Trying something NEW

[vanyasmom]

I read last night, and saw in a video from an avian vet that creating a food foraging environment is better for the budgie than to simply hand him a dish and say "there you go". So, to try to create a way for him to forage on the ground (of his cage) I put a flat food dish in there with sides. It will get changed out later today, because I can find something better for him today.

I put rocks in there to stabilize it. and I put the food in the bottom. I thought about simply putting his dish in, but then thought it would likely wobble and frighten him. The one vet said to put like one thing over the food dish - like a paper towel (or over the food).

We stopped by the chocolate shop yesterday and I got a handful of new, unused white candy cups, to use as mini foraging containers - for him to open. I didn't close them all the way around the food, I put a 1/2 teaspoon of oat groats in one. A couple millet clusters in another, I used one as a cover for his fruit and veggie mix which I put in an almond milk plastic lid. I put a few of these in his regular food dish. I moved a perch over so he could stand on that and reach in - which he has already, he has been able to successfully eat a few bites of his regular food that way. I tore off a piece of paper towel to "hide" the food. His main food is in a big pile (one day's worth) with the torn paper towel over it. The food is visible.

I let him watch me "hide" everything.

Putting a few things in his food dish helped. Plus, I took a spoon and took a little bit and put it in his dish, for him to watch me - so he can see that this IS indeed food.

He is able to eat his Vitakraft cracker - I did take part of what fell off (I have it in one of those cuttlebone holders so that the knocked off parts are caught so he can eat them, and they won't be soiled by accident by falling to the bottom of the cage, under the grate) So, I spooned a little out of the cuttlebone holder and put it in a candy cup.

He has been going to the foraging area and getting a little then going back to his perch. I did spend quite a while lifting covers so he could see what was in there, then covering it back up. He even reached in and took a few bites when I uncovered it.

I hope I didn't make it too difficult for him. I think he has partially figured it out, and it is just a matter of gaining his confidence in being near the scary things. I did show him the paper towel and he bit it and began chewing on it.

He does keep going over to check it out. Please tell me if I need to make it easier - and move anything out of the way for him.

 

[Jas]

I've seen people use paper plates with food on the bottom and then covered it with crinkle paper, once the bird becomes more experienced they bump up the difficulty by adding plastic straws, paper boxes, finger traps etc.

 

[datlamb]

it's wonderful you are providing foraging opportunities for vanya ! ( btw i love hearing updates about him ) it's stimulating both his mind and body.

right now what i am doing with happy and hopi is, instead of putting their daily seed serving in their food dish ( instead i put in there the scary vegetables and sprouts, lol!) i pour them into small containers around the cage. in cupcake wrappers, pod cups, bought foraging toys. i do this so they have to go around the cage if they want to eat all of the seeds.

i'm planning on upping the difficulty in a few weeks, after they already know when to find seeds, by covering each container either with paper or small plastic toys.

as long as vanya is eating i don't think what you are doing is too difficult, and after a while you can uncover the places where you hid the seeds so he still has a chance to find them.

more foraging ideas can be found here if you are interested

 

[taxidermynerd]

It's definitely a good start! I know my Chirp loves food too, so I put toy parts in a stainless steel food bowl and then sprinkle seed over them. He'll fling them out of the bowl to get to the seed! He also loves to shred fingertraps, so I tuck millet in them and he'll rip those things to shreds!

You can make just about anything a foraging opportunity if you just look at it from their perspective.

 

[vanyasmom]

Thanks! The toys in a bowl is a wonderful way to do it @taxidermynerd - I saw a video of 2 budgies last night having a field day doing that. I thought eventually we could work up to that too Today I got some plastic things which are about the right size - and even though they were from a thrift shop they were new. I was there looking for bowls that would work - I chose candy dishes - one I got is divided in half, one is into 4ths, then I found one with 10 small circular indents. Maybe for an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms? Also, I got a couple ice cube trays from the dollar store.

