Toys and playtime

[tlday13]

So I have this foster bird, a CAG.. and she came with a few toys, but so far in the ~2 weeks I've had her, I've only seen her playing with 1 of them-- its a small perch with an attached shredding toy.

I have a friend who does animal communication, and according to her, Jewel likes rope toys, climbing toys (does not care so much for bells)... any suggestions for things she might like?

And how can I "teach" her to play? (CAN I teach her to play?) She doesn't seem to know how, really. Of course part of the issue might be that she doesn't have toys she likes at the moment...... but other than climbing she seems to sit a lot on her favorite perch near the back.

Tracy
foster-fid Jewel (3yr old CAG)

 

[Cynthia & Percy]

you could play with her and show her how to play with toys or put some food on it to get her to chew on a chew toy just a few ideas

 

[Hendryx]

Give her a bucket of foot toys to dig through,most birds if nervous of the larger toys,or just don't like them will love tiny foot toys..2 weeks isn't all that long,you'll see her come around over the next 2 months,she is still in her honeymoon period where everything is new,she just may not feel comfortable enough yet to really get down and play..it will come.

 

[CeddysMum]

Ceddy didn't know how to play at all when I got her. However, she did take to foraging fairly easy so I started to get her interested in chewing and playing by adding things like popsicle sticks and wooden clothes peg halves (metal part taken off), colourful plastic things like milk bottle tops, preening materials like paper strips and dried corn husks to her foraging bowls/baskets. Slowly but surely she didn't just throw them out to get to her food but started chewing the wooden pieces, playing with and destroying paper and bottle tops and so on. She's continuing to show interest in more and more toys.

Now I'm slowly adding whatever I come up with. Just lately she's taken a liking to plastic buttons (which I noticed when she pinched one that had come off my trousers and was lying on the table to be sewn back on ) so I've given her a handful of large ones.

Not much, but maybe some ideas to get Jewel interested?

 

[GG.]

what about something like this:

this is my grey's favorite toy - he is on #6 I think this year

to introduce new toys, i have to sit them on the table by his cage for a few days, play with it myself some during that time and often have to hang it on the outside for a day or so first in order for him not to freak when I put it inside

and some things he NEVER likes - I got him one of those nice pedi perches with the smooth top and gritty sides but it was this bright purple color and he hated it on sight - needless to say that one is packed away now

 

[tlday13]

Oooh, I can't wait to try some of these suggestions.

I'm not sure she knows how to forage, either... but that will be something to try too, I'm sure.

I do have concerns whether we'll be the best fit for her since the kids make her very nervous just being kids... altho there has been some improvement there too. (She squawked at my son this morning, but didn't growl at him.)
She's leery of my husband too...but that makes sense given the husband in her first family didn't have much to do with her.

But one day at a time, right? One thing I'm excited about is that I got a sprouting kit from sproutpeople.com and have got some seed going right now!
I figure this fits into the toys/playtime theme since food is both nourishment and playtime. lol