Foraging toys for green cheeks

[witchbaby]

Luna is already an expert forager, so I need to find her something more challenging. I bought her a barrel of fun, but it was way too easy for her to figure out. I've also provided foraging baskets, treats in cupcake papers, veggies on a skewer, as well as other homemade toys. I would like to buy a few toys online, but it's hard to tell which ones would be appropriate for a bird her size. Can those of you with small conures share your experiences? Which toys worked well for your birds? Which were too difficult or too big? I'm curious if something like the foraging wheel or windmill feeder would be fine for a green cheek conure.

 

[veimar]

I dunno about store made toys, but I play foraging games with Parry all the time. He loves sunflower seeds, and for example I put a seed in a window envelope so he has to figure out how to get it from there. Or I put some sunflower seeds into a little cup and cover it with all sorts of lids so he would have to get them off, and I also put them in between the newspapers so he has to find them. I invent new tricks almost every day - we both have so much fun with that.

 

[Dinosrawr]

The Rings of Fortune are really good foraging toys! Avery still sucks at it, but she loves playing with it. It makes me happy watching her trying to figure it out because she's so entertained. Because it has 5 rings, it's by no means an easy task. Especially depending on where you place it in the cage That's something I would recommend!

I've also ordered this type of foraging toy for her:




It has a string on it to adjust the difficulty of foraging, so it's great if you want them to work really hard or if you want them to just have a nice treat in a fun way. It's also shreddable! And affordable

 

[WhirlyBirdy]

Most of the foraging toys for birds a really a bit too big for green cheeks, I mean yeah they can still figure it out, it just requires more strength and time and they get bored and fed up and then don't use they toy you payed a small fortune for. Making toys is easier, more succesful and cheaper. I mean go down to your local two dollar shop and check out there stuff, things like mini olastic take away containers, (the sort with the lids pr attached, like miniture versions of the ones you might get sushi in) can make great foraging toys, just poke a few holes in the corners, put some string inthe holes tie it uo with food inside and hang it in the cage.

Straws also make good foraging toys, and are great in combination with thos balls you can get with holes in them.you can stick things like sprouts in them and even sun flower seeds, sometimes i'll block the holes with apple piece or cucumber.

Paper bags are also really effective, try putting their food bowl in a paper bag and watch how long ot takes for them to shred it to a million pieces, it is best start out by showing them their food dish and showing them you putting their food dish in the paper bag and then it usual place.

 

[MonicaMc]

Although I don't have a small conure (at least, not a Pyrrhura!), I do have both of those foraging toys, as well as others. I've used the wheel but not the windmill yet. I think that a green cheek could potentially figure out either one!


Here in America we don't have "two dollar shops" but we do have dollar stores and 99 cent stores! Those are some good places to pick up cheap toy ideas! I've heard Hobby Lobby (if you have one near you) is also a great place to shop for toy ideas! I've never been to a Hobby Lobby before, but one did open up here within the past week!



Here's a couple of great sites for foraging ideas and toys! (plenty more out there!)

Ideas « Foraging for Parrots
Parrot Enrichment (be sure to check out the enrichment books!)

 

[witchbaby]

Thanks, everyone! These are all great ideas.

 

[mrgoogls]

i have some of the same problems, even though i dont have a conure. most puzzle toys are made for larger birds so finding them for cooper can be hard. cooper looooves this one.
Space Circles by Creative Foraging - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

i got it a few weeks ago. it only took him about a day to totally figure out. now he gets everything out within 15 minutes of putting it in. but he still loves it. its good for fruit too since it can be opened and washed.he also likes this one.
Push and Pull Foraging Toy by Creative Foraging - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

it took him longer to figure this out. but again, once he figured it out its super easy for him. this one is harder to wash though, so i only use dry food. i wanted to get something like this one. they have a few different types.
Mastermind Circle Forager by Creative Foraging - FORAGING TOYS by MY SAFE BIRD STORE

hope this helps!

 

[RavensGryf]

That's great that Luna is an expert forager ALREADY! They're such smart little things I wasn't sure how conures were with foraging.

With my species, I find if the foraging is too difficult they give up or are just not interested

 

[witchbaby]

That's great that Luna is an expert forager ALREADY! They're such smart little things I wasn't sure how conures were with foraging.

With my species, I find if the foraging is too difficult they give up or are just not interested

I know, I'm really impressed! She's still very young, so I wasn't expecting her to pick it up so quickly. She's a natural, obviously. She's such a smart cookie.

 

[shahibh]

anyone got any links to some foraging toys i can buy for my conure

 

[Flboy]

I walked into a Petsmart up here in Knoxville and was blown away with their selection of forging toys!

 

[Lin51]

Our new bcc started with a very small plastic duck and put a seed into the beak of it.now moved on to a paper looking dome that you can stuff anything in. He prepares fresh food in it and left the seed.today we found really tiny paper cake cases.see what happens tomorrow when we make something new. Our Quaker has a shopping trolley and little plastic dogs.i say sky go shopping and he puts them in and pushes it on the mantle piece.we have two little teapots of a dolls teaser and he takes the tops of and he puts them in the trolley first

 

[LordTriggs]

little late to the party but I bought one of those foraging wheels. It provided entertainment for my GCC but was definitely too big for him, he kind of got that he had to spin the wheel but just couldn't do it due to the size, so he took to sitting on it

 

[SassiBird]

The SassiGirl has been able to figure out these foraging toys
Mini Maze
Mastermind Heart
CF Windmill though she only knows how to work the bottom wheel

She is currently into treats hidden in pudding boxes.