Taking apart her foraging toys...

[issajoy]

Hi! I have a macaw, Ollie, who loves to figure out how things are put together... so she can disassemble them and chew on the metal parts (her favorite). She's figured out multiple foraging toys... and if i ziptie them to stay together, she figures how to undo that too!

She can take apart anything that hangs on a mount like this:

She knows that bottom piece unlatches, then manages to flip it up and over the hinges. If i ziptie the bottom so she can't undo that latch, she just bites through the zip tie to do it. It's driving me crazy I can't find a foraging toy that she won't take apart!

Suggestions on making foraging toys sturdier? Or foraging toys that a smart macaw can't take apart?

 

[Lady Jane]

I would be concerned about the metal since she is taking things apart. Make sure you have stainless steel metal parts on the toys.

 

[Macawnutz]

You have to get creative and build a box around the toys to keep her from getting the hinges.

 

[faislaq]

Our goffins takes apart the smaller version of that wheel. It's tough to snap together I still have no idea how she's unclipping the bottom.

Buzzard hasn't beaten his Buffet Ball yet, but it can be a bit tricky to screw together; the threads are really tiny.

Foraging Toys for Pet Birds: Caitec Corp Buffet Ball at Drs. Foster and Smith

 

[iamwhoiam]

You could make your macaw a busy board that he is allowed to take apart. Use some hard wood or lucite/thick plexiglass and attach some bird safe stainless steel nuts and bolts.

 

[Lady Jane]

@iamwhoiam what a great idea!

 

[Macawnutz]

Our goffins takes apart the smaller version of that wheel. It's tough to snap together I still have no idea how she's unclipping the bottom.

Buzzard hasn't beaten his Buffet Ball yet, but it can be a bit tricky to screw together; the threads are really tiny.

Foraging Toys for Pet Birds: Caitec Corp Buffet Ball at Drs. Foster and Smith

We have a giant carriage bolt running through that toy with a lock nut.

Remember I told you that when he snaps it open.

 

[iamwhoiam]

@iamwhoiam what a great idea!

Thanks, but not an original idea because I've seen these and Casey has a busy board that I purchased from Bells Plastic Bird Toys but doesn't have removable pieces. Can just play with the toys attached to it. I wanted to make one with removable pieces but haven't done that yet. I think Keno would really like it.
There was a company that used to sell stainless steel toys with movable and removable parts but they closed. (Frasier stainless steel)
Researchers have used lock boxes that Goffin's 'toos had to open with the right key to get treats. Something like that would be a great foraging and problem solving toy for some of our birds.

 

[faislaq]

We have a giant carriage bolt running through that toy with a lock nut.
Remember I told you that when he snaps it open.

Oh man, I feel jinxed. Whenever I read something and say, "Not our birds", whether it's some insane feat of strength from a macaw or some mastermind thinking from a cockatoo, it always ends up happening to us eventually. I'm still waiting for Luv Bug to take apart her cage like I keep reading.

So thank you in advance for this warning and solution.

esearchers have used lock boxes that Goffin's 'toos had to open with the right key to get treats. Something like that would be a great foraging and problem solving toy for some of our birds.

And this isn't a key lock toy, but it looks fun for medium birds but I think a mac could probably break it and the reviewers say once its opened the bottom falls to the floor of the cage:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O9SY6...olid=2J4Y0ETC3JMJC&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

[iamwhoiam]

Oh man, I feel jinxed. Whenever I read something and say, "Not our birds", whether it's some insane feat of strength from a macaw or some mastermind thinking from a cockatoo, it always ends up happening to us eventually. I'm still waiting for Luv Bug to take apart her cage like I keep reading.

So thank you in advance for this warning and solution.


I really like the busy board idea. And this isn't a key lock toy, but it looks fun for medium birds:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O9SY6...olid=2J4Y0ETC3JMJC&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
But I think a mac could probably break it and the reviewers say once its opened the bottom falls to the floor of the cage.

Keno has that. Takes her about 5 seconds to open it.

 

[faislaq]

Keno has that. Takes her about 5 seconds to open it.

$15 isn't bad for a foraging toy, but it's not worth it for 5 seconds of fun. It'd take me longer to reset it.

@iamwhoiam I would love you to start a thread about the different foraging toys Keno has tried, with some kind of ranking by difficulty. And @Macawnutz can chime in with a few reviews ranked by durability and how she's improved them. Then all of our other members can add their toys and thoughts and we can have a master list of all sorts of store-bought foraging toys and puzzles all in one place. (We have lots of DIY toy threads & maybe we can compile those sometime, but I want to know which of the commercially available toys is worth the $$.)

