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Busy little baby!! Mama needs help!

MacawMom87

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We have had our little Gonzo for about a year now and it's been so wonderful! He is a happy, talkative, fully flighted boy who loves to get scratches on his neck!
However, he is a MASTERMIND of disassembling his cage and escaping and he goes through toys in matter of hours. It's getting to the point I'm spending more on bird toys a week than groceries for my family!!!!
So... he LOVES unscrewing bolts on his cage. He has broken all the food/water doors so now he only eats at his tree in the kitchen. He unscrews his toys from where they are connected and they fall to the floor. He knows how to unlatch his cage from the inside and does so everytime he is in there. He is out of his cage many hours of the day with freedom to fly around the house. He has a tree in the kitchen and my bedroom and he gets lots of love and attention. But sometimes I need him to be in his cage (when I'm out of the house or cooking etc.) for his own safety!
I'm at a loss!!! What recommendations do you all have for long lasting entertainment!?!?
We have foraging wheels, chewing toys, I tried one of those toys with all different hardware on it but he ignored it, I want to give him the best but goodness I'm not made of money haha!!! It feels like hanging a bunch of $100 bills from his cage and letting him shred him would be more cost effective! haha.
(and bless his little heart, he just flew on my shoulder and said "Oh hiiiii!!!" haha. he knows...little stinker)

In love but going broke....

Brandy
 

LexBirds

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Oh my goodness, I bet he could break out of (and destroy) a government prison surrounded by steel. Handmaking some of the toys could help, as long as the materials are safe, that's what I do sometimes, birds love to rip up paper towels also
 

April

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@Shezbug was having some issues with her B&G doing similar things I'm sure she'll have some advice for you.
 

zERo/

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Shezbug

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You could try some toys from a couple of our vendors that I have found to last my boy longer than any other toy I have bought him, toys from @Macawnutz store (seriously nutz) are really quite a relief to receive as they really are so very enticing to macs that they keep them busy and interested and I have also found toys from @Jan (blus bird toys) to be a winner for my destructive escape artist- they are the only SS toys I have bought him that he has not broken even though he has tried his darnedest to kill them.

I now place side mount toys or plain pine boards over the area of the feed door latches as my bird will have to destroy the whole solid chunk of wood to get to the part of the door where he fusses and somehow undoes the screws holding the feeder door latches.

For hanging toys, the best things for toy droppers are the EH ball and hook hangers- my brat does actually manage to undo them but it takes him some time and he seems to get fed up with them more often than not and gives up most times just before the whole thing is undone and crashes.
 

Toy

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As I read your post it sounded just like my B&G Macaw, JaKhu. She is 2 years 9 months old & has gone thru a ton of toys, destroyed her cage door tumbler lock, broke both keys to her cage door lock, figured out how to undo both latches on her cage door at the same time, opens the feeder doors from the inside & pushes the heavy crocks out, She bends unwelded heavy chain links open, etc... We now lock her in with a big heavy pad lock. The pad lock is put thru the one slide latch, so she can't open the door. Both latches on her cage, that are about 18-20 inches apart, have to be open for the door to open at all. She's tried many times to figure out how to undo the pad lock to no avail.

This is the heavy pad lock we put on her cage. I have to put it thru the one latch to keep her from opening the latch. The 2nd latch is about 18-20 inches below the one in the pic. They both have to be flipped up & slid over for the door to open. Not long after I got JaKhu she figured out, by watching me open the door, how to do it.

IMG_8710JaKhu pad lock.jpg

My previous macaw played with her toys, only destroying a few in the almost 20 years I had her. JaKhu, current macaw, is a master at destruction, so I buy her some toys she can destroy & others she can't. @Jan Blu's Bird Toys makes amazing Stainless Steel toys that hold up to macaws. I have 2 of Jan's toys in JaKhu's cage. One is the "Hang Out-cage mounted" & the other is the "Foraging Bell". I have a smaller SS toy on the Parrot Tower & a larger one we put in the outside aviary (spring/summer). JaKhu beats the daylights out of these toys & so far has not been able to destroy them. Her favorite is the Foraging Bell. The bell has a sort of soft sound, so it's not really annoying. I also buy heavy Kong dog toys (balls, pacifiers, etc.) for her to destroy. I use pliers to tighten all quick links on hanging toys. Some she's managed to open & others not.

You can try coconut toys for chewing. They may last a little longer than wood.
 

MacawMom87

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Thank you everyone! Glad to know I’m not alone
I’ll be checking out all of those recommendations!
 

Macawnutz

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You know why they make them so cute when they are little? So you don't choke them when they are older! :laugh:

Give us a picture of what he is taking apart on the cage and we can help. This is the hanger you need BALL HANGER

For toys you need a good mix of hard and easy toys. Both Jan and I have macaw experience and can help you choose things if you are not quite sure.
 

