Poi Toys

[WillowQ]

Hi,
I have a 9 or 10 yr old female Meyers named Jasper. She’s been with me almost three years. I’ve never had a poicephalus befire and their personality is very different from a South American parrot.

Jasper likes to make weird noises and chew up pine wood and cardboard. She loves bird bagels and wicker wreaths. But I don’t know what else she might like.

What do your poi’s like to do or what toys do they like? I understand the need to chew but what else?

 

[Mizzely]

Ripley mostly likes pine except when he's nesty, then he likes to shred catalogs and paper pulp egg cartons.

He loves to forage, so most of his toys are either pine based or Foraging related.

He also likes small wooden beads, balsa, cork bark, preening sisal, and corn husk puffs.

 

[WillowQ]

Ok. I don’t give jasper egg cartons because sometimes they get splashes of eggs on them. But I do give her giant toys meant for amazons and macaws and they keep her busy. Cleaned pinecones get each petal chewed off. And jasper has a huge assortment of beeps and whistles that I imitate to keep her happy,

I was wondering if they like any particular foot toys. I’ve never heard her ring a bell; but she can be noisy if I’ve got the other bird out.

 

[WillowQ]

Foraging toys? Can you give an example?

 

[cmor]

My Meyers loves balsa, cork and sola toys but she goes through them very quickly. It takes her longer to go through pine and some days she won’t touch those toys. I guess they’re not as satisfying for her since they’re more difficult to destroy. She also loves leather toys which are harder for me to find but they do last a while.

There’s A straw toy from super bird creations that I always repurchase because she enjoys that.

She won’t touch vine or grass toys.

 

[Mizzely]

I sanitize egg cartons with F10 first before giving. You can also buy egg cartons new

As for foraging toys, I have a lot of Caitec Creative Foraging System toys.

Some examples: Foraging Toy Reviews

Creative Foraging Systems | Foraging Toys For Birds

Shop our vast range of foraging toys for birds all pet birds including parakeets, budgies, and parrots will love to snack on. Explore our creative foraging systems today!

caitec.com

Some others he really likes:

Large Puzzler Foraging Block

Parrot Enrichment blocks were designed by Kris & Jerry Porter and now made by Birdie Buddy These awesome toys offer plenty of foraging opportunities! Measuring 3½” x 3½” x 6”, these pine blocks feature four 7/8" tunnels that can be stuffed with toy parts or treats like Nutriberries and almonds...

lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

Large Snack Bar

Made and Designed by Birdie Buddy No matter how you place it, it will be a fun toy for your bird! Features eight 7/8" holes that run to the center of the perch and 1/4" grooves. Mount it to the side for a nice platform perch that they have to reach along the side to eat from. Or turn it so...

lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

Smorgasboard ~ Seriously Nutz ~ Side Mount Parrot Foraging Toy. Fillable with pine nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds & more

Ripley isn't really into foot toys.

 

[WillowQ]

Oh, excellent links!! Thank you!!
I have sola balls and I have strips of palm leaf. My problem is that she doesn’t go to the cage bottom much so I bought these balls and now I’m not sure what to do with them. Maybe put in her extra dish (until she drops them and they’re gone forever).

I bought shelled nuts for BeaksMass but they’re not figuring them out. I thought they’d enjoy prying nutmeat out of a broken open shell, but not really.

I should string some heavy pinecones and let her shred them.

I will look through my toy stash and see if I’ve got any leather-decorated toys that past birds did not like.

I guess poi are medium sized chewy birds, not little fidgety weavy birds like Quakers and small conures.

 

[WillowQ]

I have a couple toy successes to report.

Jasper likes heavy cardboard bird bagels. Also, I ordered some small items via eBay. They came in a small heavy cardboard box. Jasper really enjoys chewing both those things up.
Jasper is doing really well and we have had a shift in the last few months. She is much friendlier and less reactive/ bitey. She permits me to handle her more casually now- I don’t have to be so careful though I do need to not pick up something else when she’s on my hand.

Willow Quaker is also becoming more demanding and outgoing. He is getting into trouble instead of being scared of everything. Yay!

 

[WillowQ]

 

[Mizzely]

Oh yes cardboard boxes are Ripley's favorite...but they make him super hormonal so I have to be careful lol

 

[WillowQ]

She’s not climbing inside them. Although I suppose shredding could be stimulating and she is a pretty barfy bird. (I mean she is regurgy with affection.)

 

[Mizzely]

Yes with boxes, if he can get in them it's the worst lol. But shredding turns into plastering the cage with regurgitate

 

[WillowQ]

Oh yuck. Well, if she starts that then boxes go out. Right now it’s folded flat so she can’t crawl inside.

 

[Mizzely]

Fingers crossed! I still give them occasionally to him just because he likes them so much and it keep him from terrorizing my toddler

 

[WillowQ]

Well, I just received an order from Chewy (because I needed multiple bird foods as well) and now I have a toy that someone from Reddit recommended. They said their poi really likes it. (Willow Quaker is hiding from the toy on the other side of my shoulder.)

 

[iamwhoiam]

Does Jasper have a swing? My Pois love swings although it depends on the swing.

 

[WillowQ]

Nope, she doesn’t, but I do have a swing that should fit her in her dresser.
She really likes the new toy with the wood and woven straw wafers. I would like to buy that popsicle toy for her too. But I had a bunch of food to buy this month.

 

[WillowQ]

Jasper has really munched the wood and straw wager toy. But today we watched funny parrot YouTube videos and she was SPELLBOUND.

I was visiting with Willow first and opened my YouTube page. Bird videos popped up and I watched them with Willow and got him very engaged and rather loud. He got pretty excited and I put him back in his cage to cool down. Otherwise I was going to get bit and he needed to beat up a toy or something.

I rewatched a bird video with Jasper and then watched some different funny bird videos with talking parrots. Jasper was fascinated and sat and watched videos for maybe 40 minutes. She was completely mesmerized, eye pinning, etc though she didn’t talk back to the birds.

Both birds reached out to grab the birds on screen. They loved it! And Jasper normally gets bored quickly and starts pinching. So 30-40 min of bird social tv was a huge change.

Maybe this will get Willow talking and give them both some bird ‘company’.

 

[WillowQ]

Jasper and I watched bird tv and some cartoons while she got her scritches this evening. She really enjoys the ringnecks with the clear high voices and the red beaks.

She sat and watched with me and we talked back to the bird on the screen. She also beaked and tongued the screen a bit. I don’t want her to learn how to turn off sites so I didn’t encourage that. But I wonder if I could get parrot YouTube videos to display grid-style so she could choose her preference?

My notebook computer has a touchscreen too so we could try something bigger than a phone. As does the old tablet.

 

[WillowQ]

Both birds continue to enjoy bird videos and jasper also likes cartoons. She sits and focuses without making bored antsy movements; she’s spellbound by brightly colored parrots.

i have been putting the wood blocks from her toys into her extra food dish when they fall down. Today I discovered Sola balls that I ordered months ago. So that’s in the food dish/ toy box, too.