There are days in my life that remind me of a favorite book title, “Full Catastrophe Living!”Typically, on those days, I find myself running short of hand-made toys to offer my parrots.Yes, it is true, Kris Porter occasionally runs out of hand-made bird toys and/or motivation to make new toys.For those days, I like to have a stock of ready-made toys on hand.
I have found, over the years, a few ready-made toys that keep my birds interested and sustain their activity.On this page I will share what I’ve found to be successful with my own flock and my sources for obtaining these toys.There are many bird toy vendors with numbers of great toys for your parrots and this list is by no means a complete listing of ready-made toys.These are just a few of the toys I’ve found to be of particular interest to my own parrots.
MOVIE TAKE OUT TOY
Movie Take Out
A cardboard popcorn container is filled with dried corncob, marbella peanuts, shredded paper, wooden sticks, finger traps, leather pieces, natural straw material, Parro Traps, wooden wheels, curly laces and naturally a pair of movie tickets completes this imaginative, fun toy!
I hide a walnut inside the shredded paper and stuff carrot and celery sticks in the finger traps to create some food foraging interest. I purchased this toy at www.busybeaks.com . Watch the video to see what a big hit this toy is with Zorba.
PICNIC BASKET TOY
Picnic Basket
This is a Super Bird Creations toy great for small to mid sized parrots. A woven basket filled with shredded paper, parrot traps, with 6 mini munch balls. There is a wooden block with plastic chain dangling from the front with a couple bells for extra entertainment.
I put peanuts in two of the mini munch balls and stuffed them inside the basked. Also filled he parrot traps (finger traps) with veggie sticks and put a slice of apple inside the basket. This toy is a great one for Byrd, my Meyers parrot. She doesn't normally chew on baskets, but as you can see in the video below, she likes chewing on this one. I purchased this toy from www.busybeaks.com .
MAIZE MAT MUNCH RING
This is a large toy particularly suitable for the "Zorba Beak". It has fourteen woven maize mats intermingled with natural colored rings and wooden balls on a re-usable stainless steel ring kabob. It is one of the more expensive toys that I will purchase but it keeps Zorba busy for the better part of a day. He will chew and shred the maize mats, rest and then later in the afternoon I will again see him chewing the maize mats and wood parts. The toy has a re-usable ring that I can make new again by adding more maize mats that I get from makeyourownbirdtoys.com. This toy is available at www.avianenrichment.com.
COSMO STICK TOY
Cosmo Stick Foraging Toy
This is a colorful wooden stick puzzle toy. It is stuffed with shredded paper. I hid an almond in the center to add to the foraging experience for Elvis. I was happy to see him get so interested in this toy as Elvis is not one of my more experienced foragers. I purchased this toy at www.persnicketyparrot.com.
Basket Case
This "Basket Case" toy is another favorite. It is two baskets hooked together and stuffed with shredded paper. You are able to open the baskets wide enough to stuff treats inside for more foraging fun. This toy is available for purchase at www.avianenrichment.com.
Surprise Box Spikey Balls
I purchased this toy from www.busybeaks.com. This is a fun toy to help encourage foraging behaviors from the makers of Polly Wanna Pinatas. There are three boxes that you can open to fill with favorite treats like nuts, pasta, or small foot toys, plus a couple of porcupine balls for added texture. Great toy for small to mid size birds as Buddy demonstrates in the video below.
Up Up And Away
Elvis with his Up, Up And Away toy
Up, Up And Away is a great toy for Elvis. If your familiar with his history, Elvis came to us at 12 years of age and had not been exposed to very many toys or enrichment opportunities. Consequently, Elvis will quickly give up if the foraging opportunity or foraging toy presents too much of a challenge for him.
This toy suits Elvis well because I can easily place foot toys, treats and other items of interest in the basket and it makes a great hanging toy box for Elvis. When he finishes emptying the basket he will chew on it as you can see in the photo above. I can also stuff nuts in the vine ball at the top of the basket and he will chew through that to get the nut.
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