Entertaining, stimulating, and challenging a Grey

[munch]

Hi!

 

I have my little guy, Took, for 2.5 months, he is 6 months now. He doesn't seem too crazy about his toys, I've tried a variety (introduced one at a time, switched after a couple days trying to figure out whats next). He only took to one and loves shredding newspaper. But I wonder how stimulating, entertaining, or challenging shredding paper really is and what more I can do.

 

Looking for advice, ideas, and suggestions on how to keep the super intelligent Grey stimulated and entertained on his own (without a person to encoruage or teach tricks, something he can do by himself during the day when I'm atwork). I'd like something that will encourage and challenge but not overwhelm, scare, or frustrate.

 

I tried hiding food but he didn't seem to realize he was suppose to search for anything. I gave him some hard shelled nuts (walnuts, Brazilian) but he didn;t seem to realize he was suppose to try to crack it open. Is this suppose to happen naturally or am I suppopse to show him?

 

Any ideas for helping a Grey realize their potential? Any ideas for helping him keep engaged and entertained?

 

Thank you!

[birdhouse]

There are 2 free parrot activity books on this site.

 

http://www.parrotenrichment.com/

 

There are some good references for other things as well. Hope it helps.

[munch]

Thanks so much! My vet told there was a site, but he coudldn't rememebr the name! Thank you!!

[Birdnut]

My Moussa's favorite toys are small toys hanging from a chain that he can grab and throw around. He especially loves anything with a bell (large sturdy bell) on it. He likes "busy" toys with lots of little objects clustered all over it. He also likes foot toys, which are easily made from old toy parts tied together with nylon cord, leather, or rope (available in bulk on the internet). You can get one of those stainless steel buckets that hang over a horizontal bar in the cage, and fill it with little foot toys and treats wrapped in paper.

 

The toys with big blocks of material are ho-hum.

 

Also, keep in mind that these guys are most active in the morning and evening and spend much of the afternoon just chillin'.

[munch]

I read went to the parrot enrichement website, great ideas (i can't watch videos at work). and thanks birdnut for more toys ideas that i was clueless about- great ideas.

 

BUT how do i get him to engage? he doesn't play with anything except shred the newspaper and one swing/rope! he also only stands on the top perches, goes down level for food only. even on his playstand, he only stands on the top even when the food bowls are on the lower branches, he won't go near a lower perch or branch. Help! help me expand his horizons and options! How do i get him to change his routine?

 

i turned the playstand in the oppsite direction one day. he flipped out and nearly fell off.

[crossfit]

Remember, parrots are social learners. So you can start out by playing with the toys yourself. He can be watching from the cage or while he is out on the playstand. That doesn't matter. He will show interest in things he sees you show interest in. You can also play with the toys together and make it a special bonding time for you two after work. I know you ultimately want him to be able to play with toys alone when your gone but to start, connect play with social time. Later on, when he knows how to play, you can bet he will play with those toys and think of you when he is gone.

 

As for foraging, this is again a learned behaviour. In the wild, they would learn by seeing their parents and older birds foraging and this would show them where to look and what to do. What has worked with my little guy is to make sure he sees me putting the treats in the foraging toy and then placing it in the cage.

 

As for change, I notice mine tends to have more trouble with change if I haven't made many changes recently. Then I have to change things slowly so he gets used to it. Once he is used to things being changed gradually, I can go back to dramatic change. To use your play stand as an example, instead of turning it all the way around, you could just put a new toy on it in the regular position (make sure he sees you do it). Or you could turn it just part way. I also notice Hawkins does better with new things and change if I make sure he sees me changing things. I used to set up his foraging toys the night before when he was in his sleep cage but now I find its better to set them up in the morning when he is in the cage and sees what I am doing. I don't know if this will work for you but it is what I have learned works for my bird.

 

Also, remember your guy is still pretty little. My Hawkins is just under a year and just starting to reliably know how to forage. Around six months I remember myself also wondering if he would learn to play with toys without my help or to learn to forage instead of just getting the food out of the food bowl. Now he does both. There is a thread in the nursery section of the forums on developmental stages of our birds. I found it really helpful and checked it out a lot this past year. Good luck. It sounds like the two of you are off to a great start.

