Teaching a bird to Play

[Monty In Ireland]

We rehomed Monty he is around 10-11 months of age.

I just wanted to know if anyone can give me advice as to how to encourage him to play... We have a few toys for him which he doesnt really go near so I took them out of his cage and have reintroduced one...

At first he was abit weary of it, but he now pecks at it and has a good old nibble... he seems to have shiney syndrome, unless its metallic he doesnt really have any interest in going near anything...

Im not really sure on his history other than knowing he was left in the corner and given no attention.

he is quite friendly he will step up and down, go to anyone and you can rub his head...although when he gets tired or wants left alone he will bite.

We take him around with us, out the garden etc and he sits with us when we are watching TV, I just would like some stimulius for him when we are not around....

any ideas...

[jenseits]

What kind of bird is Monty? A Grey?

I think Greys aren't generally super playful (someone correct me if I'm wrong) -- they tend to be the wise men of the parrot world, but I think they tend to do well with foraging toys and puzzles. I've met one grey who will very patiently unscrew nuts and bolts in order to open up a box with a single yogurt covered raisin inside.

I have two birds. One who only "plays" with toys that have food inside them (he's very food motivated) and sometimes he chews up wood pieces, but that's it. The other one plays with all sorts of toys, even though her previous owner swore to me that she wasn't into toys at all. She seems to prefer plastic foot toys, but will explore most new things.

It may be a matter of experimenting and just trying different types of toys (different sizes, materials, styles, etc) and showing Monty how to play. Having a big variety of toys is important too. Unless he's afraid of them, I would go ahead and leave them in his cage for him to explore on his own time. If he only has one toy, he's going to get very bored of it very quickly.

I wrote a post a while back about getting a bird to play with toys:
Your Parrot Won’t Play with Toys? Best in Flock – Parrot Blog
Here's one on the subject by trainer Barbara Heidenreich:
Good Bird Inc Parrot Training Talk: Get Your Parrot to Play with Toys

I'm glad you're working on adding some mental enrichment to his life. Especially since he's so young, the sooner he learns how to entertain himself the better his life will be.

[jenniferag]

sometimes it really helps to have the bird on your knee or somewhere close and you play with the toys in front of him.... it sounds funny but take a toy and act really into it... you can turn it around, make noises with it and everything.

Sometimes my bird doesn't want anything to do with a toy until I pick it up, then she'll come running over and stand on her tip toes to get it

Same with food... sometimes they don't want it unless you have it first

[Monty In Ireland]

Yes he is a grey... I didnt want to overwhelm him with toys in his change, he currently has two and Im planning on taking the wooden one out and replacing it but he seems to be getting abit of entertainment out of it.

We have 5 dogs which he finds a great source of entertainment, in the mornings I open his cage and he climbs on the top and sits at the edge so he can watch me let the dogs out and clean, feed and water them....he now barks and whimpers like the dogs... ha!

We have only had him for 2 months and Im trying to do the slowly slowly catchy monkey method on him.

Thank you for the link I will have a look this evening :)

[Monty In Ireland]

Originally Posted by jenniferag

sometimes it really helps to have the bird on your knee or somewhere close and you play with the toys in front of him.... it sounds funny but take a toy and act really into it... you can turn it around, make noises with it and everything.

Sometimes my bird doesn't want anything to do with a toy until I pick it up, then she'll come running over and stand on her tip toes to get it

Same with food... sometimes they don't want it unless you have it first

thank you, I have found this method good with the food, he is a fussy eater, but if I eat something first then he will try it...

He seems to like anything shiney and remote controls, mobile phones, literally anything with buttons!

has anyone any good links to toys which might ship to Ireland?

[jenniferag]

actually what I did (I have a conure who LOVES buttons!) I took a piece of fleece and sewed a bunch different colored and sized buttons on it... you can get then at any store, walmart, Joanne's or Target....

just get the plain plastic ones... they have little animal shaped ones ect. You can also get pony beads and sew those on.... I lay the piece of fabric over me when the birds are out and mine just attack it!

She also loves anything gooey or rubbery. Sometimes I'll sew little stretchy rings on there too... also peices of cotton that she can shred..... straws are a big favorite too!! ohh and plastic spoons!!

I hope that helps.


and tooth brushes!! LOL

[debbielabella]

my grey doesn't play like my other birds do. He likes small wood toys, any large toys he hates. He likes chewing on leather, and plastic, likes preening rope, and likes a metal bell that when he lets go of his other toys he can make noise. He can go through a ton of small abc blocks. Even though he's a large bird he doesn't like big blocks of wood. He likes listening to stuff going on around him, so if there's not going to be anyone home for a while I like to leave some music on for him.

[TonyM]

Originally Posted by jenniferag

and tooth brushes!! LOL

Be careful with the tooth brushes... Some of them have small bits of metal that I wouldn't want my bird getting ahold of...

[Monty In Ireland]

thanks everyone for the tips I will let you know how we get on

[Lyndsay]

Originally Posted by jenniferag

sometimes it really helps to have the bird on your knee or somewhere close and you play with the toys in front of him.... it sounds funny but take a toy and act really into it... you can turn it around, make noises with it and everything.

Sometimes my bird doesn't want anything to do with a toy until I pick it up, then she'll come running over and stand on her tip toes to get it

Same with food... sometimes they don't want it unless you have it first

Thank you for mentioning this. This is how I got my 'tiel interested in toys. By showing her that I was having fun with them. She wanted everything I had and tried to steal things from me. She loved orange coloured things and picked them out from an array of colours.

Perhaps this will help you out too. :)