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How to Introduce Eddie to Foraging?

LydiaB

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I've had Eddie (a quaker parrot) for almost a year now and I haven't really gotten him any foraging toys. I tried once but he didn't seem very interested. I've heard that basically all birds like foraging, once they figure it out. How should I introduce Eddie to foraging? I think he'd like it, but he just doesn't know what it is. He gets a little weirded out by anything new. I'm not sure how old he is, but I know he's not really old and not really young. I also don't know if he'd ever been exposed to foraging in the past before. Any tips would be helpful, thank you!
 

Mizzely

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Start easy :)

Foraging can be as simple as scattering seeds in a box that he can climb into.

You can put a food toy pieces in his bowl with his food that he has to move around to reach the food.

You can tuck seeds into his favorite toys.

Every single foraging toy on my website my quaker has foraged from! Foraging Toys | Lil Monsters Bird Toys

Intro to Foraging is exactly that :) Easy to use and figure out!
intro2.jpg

Jingo using that one:

One of the very first toys he used was this:

foragebasketjingoexample.jpg

Just sprinkle in seeds, shred paper, and toy parts (or any combination of those) into a dollar store basket and add parrot :D
 

Mizzely

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Also if you are on Instagram, I try to do a new "Foraging Friday" tip or highlight every week. You can follow me or the #foragingfriday hashtag :) I also cross post it onto my LMBT Facebook page
 

SquawksNibbles

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I got my two introduced to foraging by covering their food bowl with a piece of paper. They didn’t tear into it right away, either, it took a little while for them to figure it out. I poked a nice sized hole in it to get them started. :) Then even when they still didn’t try, I went and picked at the hole and put my fingers in the hole to show them. One of my Budgies, the more curious one, Skittles, came over and started checking it out, and soon enough he had his head in the hole eating the food. Nico learns from Skittles, and therefore just started copying him. Then once they mastered the first part, I covered the bowl with paper again, only I didn’t poke a hole in it. I still had to pick at it a bit with my fingers, but when I did, Skittles started pecking at it, too, and pretty soon they were both ripping through it. I did that a couple of times, just letting them get used to ripping through one sheet of paper. Pretty soon we moved on to balled up paper with treats inside. I, again, had to start off by poking a hole in it and picking at it, but just like with the paper and the bowl, they got the hang of it pretty quickly. Now they will happily tear through paper to get to their favorite treat. :)
 

LSA

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Similar to SquawksNibbles, I let the bird(s) watch me roll their favorite treat(s) into paper and then let him/her/them chew it out. We graduated those little fast food (like McDonald's ketchup cups) cups with seed/pellets in the bottoms. We moved up to small plastic baskets with seeds/pellets on the bottom. After that, dehydrated fruits and veggies got added with the seed/pellets then toys/wood. It wasn't long before the bird(s) was/were excited to see what the forage basket(s) held each day.
 

rocky'smom

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Another thing that works is balsa wood put over food dish. You can cut thin balsa wood with butter knife to fit the dish. Sweet Pea loves working the wooden piece out of her dish.
 

SandraK

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Has he tried to weave anything into the sides of his cage. Try giving him something like straws to see what he does with them. Not all Quakers weave but it might be a start.
 

LSA

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Try giving him something like straws to see what he does with them.
Oooh, straws make GREAT toys! My conures and budgies LOVE them especially in neon colors. Every time someone goes to McDonald's, they have three missions:
1. get me napkins,
2. get me little, paper cups
3. get me straws.
 

LydiaB

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Has he tried to weave anything into the sides of his cage. Try giving him something like straws to see what he does with them. Not all Quakers weave but it might be a start.
I've tried leaving sticks and straws in his cage, but he seems really uninterested. He just looks at them, chews them up and then goes back up to his little perch lol.
 

Hjarta5

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I've also had luck starting with Wally's food bowl. I started out with first leaving a natural foot toy in there, where she could still see food underneath. Then I graduated to more toys that would be easy to throw out of the bowl or otherwise move around. I also then started hiding treats around her cage -- and outside where she would play.

I found that her interest may not have been instant, but over time, Wally started recognizing these foraging opportunities more and more. It was like her toys -- she may not show any interest in a particular toy but one day she just does. That's why I dont give up on it, I just rotate it back in at a later date.
 

d_msparkles

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Waffle is still figuring out foraging (she’s only 4 months old) but one that never fails for us is stuffing veggies in a bamboo finger trap. I started with baby carrots, and lately I’ve switched it up to strips of peppers. It’s probably the one thing her little cheekie brain will focus on for more than 10 mins!
 

Mizzely

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I've tried leaving sticks and straws in his cage, but he seems really uninterested. He just looks at them, chews them up and then goes back up to his little perch lol.

It's usually an adult behavior and not all of them are good at it or have the drive :lol:
 

SandraK

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I've tried leaving sticks and straws in his cage, but he seems really uninterested. He just looks at them, chews them up and then goes back up to his little perch lol.
Is he mechanically inclined - as in opens cage doors, makes escapes ....
 

Mizzely

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SandraK

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It's usually an adult behavior and not all of them are good at it or have the drive :lol:
I have 4 Quakers w/3 different weaving levels. JJ's the best weaver and has woven around his timothy grass tunnel, the girls Loofa & Daisy weave absent-mindedly into the floor of the top level & the platform perch outside the cage and Baby Blue only weaves in the bottom grid of his cage. Go figure.

But JJ & Baby Blue are also mechanically inclined and would let themselves out of their cages if the extra doors were tied shut. They still run a perimeter check every day and try all the doors.
 
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