 

[Macawnutz]

. Use some hard wood or lucite/thick plexiglass

This made me chuckle. My macaws crack lucite like rock candy.

 

[expressmailtome]

And this isn't a key lock toy, but it looks fun for medium birds but I think a mac could probably break it and the reviewers say once its opened the bottom falls to the floor of the cage:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O9SY6...olid=2J4Y0ETC3JMJC&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Michael had one of these when he was a baby. It took him about five minutes to snap off one of the keys. He did not want to let it go afterwards. Just so you know, braking off the keys is also an effective way of getting the nuts out from the toy!

 

[iamwhoiam]

This made me chuckle. My macaws crack lucite like rock candy.

Even extra thick lucite or plexiglass. Not surprised, though, with the size of their beaks and the amount of pressure per square inch that they can apply.

 

[Macawnutz]

Even extra thick lucite or plexiglass. Not surprised, though, with the size of their beaks and the amount of pressure per square inch that they can apply.

I'll get a picture in a bit.

 

[iamwhoiam]

$15 isn't bad for a foraging toy, but it's not worth it for 5 seconds of fun. It'd take me longer to reset it.

@iamwhoiam I would love you to start a thread about the different foraging toys Keno has tried, with some kind of ranking by difficulty. And @Macawnutz can chime in with a few reviews ranked by durability and how she's improved them. Then all of our other members can add their toys and thoughts and we can have a master list of all sorts of store-bought foraging toys and puzzles all in one place. (We have lots of DIY toy threads & maybe we can compile those sometime, but I want to know which of the commercially available toys is worth the $$.)

I don't think Keno has as many foraging toys as other birds. She was afraid of the buffet ball (rolling one, not the hanging one) so that got scrapped. She kept removing the Rings of Fortune from the quick link. Tightening the link...why bother. Good thing with that toy, though, is you can set it up for different challenge levels ranging from easy to difficult. The treasure chest is too easy for her. Goodie Gadget no longer available and after being afraid of that for many years she finally decided to take it apart. However, that was a great toy, btw. Stainless steel, spinning canister and top that unscrews using a wing nut. I say "was" because after she took it apart I think I tossed some of the pieces when I cleaned her cage. I want to get one of the carousels/foraging wheels (or whatever they are called) for her but I think it will be too easy and the ones that screw onto the side of the cage would get unscrewed.
She had this pyramid thing which was very easy and took that apart but then some of my red-bellies also took theirs apart.

I think there might already be a thread listing some foraging toys and difficulty. I sort of remember something like that but I'm too lazy to do a search. I know there are several foraging toy threads, though.

 

[iamwhoiam]

I'll get a picture in a bit.

Would like to see the photo. Keno has broken her supposedly unbreakable Bells Plastic foot toys.

 

[faislaq]

Dang, I was hoping to get some of those.

 

[Mizzely]

The treasure box doesn't fall to the ground unless it it close to the ground; but it DOES fall very quickly about 6 to 9 inches away from the top, so I don't use it for fear it will bash poor Jingo off his perch!

Jingo (my quaker) can take apart his wheel too (the all clear version). He found that better than spinning it and eating out of a small hole...

Maybe acrylic isn't the answer? Maybe some wooden ones? Obviously they will get destroyed too but that's part of the fun!

Bobber the Beaver Quaker likes these
Toys

And my rats love these
Chock O Blockz Foraging Foot Toys - Treat Filled Toys - Serious Toys for the Heaviest Chewers

 

[faislaq]

The treasure box doesn't fall to the ground unless it it close to the ground; but it DOES fall very quickly about 6 to 9 inches away from the top, so I don't use it for fear it will bash poor Jingo off his perch!

Jingo (my quaker) can take apart his wheel too (the all clear version). He found that better than spinning it and eating out of a small hole...

Maybe acrylic isn't the answer? Maybe some wooden ones? Obviously they will get destroyed too but that's part of the fun!

Bobber the Beaver Quaker likes these
Toys

And my rats love these
Chock O Blockz Foraging Foot Toys - Treat Filled Toys - Serious Toys for the Heaviest Chewers

Neat idea. I saw 'whitewood' listed & I thought we weren't supposed to use whitewood because it could be a lot of different kinds, some of which aren't bird safe?