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| CHOLA WOOD TOY |
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| This is a fun, easy to make toy. I consider it a wood chew toy, but it also serves as a foraging opportunity.
Below you have two videos to watch. In the first one I show you how I make this toy. For the demonstration, I stuffed the toy with an almond, shredded paper and walnut. However, you could stuff it with almost anything that you think your parrot might like including vegetables such as carrot sticks or leafy greens like swiss chard. In the second video you will see my parrots playing with this toy.
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| Buddy looks inside the carrier |
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| He finds something to shred |
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This idea came to me when I was getting ready to toss out a cardboard beer carrier. I thought what if I stuff some shreddable material in here and make this a parrot toy? I cut some paper towel rolls in half and stuffed them with rolled newspaper. On a few of the stuffed paper towel rolls I placed a small vine ring for added interest. Then I put the stuffed paper towel rolls inside of the compartments of the carrier.
They went for it. This toy is made mostly out of junk you would otherwise toss into the garbage or recycle bin and it is so easy to make it takes no time at all. You could also put foot toys or nuts inside the compartments along with the paper towel rolls. I've asked the neighbors to save all their 6-pack bottle carriers for me. And if you ask, liquor store attendants will often give you empty carriers.
Below is a video of Zorba investigating the contents of his beer carrier toy box.
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| ELVIS WITH HIS TOY BOX |
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| Another DIY toy box idea is to re-purpose those clear vegetable or salad bar containers. My mother came up with this idea. Instead of throwing them away, she washed a few containers and let them dry. She filled them with all sorts of items; left over bird toy parts, plastic beads, pieces of shreddable material, dried corn husks, nuts, carrot sticks, etc. This fits both categories of Foraging and Toys.
This is especially good to keep the interest of Elvis. As I've mentioned before, Elvis will quickly give up if presented with a difficult foraging toy or task. This clear container keeps his interest because he can see the items inside and the container is small enough for him to toss around.
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Here is a video of my Timneh's, Buddy and Elvis, trying to get inside of their toy boxes.
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| CASPER'S OVERALLS |
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| And the Creative Toy award goes to. . . . .
Lin Westgard for Casper's Overalls!
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| Click to download INSTRUCTIONS |
Click on the link above to download a pamphlet with instructions for how to make Casper's Overall toy.
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Ditto demonstrates Casper's Overall toy in action in the video below. He just might inspire you to make a pair for your parrot.
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Jenny Drummey demonstrates how she makes Tamale Toys. I like her idea of using zip ties to speed up the toy making process and I'm grateful to Jenny for sharing this idea with all of us.
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I'm dedicated to helping parrots by sharing my parrot enrichment ideas with parrot owners like you. If you would like to show your appreciation for this website please do so by paying it forward and donating to help support Phoenix Landing.
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