[Buffy]

Echo was my first Grey ever and my first parrot in 10 years, so I researched tirelessly and went to multiple bird shows resulting in Echo having a huge myriad of toys before even coming home. I had the exact same experience you are having right now. Echo played with nothing unless it was very shreddable. I was so worried about her because I had read all this information about the importance of stimulating a grey. I really worried about her. I read everything I could find and posted on several bird websites which resulted in me poking holes in several shirts, hanging toys from the holes, and playing with those toys like there was no tomorrow. I never really got a response from her at all with any of my antics. I even mentioned to one close friend that I loved Echo unconditionally but was starting to believe that my Grey had some cognitive deficiencies. However, within a year there was no toy that was safe and no puzzle toy that could stump her for more than a day. When I brought my second Grey home, he was the exact opposite from Echo. He relished toys at a very young age and has always loved hard wood whereas Echo will chew hard wood toys but still prefers shreddable toys. Each Grey is truly unique. give Took some time, sounds like Took and Echo are a lot alike.

[munch]

Crossfit- thank you for the step by step guide. It's very useful and I will follow your guidelines. Just last night, I was doing a people puzzle abd Took came over to play (which destroyed the puzzle with his flapping wings) but it compliments what you said exactly- he saw what I was playign with and wanted to play as well. Gonna head right over to the nursey section next! Looks like we will be playing and making toys together this weekend! (suppose to snow anyway on Sunday!)

 

Buffy- lol! You had me laughing because I thought the same thing about Took!! That he was not he brightest and the "special" one of his hatchings! Echo and Took do seem a lot alike. Thank you for your post, it was very reassuring. Phew, and funny.

[Birdnut]

As far as Took only wanting to get on the top branches of his playstand, I have noticed that all of my birds only use the top branches of any of our playstands. I have mused at why they bother to put lower branches on those. They are only used as an avenue to climb to the top branches.

[birdhouse]

What you said about him wanting to stay high & his reaction to moving the play stand makes me think he's a little timid. Which may also be part of the reason he's hesitant to play with things.

 

Let him sit at the table with you while you make toys & see what interests him. Start small & go slowly to build his confidence. Read his body language very closely. Don't force the issue with anything.

 

BTW, he may be at the stage where the box is better than the toy, so to speak. If he's interested in playing with the pieces, that's enough for now. You can put them into a clean food cup & let him use them as foot toys. That might give him a reason to time lower in his cage.

 

Learning takes time. It's a learning process for both of you. Don't expect anything. Just have fun with him.

[Acappella]

Dorian isn't much of a toy bird either, except for paper shredding, so I've just found a gazillion ways to make toys with different forms of paper. Tie a roll of adding maching paper to the side of the cage. Make a string alternating beads with paper muffin cups, and put a bell on the bottom. Get a wiffle ball and make an octopus with beads, leather string and small paper cups made for candy making. Cut a few strips of paper, punch a hole in the center, fan the strips out and hang from the top of the cage like a paper umbrella. Use the paper cups that fast food restaurants have at condiment counters, put a treat inside, pinch the top closed, thread some bird-friendly string through it, and string a bunch of them across the corner of a cage like a clothes line. Do the same with a string of paper dolls, (or snowflakes for a seasonal touch). Weave long strips of paper through bars of the cage.

 

As for teaching how to play, I find what works best is to sit where he can see you with another person or animal and play with the toy together in front of him. If you pretend you're ignoring him because you are sooooo facinated with playing, the flock instinct, along with a little touch of jealousy may be enough to make him want to join in. He may become a champion toy player, or you may just have a bird who is more 'zen' than others. Dorian has always been on the quiet side, apart from loud playing and

[danmcq]

Remember, parrots are social learners. So you can start out by playing with the toys yourself. He can be watching from the cage or while he is out on the playstand. That doesn't matter. He will show interest in things he sees you show interest in. You can also play with the toys together and make it a special bonding time for you two after work. I know you ultimately want him to be able to play with toys alone when your gone but to start, connect play with social time. Later on, when he knows how to play, you can bet he will play with those toys and think of you when he is gone.

