Safe Alternative Play Pit

[zbear11]

I have a Sun Conure who has decided his favorite game in the evening is to sit in his food bowl and dig around in the pellets left in his bowl, flinging them everywhere. If I tell him to stop, he will, but it's not long before he's back at it. I eventually take the bowl away from him as the pellets become very expensive dog food. lol (The dog by the way loves the food flinging game.)

So to my question...I've been brainstorming and started thinking my bird might enjoy digging and flinging something that was set up for that purpose and thus might redirect the behavior away from the food. The ultimate item would be non-edible and reusable, but something edible that would be cheaper than pellets and yet bird and dog safe would be o.k. as well. I figure I can set up a bowl, fill it with the flingables and let him go to town (Supervised of course). :-) My brainstorming hasn't brought me to the perfect sized, perfectly safe item yet, so I thought I'd get all of your brains working on it too. Everything I have come up with is either too big to fling or too small to be safe (chocking hazzard) Any ideas? I've considered wooden or plastic beads, but to be big enough to be safe they'd be an unflingable size. I thought about dried corn, but would that be safe in bulk? Has anyone set up something like this for their bird?

Thanks in advance for any ideas. :-)

[Bellco]

my blue crown conure loves to chew on the rawhide sticks and when he can he likes to fling them across the room. Might wanna try that out. I have seen smaller rawhides that you could fit in a bowl for him to the throw around and i am sure the dog would be happy too.

[Ashling]

haha what about dog food and just change the propertions you feed your dog to incorperate the birds flinging food into his daily diet? This is half a joke- just thought it was funny that your dog loves it! My dogs love eating the grapes my lorikeet drops!!! grapes!?

[MissMary]

Please be careful. Grapes and Raisins can be extremely toxic to dogs and cause Kidney failure. Dogs have been known to die from only a small handful, though, as with chocolate, every dog with react differantly and have differant tolerance levels. Better safe than sorry.

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Raisins and Grapes Harmful to Dogs

Are Grapes and Raisins Dangerous to Dogs?

[gilliegirl]

YES i AM SHOUTING
GRAPES AND DRIED GRAPES EG RAISINS, SUTLANAS ETC A R E V E R Y T O X I C
TO DOGS - i LOST MY YORKIE THAT WAY AND IT WAS TERRIBLE TO WATCH AND ONLY FOUND OUT A WEEK AFTER HER PASSING WHAT THE PROBLEM HAD BEEN - THE VET WAS NOT AWARE OF IT - HE IS NOW! AND SO ARE ALL THE OTHER VETS IN SUSSEX i HOPE AND TAKING NOTICE.

[emily1m1]

My bird threw raisins to my cat and my cat almost died. It's not just the kidneys that shut down. Please remind everyone that cats and dogs can't eat raisins.

[JoT]

I didn't know that. What is in the grapes/raisins that cause them to be toxic?

[zbear11]

Thanks for the rawhide idea. My conure tends to ignore rawhide, but maybe if they were in small diggable, flingable pieces he might enjoy them.

Yes, my dog loves the pellets! She comes running when she hears the food play begin and by the end of playtime she often has pellets all over her head and back. :-)

Great tips about the grapes and raisins being toxic to dogs and cats.

So, does anyone have any other ideas on what I could safely use in a bird play pit?

[gummi_bear44]

I did a ball pit for my gliders. I got a small plastic box and filled it with plastic practice golf balls, they're really inexpensive. Threw in a couple toys that they love and some treats that they go crazy for and they just have a blast! I bet something similar can be worked up with birds.
I would try putting a large variety of toys in a box with some treats in the bottom and it's not only a fun toy but becomes a enrichment toy as well.

[SunMommy]

I wonder if the attraction is the attention from the dog. You said the dog comes running when he hears the game beginning. I bet your bird likes controlling this part of the dog. Sounds cute but I understand the $$ factor. Good luck finding something that will work. Will be interesting if the bird keeps doing it if the objects are something the dog doesn't care about. Good luck!!