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Foraging trays for my budgies!

pipiandni

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These are Pipi and Ni, respectively
242512622_282012090417735_5772155878862551116_n.jpg WIN_20211119_17_27_51_Pro.jpg

I'm making a foraging toy for them. I'm inclined towards a tray as they tend to forage on flat surface. They don't forage much, though. Ni :yfbudgie:(the one in the 2nd photo) has behavioral problems like being hormonal and egg laying. When she's bored she would look for a small dark area to hide. That's why I want to make her a foraging tray to keep her mind off of that. She likes throwing stuff away too so a foraging tray would suit her.

I want to put safe branches and leaves and their favorite herbs (and maybe some new veggies so they can try) in the tray. Is there any other idea/material to put in a foraging tray? I also want to add something colorful to make the tray more enticing. TY!
 
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Wardy

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I add coloured crinkle paper bits from old toys,vine balls,lolly sticks,finger traps,foot toys into my birds foraging boxes. 20211116_191657.jpg
 

Sparkles99

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I'm sorry I don't have any advice, but welcome! And your budgies are beautiful. :)
 

WikiWaz

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Welcome to the Avenue! If your budgies are new to foraging, I'd recommend a less foraging substrate to start out with. @Wardy's setup may be daunting to a new forager. My birds only seemed to catch onto foraging when the foraging tray was clear. Little wicker pieces, small wooden pieces (safe woods like untreated pine), and crinkle paper are good options.
 

Wardy

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Welcome to the Avenue! If your budgies are new to foraging, I'd recommend a less foraging substrate to start out with. @Wardy's setup may be daunting to a new forager. My birds only seemed to catch onto foraging when the foraging tray was clear. Little wicker pieces, small wooden pieces (safe woods like untreated pine), and crinkle paper are good options.
Thats a great point
 

Wardy

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I love foraging ideas and foraging toys. I should have taken more photos of the stuff I made for Bowie. Still trying to work on foraging with Sprite and Wisp.
I just started of with paper for Mojo really i was lucky with KiKi as she learnt from Mojo i love them foraging myself i try and encourage it as much as i can
 

pipiandni

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Welcome to the Avenue! If your budgies are new to foraging, I'd recommend a less foraging substrate to start out with. @Wardy's setup may be daunting to a new forager. My birds only seemed to catch onto foraging when the foraging tray was clear. Little wicker pieces, small wooden pieces (safe woods like untreated pine), and crinkle paper are good options.
I'd go from easy to hard. Thanks for the advice!
 

WikiWaz

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I'd go from easy to hard. Thanks for the advice!
Happy to help when I can! I also remembered you can use paper straws and cut them for foraging substrate. And one I use (but don't hear a lot about) is timothy hay.
 

FeatheredM

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I use a egg cartoon, i really like it and My birds LOVE it
 

soundsfun

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Here are some ideas:

I use different items as trays to switch things up and keep things interesting: plastic takeout containers, cereal/cookie/cracker boxes with holes cut in them, stainless steel steaming/baking pans, ceramic bowls, plastic bins. I sprinkle seeds at the bottom of the tray then place a variety of items over them that require Tofu to lift or push aside to get to the seeds:
  • Smaller twigs/branches pruned from my garden then cut them into shorter segments of varying lengths
  • Chopsticks (the “disposable” kind that come with takeout) cut into varying lengths or left whole
  • Small, bird-safe plastic items like lids from milk jugs
  • Ripped up pieces of paper of different sizes
  • Crinkle paper
  • Balls of paper
Here are some of the more challenging foraging trays that require more digging/problem solving:
  • Birdie bread with seeds baked in, crumbled into small chunks (Tofu doesn’t seem to know what to do with a whole loaf/square of birdie bread so I have to crumble it for him)
  • Seeds and crinkle paper stuffed into a toilet paper roll
  • Millet buds and seeds wrapped loosely in small pieces of paper
I’m always looking for more ideas so I hope others chime in with more suggestions!
 

HelenVanessaDavies

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I've had to remove crinkle paper from my budgie cage as a certain green monster who shall not be named looked like she was trying to eat it :)facepalm:, she also tried to dig?), but I have managed to find a grass matt that I'm trialling at the bottom of the cage and scatter some seeds over it so they need to forage to find the seeds in the grass matt. The grass is woven tightly enough it would be a fair amount of effort to try make any form of nest but they can bite small bits off and play with them in their beaks.

Really enjoying everyone's ideas! It reminded me that there were some eucalyptus branches I wanted to commandeer for their cage!
 

Lady Jane

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If you look on Amazon for cat food puzzles there are some you can put things/seed/treats into for real foraging.
 

soundsfun

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WikiWaz

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@HelenVanessaDavies Do you have a photo of the grass mat you have? I’ve been trying to find some kind of foraging surface similar to a patch of grass that’s easy to clean. My first thought was to find something similar to a Boon baby bottle drying mat https://www.amazon.ca/Boon-GRASS-Drying-Rack-Green/dp/B0032G9E0G, but made of silicone so it’s flexible and easy for birds to forage through.
I bought a puppy pee pad that looked like grass for foraging. My cockatiel loved. it. On Amazon it's called, "Prevue Hendryx 500G Pet Products Replacement Tinkle Turf, Small, Green".
 
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HelenVanessaDavies

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@HelenVanessaDavies Do you have a photo of the grass mat you have? I’ve been trying to find some kind of foraging surface similar to a patch of grass that’s easy to clean. My first thought was to find something similar to a Boon baby bottle drying mat https://www.amazon.ca/Boon-GRASS-Drying-Rack-Green/dp/B0032G9E0G, but made of silicone so it’s flexible and easy for birds to forage through.
I am going to be attempting to properly clean down the grass matt this week, I've been shaking it out each day and poop scraping but it's due a properly clean so I will let you know if it falls apart! I've attached the image from amazon on what it looks like, it's probably about 1/2 an inch thick. They came in packs of 4 and called "CAMITER 4 Pack Woven Bed Mat for Rabbits, Grass Mat Bedding Nest for Rabbit Bunny Chew Toys Woven Bed Mat for Guinea Pig Parrot Chinchilla Squirrel Hamster Cat Dog and Small Animal" - very catchy!
Grass matt.png
 

Momof3litt

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I posted a pic on another thread, but here are some recent foraging activities I've set up:

In the communal area: Halloween leftovers

20211117_101014.jpg

Budgie cage:
20211117_101315~2.jpg

GCC cage:

20211117_101300~2.jpg

This swing is not scary, it has seeds! (Shoutout to @Macawnutz for the excellent tiki bar swing)

20211119_143351.jpg

"Self-directed" foraging (lol), a.k.a. chewing on the plants:

20211119_145204.jpg
 
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