 

GreYt observations!

 

They are wired to learn from the parents and flock.

 

In regards changes in their acceptance of them, you are spot on. We just removed a 6 foot tall brass standing tulip lamp from our living room that Dayo would sit on late evenings and watch movies while preening. Last night he kept flying to that location several times and circling as if he thought somehow it was still there and he was just not seeing it. I am interested to see if he still displays that same behavior tonight. It surprised me that he kept flying there after he knew (I thought) that it was no longer there.

 

The others have all given great comments in getting your grey used to living in our world and how to play and keep itself entertained. They watch us intently and learn from everything we do and say.

[Guest Kali_the_Destroyer]

Kali climbs all over her cage, inside and out, and sometimes jumps on Jasper's cage too (bad bird). I think it helps that I have feed cups at different levels, and so she has always had to climb up and down to get treats. What she most likes to do is spit her food all over the floor then climb down and rummage through it for hours.

 

She loves shredding newspaper, and destroying nuts-in-shells (I crack the bigger ones to get her started).

 

And mostly, she wants to play with whatever she's not allowed to (mobiles, laptops). If I want her to play with a new toy, I play with it myself first, in front of her

[Morana]

Wow, this was illuminating! I'll start tomorrow! :-D

PS: aren't newspapers toxic because of the print? :-S

[Acappella]

You have to check with invidual papers to see if they are using soy-based ink when printing. I realize Morana that you are in another country so I'm not sure about the printing practices there. I often use unprinted newspaper, which we can get here (in Canada) from moving companies. They sell it to people who are packing for a move because it is a cleaner way to pack, it doesn't get ink on all your belongings. Also, I just checked the IKEA world web site, and IKEA is coming to Croatia!!! I have, on occasions, been known to take a few extra sheets of the paper they have at check-out when I'm buying something there . Cut it into strips, punch a hole in the centre, run a string of bird-safe string through the hole, fan the strips out so they look like an umbrella, add a few beads, tie a big african-grey safe bell at the end of it all, and you have a cheap bird toy with lots of paper-shredding fun.

[Lambert58]

it's so hit or miss, and it really depends on their mood.

 

My advice: keep it simple and save yourself $$ by not buying expensive "bird" toys.

 

Couple things that work for our flock: popcorn. Get a package of about 50 small brown paper bags and some corn kernals. handful of those and 2 minutes in the microwave. Tie the bag up with some sissal rope/string in the cage and you just got 20 minutes of play time

 

Straws. Get straws, cut them in half, punch them through apples, grapes and bananas.

 

hard plastic, shiny beads on sissal rope. they love them.

 

just a couple hints

[domyoburk]

Just to echo what a couple others have said, Ursula was pretty mellow around 6 months. I remember remarking to my husband that she was more boring than I expected a parrot to be.

 

Watch out! She gradually flowered and matured; around a year old she was already a hellion. At 2.5 years old we relish every quiet moment. But she's not much of a toy bird either... she'll play a little when we're home, sitting around with her, but there is little evidence that she touches her toys when we are away. She just seems to retreat to the top corner of her cage and veg out.

[Lambert58]

OH! I almost forgot their favorite toy ever: a lacrosse ball. They only play with it about once a week but holy cow they just go crazy on that thing when the mood hits them. Makes for some great video, too

 

This was made before we knew Leo was a boy:

 

[Greymatter]

Merlin wasn't a big toy player for his first year - then I started making my own - with shredding materials, soft woods (I was told when I got him that he should have hard wood - not for a beginner!), straws, and material, and he started playing.

 

He also LOVES acrylic toys - I think partially because he can see through them, and partially because they make a great noise when he bangs them across the cage. He does have a pair of keys hanging off the front which he also loves clanging on the cage.

 

He is wary of new toys, but once you figure out what he likes, and ensure at least one or two of the "desired" material is encorporated into his toys, he's pretty quick to play.

 

Recently, he started really enjoying the Birdie Bagel Bites.

 

Good luck!