he actually put food back into his foraging boxes lol. Are there any toys that could let him do this?

 

[WendyN]

 

[Tanya]

We do a ton of home-made toys. A favorite of Lìmone (our little busy beak guy) is washed plastic containers, the kind that contained margarine, sour cream, etc. in their first life. I put in a few toys and a nut and let him work them open. Then he "redecorates" the edges with nice hole punching.

Paper cups are endlessly fascinating to him. As are plastic forks. Plast spoons, not so much. And he really loves his phone book. I put half above one bar in his cage and the other half below, so it hangs in near a perch for him to rip.

We play post office quite regularly. I got an old box with a cardboard bottle divider in it (making six little cubby holes). I put junk mail envelops in the "mailboxes" and he absolutely loves pulling out envelops and chewing the edges.

I also have a toy box for him on top of his cage. It's a shallow box without flaps. I put all kinds of stuff in it: wooden beads, blocks and rings from old toys, an empty plastic thread spool, cleaned lids from various bottles, individual sisal rope knots and short lengths of unraveled sisal rope, an empty joint juice bottle, a pine cone (baked in the oven to sterilize it), a tiny dollar store Tupperware-like container that holds no more than three almonds, a few smooth beach stones (large enough he can't swallow them but small enough to lift and bang on the bars), a stopper stick from Starbucks (one of his favorite items), a paper airplane and other smallish odds and ends. It takes him about two hours to go through everything and throw it on the floor. Then the box goes over the edge. I refill the toybox every night (takes <2 mins to pick up around his cage) and every few days I try to add something new. It's so cute when he finds the new thing, because he spends an extra-long time manipulating and exploring it with his feet and beak. The weirder the shape the more time he spends with it.

You could give him a few small boxes, some with things and some empty so he can spend time rearranging them. And for scratching the weaving itch you could include one of those cheap plastic pencil holder baskets (so many holes!) with the boxes.

If Lìmone's really restless a good, long fly helps quite a lot.

Hopefully one of these ideas will help!

 

[msplantladi]

I like to think of my birds as 2-3 yr olds that need constant entertaining-I shop thrift stores for kids toys-blocks, plastic rings you link together etc Bamboo paper plate holders are another fun item to let then tear up.

 

[cassiesdad]

Milton enjoys all the chewing items already mentioned, along with old phone books. When he gets moody or upset, he'll tear a half of a phone book up, leaving inches of shredded paper in his cage and surrounding floor.

When Milty gets restless, I'll play "attack the bottle" with him. Using an empty soda bottle, I'll toss it around on the floor...Milty will stalk, attack, and toss the bottle back to me. This is repeated over and over again- sometimes for almost a hour at a time. Milty enjoys this game and gets extremely excited during it, so we play the game in his room, with the door closed. When we are finished, I place Milty back on the cage with a stick (the only time I use the stick with him) because he is in a highly excited state at the time.

Maybe you could create some type of game for Gonzo like that...but again, be very careful...you're creating a large amount of energy and excitement, and you want Gonzo to expend it on an object...not you...

 

[Rooary]

Maybe to solve the bitey-ness with others, you could start bite pressure training now. Does he bite when people want him to step up or is it more random? If it's random I assume pressure training will help, though I'm not sure how receptive cockatoos are to it so you may not want to do that.

Never too early to start training, though, so he knows what you expect from him. Plus, training even for 5 minutes twice a day to start can really change his tune and make him use his bird brain.

Good luck, I suggest a toy chest of sorts. You could give him beads and a string to thread the beads through. As long as he doesn't try to eat them lol

 

[Domothebudgie]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I am now trying to train him to wear a harness, so he can go outside explore. He is always looking out the window like he wants to go, so I hope he gets used to the harness soon. I also tried putting some sunflower sends into a container, and he seems to like it. When he's not in his cage, he mostly likes to talk to our two budgies, or scream at bugs on the wall . He can sit there and laugh and give kisses to my little parakeets for hours, or until my parakeet gets annoyed and starts biting his toes hahaha.

 

[Laura729]

Great suggestions! Lucius doesn't so much knit or weave like you described, but he does like to untie things, so I sometimes make him toys using cardboard "lacing" toys for kids and switch out the string that's often included with these toys and use strands of bird safe leather cord (or other safe rope) and put pieces with multiple knots in them through each hole (you won't want to use a continuous piece due to tangling/choking hazards). He seems to have fun working to undo each knot. Here's a photo of one that I'm starting with just one cord strand added so far as an example:

 

[Domothebudgie]

I would love to try that! Where do you buy the leather string?

 

[Laura729]

I believe the leather cord came from My Safe Bird Store (11-R1 Leather Cord Round 1/8" Per Yard - ROPE/CORDAGE I think Things For Wings also carries it, and I just saw that California Bird Nerds sells it in bulk as well. It's usually listed as round leather cord or round leather lace. I like it because it's easy to work with and Lucius doesn't seem to chew through it as quickly as the regular leather strips.
And I'm sure you could even do a DIY lacing-type base, actually, if you wanted, using sturdy/thick cardboard, or even wood pieces with small holes.

 

[Cherylcat]

Toilet paper roll tubes are awesome! I crimp an end, wrap an almond in shredded paper, shove it in there then crimp other end. Show your Too what you are doing so he knows there good stuff in there and he'll have at it! This works with any other preferred treat and is entrance level to foraging. My Too has to hunt for every pellet and wrapping them in newspaper and stuffing them in tubes cut in half or in foraging hangers keep her busy for hours. Michael's has plastic beads in bulk (too big for ingestion). Something as simple as throwing pellets in a bowl and beads enough to cover keeps them fed AND entertained. She loves the thrill of the pellet chase, great enrichment tool.