Shannan

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Padlocks! Walter was an escape artist in his youth (good news is he eventually became less obsessed with escape). I used padlocks for all of his doors for a long time. Some of the newer cages have more bird proof locks on their doors and that may be a long term (although not the cheapest) solution for your wild thing.
 

aooratrix

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Start saving for an SS cage. Invest in a mitre saw and drill press; start buying pine lumber that's not pressure treated at Lowe's or a similar store. You can also buy toy parts (acrylic, hard plastic, wood, etc.) from various sources on the internet. That's what I do. Cut my toy bill to a fraction of what it was.
 

Jan

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Hi Brandy! I am Jan and as mentioned I make stainless steel toys with all orings welded. I have numerous stainless toys that are Macaw worthy. The Hearts in the Balance is a great toy and Masterpiece is also another great toy. Just look in the Large Bird category.

My sister's B&G was an escape artist but B&G wasn't at all and neither of our Macaws were not real big destroyer, so therefore they were not good toy testers for destruction! Other Macaws that I've had years back as breeders, were pretty destructive, so yah those ones got more of 2x4 wooden toys.
 

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Blu's Bird Toys. Or Busy Beak Bird Toys?
 

Shezbug

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Blu's Bird Toys. Or Busy Beak Bird Toys?
The only busy beaks bird toys I could find (etsy store) sells toys that would not be suitable for keeping a macaw busy for longer than a minute. I am not familiar with the site but everything seems aimed at little birds- all sea grass mats, sola, balsa, cardboard and finger traps. Is that the store you are meaning?
 

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Is that the store you are meaning?
Thanks for catching that Shezbug. I meant Busy Bird toys. They make stainless steel bird toys that are foraging puzzle toys or boredom buster toys. Some examples are Ele-Waiter, Barrel Foraging toy, Foraging Box etc. But maybe someone who has tried Busy Bird Toys could weigh in on what they thought of them?

I recommended Blu's to a friend with a GW Macaw. She loved the SS toys Jan makes.
 

WikiWaz

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Also - for what it's worth finding cheap toy solutions for "woodchipper" birds. My friend with the GW Macaw uses phonebooks. @scrape will cut untreated pine and turn them into shredding toys.
 

Shezbug

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Thanks for catching that Shezbug. I meant Busy Bird toys. They make stainless steel bird toys that are foraging puzzle toys or boredom buster toys. Some examples are Ele-Waiter, Barrel Foraging toy, Foraging Box etc. But maybe someone who has tried Busy Bird Toys could weigh in on what they thought of them?

I recommended Blu's to a friend with a GW Macaw. She loved the SS toys Jan makes.
I bought two (goodie gadget and elewaiter) and tried them, I was initially impressed at how one of them (elewaiter) kept Burt very busy (In my opinion they are just a tad too small for macs- they can use them but would be best off with a slight size up) till he removed two tiny screws and very very possibly swallowed them, I was much less impressed with the other I got and we only used it a few times.
I wont be buying anymore of that brand for Burt- my trust and confidence in their safety has gone, I am told that they now glue the screws in place because of them being removable but the one I got did not have them glued in which is not good.

Some here are not keen on the fact that the company used someone else's designs- the original maker was called something else but I can't recall what just now, others will know.

Jan's and Sarah's stores really are some of the only stores who know and are catering to macs needs, abilities and interests.
 
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WikiWaz

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I bought two (goodie gadget and elewaiter) and tried them, I was initially impressed at how one of them (elewaiter) kept Burt very busy (In my opinion they are just a tad too small for macs- they can use them but would be best off with a slight size up) till he removed two tiny screws and very very possibly swallowed them, I was much less impressed with the other I got and we only used it a few times.
I wont be buying anymore of that brand for Burt- my trust and confidence in their safety has gone, I am told that they now glue the screws in place because of them being removable but the one I got did not have them glued in which is not good.

Some here are not keen on the fact that the company used someone else's designs- the original maker was called something else but I can't recall what just now.
Thanks for sharing! If you remember the brand please let me know.
 

Shezbug

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Thanks for sharing! If you remember the brand please let me know.
Do a search on here. The guy who owns the new company (jay cogswell) came here to ask if bird owners would be interested in them being in production again etc. Pretty sure his username is the business name (busybird). I think the original name was fraser or something similar.
 

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It is Frasier toys and I know busy bird said they now owned the rights to the designs but that is all I know.

The fraiser toys were very sought after for people with macaws as they were really the only toys made with stainless steel. They were also very interesting because you could fill them. I do not own the original fraiser toys but I do have a few busy bird toys that I purchased when he first opened up and was trying to gain the name. None of my 7 macaws had any desire to mess with them and they are in a drawer.

My guys all have a stainless steel toy to jingle around but if a have a heavy chewing macaw you have to fill that need with wood or they will chew your house down. These are a few of my favorites for my extra ridiculous chewers.

COLOSSAL CRISS CROSS
BUSY BLOCKZ
SMORGASBOARD
MONSTER MAC
 
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