Enrichment Ideas For Parrots

In my last post, I spoke with Robin Shewokis of The Leather Elves about parrot enrichment. Providing stimulating activities – that may include chewing, taking apart, making a noise, shredding, or playing - for our companion pets is important to increase independent play and decrease ‘unacceptable’ behaviors such as screaming, feather destruction, and the constant need for owner attention. Remember, these are animals that, in the wild, would spend hours of each day foraging for food, flying, raising young, and watching out for predators.

I thought I’d follow-up on my last post by sharing some of the things I use. Enrichment doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, I don’t spend a lot on bird ‘toys’ any more. Truthfully a lot of the toys I paid a lot of money for ended up serving as cage art. Remember enrichment is in the eye’s of the beholder so watch your bird, and, as Robin said, know what your bird’s natural tendency is. Chester is my biggest chewer so I give him things he can sink his beak into. Barnaby lives to play so he loves things he can hang upside down from, things that make noise, and things that require thinking. Dreyfuss likes to quietly chew on smaller things.
Some things I do:

Beads & more beads – I buy hemp string and small beads in bulk at the local craft store. I make MANY strands of this – tying a note in between the beads – and hang them all over their cages, inside and out. By the end of each day, all of the strands have been chewed on and go in their recycle bin. Chester also loves to mouth beads for some reason, and sort through the shapes and colors. I put beads in a bowl for him. I also found he eats his pellets better when I include beads in his pellet bowl.

Paper for shredding – For Chester, I roll up some of a phone book or sections of a newspaper and put a plastic chain link around it. (Please do not tie a string around the paper. I did this until one day I saw it around Chester’s neck.)

Blocks of wood – I go to the local home goods store and get ‘safe’ scrap wood. Then I cut it into small pieces, drill a hole in it and put it on a string.

This is a great foraging toy that all of my guys like (right) I got it from http://www.greyfeathertoys.com/. I mix Cheerios (inexpensive) with some colored pellets and beads. Since a lot of the food gets wasted when it falls to the grounds, I would not suggest filling it with all pellets.

Things that go clang! Barnaby does love his bells so I do have plenty of these and will tie bead strings through the chain or attach bells to other things.

Cardboard boxes, paper towels and more – Think of this as recycling. I put beads inside cream cheese boxes. I wrap an almond in a toilet paper roll for Chester & Dreyfuss. I give Chester yogurt containers to chew (or cut a hole through 2 of them, stuff with something, then tie to a string).

These are just a sample of some ideas. I’d love to hear about what you do.