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First Seriously Nutz Box Arrived!

Tanya

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I have wanted to get a box for years, but with me and the spouse on the double student budget, we had to prioritize for random stuff like food and paying the electric bill.

Finally, finally we have enough income to invest in some high quality toys from @Macawnutz, i.e. good toys that aren't made of scrap lumber scrounged from project leftovers and stuff I dug out of the recycling bin. Not that there's anything wrong with empty plastic water bottles and cardboard from old packages, but I have been wanting to get a toy box for oh-so-long. And now it has arrived!

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Packed so nicely!

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(Filling the forager with raw pistachios and pecans.)

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This triggered a deep clean of both cages, and a new setup for both!

Rhubarb is a big fan of dangly chewers and all things cork. She went straight for the corks and cork-like textures! I seriously haven't seen her this enthusiastic since before the Pandemic (the last time we were able to get some cork for her).

Her first bite was to chip the corner of the blue block them she went all in on the piece above it!
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She's loving the spin-n-chew action.
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And she's especially enthusiastic about the new softwood forager!
20211129_100847.jpg Its so, so nice to that beak busy on some blocks instead of all up in her feathers. She's a long time barberer and feather chewer. (Her perches are wrapped in terrycloth and/or craft foam for softness because she has some issues with her feet and is prone to pressure ulcers).

LemLem has a new setup as well, with a big new toy by his swing and some foot toys hidden in the baskets around the cage.
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(Oops... The last picture I took was before I got the bottom trays back in, but you get the idea. He loves foraging so his "toy boxes" get covered with paper to increase the challenge.)

It's nearly impossible to get a picture of him interacting with a toy. He will drop or run away from anything as soon as he notices someone is paying attention. For example, last year when I made him a forager...
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(Oh... You want a picture of me enjoying this toy you made??)

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(Well then... it no longer exists for me!)

I can say that he did like the foot toys that came in the box as they were some of the first items that ended up on the floor the next morning! A sure sign of his covert playtime!
 

Zara

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Great to see them enjoying their new toys! :)
 

April

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Yay! That's so exciting her toys are so addictive to me and Tobias lol.
 

Macawnutz

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Tell Lem we will figure it out! No more Chinese take out. :laughin:

You are going to look back at that picture years from now.... The one with all the homemade toys and you are going to laugh. Everything you have worked for is going to pay off and you will have such a successful life! It will all be so worth it.
 

camelotshadow

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Looks at all them colors & shapes. Really well made toys.:bliss:I got my guys Candy Dots on order...
Was tempted by Coconut Macaroons but they just don't do much with the hanging ones they have. They sit untouched.
All they want to do it go to the bottom of the cage & shred paper. I the the dots might spike an interest & its something stationary that can also be used as a barrier on the side of the cage so it takes up little room...Oh well...we try.
 

Tanya

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Update (Rhubarb):
Hard work pays off big time. Lol! Might have to go for the pine one for her from now on!

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This one is balsa and she was more determined than usual.
 
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Tanya

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Update (Lemoncello):

The foot toys were some of the first items he pulled out of his newly replenished toy boxes. Under his favorite perch is the evidence that he likes them!
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Ha! I didn't even realize the chopstick was there until I was checking the photo to upload here. The Lems loves his chopsticks. If I take away his takeout toys, imma be in real trouble. Those are his favorite self scritching tool!

Also, look at who I caught *not* playing with his toy yesterday:
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(Funny how I could hear the bits clacking the moment before I turned around and looked at him!)

Today I heard him chomping and excuted the casual walk, no look, far away sneaky pic to catch him in the act!
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Look at that face! I can feel the how-dare-you from here. About 0.0000000001 seconds later that sucker was nowhere near the ol' beak and he was doing his best "nothing to see here" face! Lol!
 

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Macawnutz

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I love how you hung the brink from the cage top! If I had more normal cages I would do so many toys like that for my guys.

Seems like we need to make a bunch of foot toys with the toy wood. :D Once you start snapping it it's addictive.
 

April

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Seems like we need to make a bunch of foot toys with the toy wood. :D Once you start snapping it it's addictive.
I know Tobias would love that! He's a snapaholic,lol
 

Tanya

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That cage set up makes my set up look like I hate my parrots
It's been a long, slow process figuring out what they like and dislike.

As a jungle canopy bird with a short tail, LemLem doesn't mind a configuration that would be clostraphobic to Rhubarb, even though he's technically a bit bigger than her. He likes to "disappear" in his cage by putting something solid between his eye and the irritating humans, and is the most relaxed when there is partial cover that he can get under. If I had to guess he's from a species that had a lot of selection pressure from flighted predators like hawks and eagles. Hence, the dense branches of thick, solid wood that he can hide around or under. It helps that there's a lot of bird safe trees that grow in my area so when a branch comes down on the property of a friend or neighbor, all I need is my trusty saw and I can have all the raw material my heart could possibly desire.

Rhubarb has a much more open feeling to her setup. Only two slenderish main branches near my eye level with lots of open area on the floor. Pictures of wild galahs have them mostly out in the open of the savannah/scrub and I find that she is most comfortable when she has a good overview of her immediate surroundings. She's also much more attuned to ground predators, such as a snake-like shape on the floor and I think this contributes to her aggitation when there's too much stuff in her cage. One time, early on in her life with me, I filled her cage up with all of the toys and perches that I could fit. She found the spot with the least amount of stuff around it and stayed there for hours while she ripped up her feathers. I now make sure she has plenty of extra space and a setup where she can easily get the lay of the land inside and outside her cage. (She still chews feathers, but whenever she does my first question is "what's increasing her anxiety level and what can I change about her environment to help reduce that stress?".)

All this to say, every bird is an individual. How a setup looks to humans is way less important than how it meets the needs of the birds who live in it. :)
 

Macawnutz

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My guys like the space to flap and move. The sleep perches are my main concern. They like to be high, in the back with full view of the room.

They are all so different. I think it's awesome the lengths you've gone to to find the perfect space.
 

Lexusblond

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Madeleine and Gerry Berry say Hi from Western Australia and our mums way to tight to pay for toys as she is lucky enough to have toys aka trees growing in the backyard that we love to eat...
 
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