Leaderboard

That just reminded me, you know those cardboard (funny texture stuff) that McDonald's uses as drink carriers? Timber loves those. He shreds them to bits in short order, but you would think it was Christmas morning when he gets one. I don't know what he finds so attractive about them, but I have family save them if they get one.

I totally understand. We're blessed to have family members who are willing to take care of Timber and spend quite a bit of time here when we are gone. I don't think I could board him because he would not thrive, and if the time comes when family isn't available, we'll probably just plan driving vacations that include him. Yes, you have certainly found the place where people understand your concerns! We are retired, and even when we worked, I was the only one who had to travel for work which left hubby home with Timber.

We won't go anywhere because I can't handle leaving them alone for too long. If I've been gone all day I start to feel antsy that I have to get back to them.

Cardboard strips tucked into the cage bars as well as stringing them onto a stainless steel chain entertain my birdies for hours!

Alfie loves boxes and will spend hours shredding them. He pays absolutely no attention to me if he has a good box to shred. Some people advise against giving boxes in case it promotes nesting behaviours but thankfully I've never had this issue with Alfie. You can mix it up as well, add some shredded paper or foot toys or trees to the box so she finds them as she shreds the box. Or like timersmom says, a box within a box within a box. The best box Alfie had was from a friend who had ordered some beers for his brother online. He donated the box they came in for Alfie to shred and it had cardboard partitions in to stop the beer bottles from clashing together during transit. Alfie thought all his Christmases and birthdays had come at once with that one. Decent crunchy cardboard with 12 small sections to get through- it kept him going for weeks! 🤣

Timber loves his boxes, and it never gets old for him either. He has 3 on top of his cage now (A box, in a box, in a box). At least one will have to be replaced by the end of the day!

If you have space, you could get a play stand or a tree for her to play on. Or if you're handy at DIY you could build one. Or if floor space is limited you can use walls and ceilings to hang toys/perches from (so long as drilling holes into walls and ceilings is ok, of course!) Or you might be able to jazz up the play area on top of her cage by putting some extra perches on the outside of the cage (space allowing) and hanging some toys on/around it. If she likes shredding you could maybe leave a couple of small boxes up there filled with treats and toys for her to shred and play with. It's a good foraging activity for her and if she's interested, it might keep her busy for a little while! You can try rewarding her when she hangs out and plays in the 'acceptable' areas. Make a big deal of how great it is to be there and maybe give her some tasty treats. When she starts doing something she's not supposed to, quietly ask her to step up and remove her from that area. No fuss, no treats. Move her to an acceptable area. If she then stays there for a few mins make a big fuss about how great it is and reward her for staying there. (I wouldn't reward her straight away for being moved to the 'acceptable' play area, because otherwise she may start deliberately going for the bad areas just to be rewarded when moved... they're crafty like that!!) Or if moving her back to her cage works then carry on with that. Either way, you're trying to make the doors/cupboards that she's chewing as boring and dull as possible, and any acceptable areas as fun and entertaining as possible, so they're more attractive to her and she prefers hanging out there. She will always still want to explore and get up to no good, you'll never fully prevent that. But hopefully she'll get to the point where she's happy to go for a wander to explore, but will return to the 'fun' places you've created for her. That's the idea, anyway! In reality, they'll do what they want, when they want!! 🤣 Unfortunately, having a bird is like having a toddler. They will always try and push boundaries and get into things they're not supposed to! And they are pretty stubborn with it, too! 🤣 I've included some photos of the things I've done for Alfie to give him different places to play out of his cage. Java perch on the side of his cage with a couple of toys plus a rope hoop hanging from the ceiling. He can also get to the top of the mantle piece and roam around there. Rope perch on the other side of his cage, with a couple of toys. I put a hanging basket hook/bracket on the wall and hung the 'orbit' toy from it, which he likes to climb and swing on. Plus an extra toy hanging from that which he likes to beat the snot out of. This is his favourite place to hang out- the shelves above my sofa. I used to have ornaments and nice things on there but he kept flying over there and knocking everything off. I got tired of removing ornaments when I let him out and putting them back when he was in his cage so I just gave up and let him have the shelves. He has a few toys up there, a box for shredding, I hung his boing from the ceiling (he LOVES that thing) and I hung a toy from the ceiling too. You can see he has peeled the shelves because they were some cheap veneer covered ones that came with the house, so I'm looking to pull everything out and redesign this area for him. This java tree is on the corner of my desk in my home office. He also has a second cage in here so he can join me when I'm working from home. I can then let him out and he has a place to hang out. He likes watching out of the window from up there. There are also some shelves the opposite side of the room that he usually flies to and shoves everything off... I haven't given him those shelves... yet... so have to pick up everything he's chucked off each time! There's a couple of toys and a bell hanging from this tree but he mostly uses it to snooze on... and neighbour watch out of the window. I thought this was a good idea at the time- a hanging perch with a couple of food bowls. It's next to the dining table. However, he obviously finds it boring because he never hangs out there. He'll sit there for a while if I ask him to step up there, and might have a snack whilst he's there... but I obviously need to do a bit more work on this space to make it more interesting for him. It's going to have to move anyway as I'm knocking the wall out behind it soon... but I may get rid of it entirely as it takes a fair amount of space and has barely been used.