I will get a couple pictures up of what I did today, with him checking them out.

My thought is to vary the bowl, the puzzle format for him. I really like the idea that he has to interact with things in his environment - like toy parts, so that he can see what they are. Perhaps toys won't be like a cage decoration to him once he starts to interact with them to get his food. But, even if that is all he does with the plastic toys in the cage, that is ok too.

I can see how doing this and learning to forage for his food will build his confidence.

Since we have a couple hours before bedtime for birdies, I decided to change the puzzle, put it in a different plate. Put the crinkled paper from a toy that he ignored over the top. I opened up one of the little cups that I had closed (he didn't get that one open), or the one with millet. That is opened now, but under crinkled paper. Millet is normally only from me, but I thought if I put a couple clusters in his foraging efforts, it would make him feel like he was really brilliant, which he is.

He did get the paper towel off. I don't know if it was from a time when he flew in his cage (which would have knocked it off too). But he does seem to have fun with this. I know in time other things will be as exciting as finding something to eat, or maybe not.

Thanks so much for the link @datlamb - YES I am very interested in foraging ideas!!!! It is fun for me too to watch him trying to figure out this "huge problem" that he has before him.

 

[vanyasmom]

@datlamb Those little cup things with the flowers are TOO CUTE - not to mention her little parrotlet. I wonder if Vanya could do those in time. That looks like FUN!!!

 

[vanyasmom]

Since he flies down, the crinkled paper and the light weight candy cups fly out of the plate. The crinkled paper moves. And this frightens him. Also, this would not normally happen when a bird lands of the ground to forage. So, I think the plastic obstacles will be a better option. I can put a few in there for him to move out of the way.

I did open up one of the cups with him sitting on my hand in rapt attention - this was the one with the millet in it - that he didn't get opened. I opened it a little bit and he got to reach in and eat on the millet cluster in there as if he had all by himself found it. It was kind of funny because while he was eating one of his favorite budgies doing interesting things came on and he started calling to them while he was eating his treasure.

 

[vanyasmom]

Well, today, Vanya got to try an oat spray - which I found at a pet shop in the town north of mine. They had a lot of the brands of products that I was looking for. Also, they have play gyms. So, in the very near future, I can go get him one of those.

It took him a little bit, but he figured out what the oat spray is. He has been really enjoying getting the oats out for himself. I am so happy. It is fun to see him gaining confidence in his world. I also got him a thing like a Kozy Keet - but is more for him to chew his own tunnels, and hangs vertically instead of horizontally. They had the Kozy Keet. But I thought he would like this better. He has checked it out a little bit. Also, he likes the spherical thing to climb on that I made with a plastic embroidery hoop and wrapped in fleece strips, that I cut after washing the fleeces as per the instructions someone on here was kind enough to post.

His second foraging challenge is to get past a paper towel which is covering an ice cube tray that has his food in it, a little bit in each pocket. I tore the paper open a little bit, to get him started, but I think I may need to help him a bit more. He does have other things to eat around the cage.

 

[vanyasmom]

Here are the pictures of the foraging challenges that he has faced so far. The first one is the first one that I did. The second picture is his food dish. The third and fourth are him checking them out.

 

[vanyasmom]

Here are yesterday's foraging challenges.

 

[vanyasmom]

Today's was pretty challenging. He had a hard time ripping the paper towel. I will repeat the challenge tomorrow, but I will be tearing the paper towel in half - in that it is 2 ply, he can learn to rip paper with one ply rather than 2. He liked that he got to look in all of the compartments of the ice cube tray for little treats. He also really liked that oat spray.

I found that I was right. As he encounters different things in his food bowl, he becomes more comfortable with them. That pink piece of cardboard is out of his "foraging" toy which he ignored. I wove it in the bars of his cage. Today, after eating past it, and pushing it out of the way to eat yesterday, he began to chew on it.

 

[SquawksNibbles]

Wow! Great work! He's such a pretty bird!