Favourite Too toy?

[maggenpie]

Since my "doesn't play with toys" Too has turned into really busy boy, I thought I'd ask what is your cockatoo's favourite toy of the moment?

Gwynn (a lesser sulphur) is now a wood chipping machine and apparently cardboard boxes are "so last week, darling" and knotted leather thongs are only mildly interesting after a couple of days. He loves metal and figuring out how to undo things so that's something I'm looking into but finding stainless steel components doesn't seem easy.

I've been reading through the diy toys threads and thought some breed specific input would be good, especially since I'm a bit paranoid about how safe some chewables like plastic bottle tops might be. Can I really trust him not to swallow the pieces he chews off?

I love the idea of the acrylic puzzle type foraging toys and would like to know if you've tried them, which were a good buy, or too easily destroyed.

 

[Molcan2]

Rome loves foraging toys, particularly the ones that involve screwing things together or apart. Below is a site that I got a lot of her toys from. Her favorite two are the cups that screw into each other and the treasure chest. A cheaper toy we did was cutting a cocoanut in half and drilling holes on each half and we put treats inside and tie the ropes together to close the cocoanut back up and she unties the ropes to open it up (they sell the toy is stores but we made our own).

Bird Toys Foraging/Interactive

 

[maggenpie]

Thanks Molcan2, I like the coconut idea, I will be trying that out. I looked at the shop link, it's very similar stock to what I've been looking at here in the UK. I been thinking the screw together cup toy looked like it would be interesting to Gwynn, so that's going to the top of his wish list.

I saw a solitary all leather sandal at the car boot sale yesterday, and got it for free. I've been soaking and scrubbing it and I'm hoping he'll think it's a great chew toy. I'm also cutting up an old natural grass beachmat, stripping out the thread and using the grass to stuff boxes and tubes to hide titbits. He also really loves the corn leaf chewable toys sold for small animals. I want to give him things that require more thought to go alongside the chew toys, so any more ideas like the coconut one would be very welcome.

 

[Molcan2]

Another thing you can do is get some untreated wood (2x4s, etc) and drill holes in the wood at various depths and put small nuts and stuff in the holes. They then have to chew through the wood to get what they want. I have also gotten small little whicker balls from the craft store and push treats inside and hang them up, both my birds love that. When I hang those up i usually hang them from a perch and the only way they can get to the balls are to pull the string up to the perch little by little until they get the ball, otherwise that toy cam be way to easy for a Toos beak. I try to make them think and work hard for the treats.

 

[melissasparrots]

Several sulfers I know have really liked to untie knots. I tie knots with little beads to play with between knots of Polly rope. The beads are just big enough not to swallow. I believe they are the next half size up from something called a pony bead. Mine also likes really soft wood. I don't give it to her much because its expensive and she kills it within minutes. I believe agave and yucca are her favorites although there are some others with similar textures I can't think of off hand. Some of the shreadable palm frond toys are also good. Mine has never liked acrylic toys. If metal is his thing, you might be able to get a stainless steel nut and bolt from the hardware store and thread some wood or beads onto it so he has to unscrew it to get the pieces off. My macaw likes that sort of thing. Great foot toy.

For strictly supervised play, an old clean sock stuffed with used toy parts and tied shut at the neck makes a good toy. Almost all cockatoos I've met have liked chewing holes in the sock to get the toys out. You can also put some nuts or pellets in there too. That should be a while your in the same room only toy because they can work a thread loose and entangle themselves.

Some cockatoos will swallow what they chew off. Normally they don't, but of all the species where you occassionally hear about a death because of injesting something, its usually cockatoos. Watch your bird, but at the same time you have to give him something to think about. I'd worry most about him chewing off little bits of plastic as that seems to be the more common culprit.

 

[luvmytooo]

You can buy toys parts from most birdy stores and make your own.
I like to use leather but they also sell lots of different strings to make toys with.
And if your bird chews the strings to pieces ,the toys can be reused , just thread them onto a new string. My Goffin , Yoshi LOVES his acrylic toys , I almost think he is addicted to one of them so I went out and bought a few of the same toy in case he breaks it , lol.
Buying the toy parts gives you a opportunity to try different types of toys without spending a lot and you get at least a couple a package , so its totally worth it IMO.
And its fun to make a toy for your baby knowing how much he is going to enjoy
it

 

[maggenpie]

Hi Lovemytoo, yes I'm definately a diy-er for toys. When the whole purpose is destruction it makes sense to keep recycling! I'm getting an idea now of what will be best to buy for parts.

Mellissaparrots I've been looking for suitable beads but not found anything I'm happy with yet. He stole a marble and was trying to crack it like a nut so I'm being rather cautious about what fits in his beak! I was back at the diy shop today but everything is zinc so I'll keep looking. I'm certain he'd love a big nut and bolt.

Molcan2, I like your tip about drilling holes in wood to hide treats, thanks for that one. The treat on a string, I haven't tried that on Gwynn yet but I do it for the rooks sometimes. They are a lot less destructive than a cockatoo though.

I'm thinking about spending out on a couple of puzzle toys to swop between, with homemade wood and leather toys with knots to undo, and lots of twigs, bamboo shots and suchlike for quick shredding. I've fixed a flat wildbird feeder up so I can pop a wrapped treat in amongst hay and paper anytime he needs a quick distraction. I save card tubes and boxes for foraging of course and find he likes a lot of the chewables sold for rabbits and hamsters.

I'm still open to more suggestions!

 

[terry52449]

Cameo has those foraging toys all figured out now. I have 4 different kinds so I change them around to give her a small challenge. I do put in some oversized treats in them just to mske it hard for her to get out which will entertain her for a while.
Cameo loves to play with boxes. Thanks to someones good idea I put one on top of her cage and she spent all day ripping it apart and even better clawing up the bottom. She actually wore down her sharp claws that I about to have filed down. Now Cameo has a box in her Java tree and play gym which actually expands her living space. Since I got the Java tree Cameo stopped using her play gym but now will go there to play with the box. The only other toy Cameo enjoys is a rolled up newspaper that I will stick somewhere either on the Java or cage. Loves to rip up my newspaper when I am trying to read it.
I stopped spending my money on toys from the pet stores because she just ignores them.

 

[maggenpie]

Hi Terry. Yes I've also found that toys on the outside of the cage are more interesting than when I've hung the same toy inside. I find it hard to believe he didn't play before. Either they didn't understand the cockatoo idea of play or he was too depressed and miserable to bother. I reckon the constant quest to keep his mind busy will be keeping my mind busy too - especially since you say Cameo has all the puzzle toys well figured out!