Toy Preferences

Every parrot has a preference for what type of toys he or she prefers.  Some birds are harder to figure out than others.  I can usually entice the guest parrots to try shredding on corrugated cardboard or soft wood blocks. 

Chauncey, my slender billed cockatoo, is a whole different sort of bird.  With that beak, one would hope he would like to chew wood.  However, Chauncey is much more cerebral. He seems to love the tactile feeling of something touching his face.  He will often wrap cloth or string around his face and stay motionless for long periods. I suppose it's sort of a self-massage.   I do worry about entanglement but he seems able to manage this successfully without trouble.

He is also incredibly fast at solving foraging issues.  I have many foraging toys for him and try to limit his feeding to this type of activity. Other than the soft cooked foods, most of his dry food is placed inside foraging toys.  The newest one was recently purchased from Cavalier Bird Toys.  http://store.cavalierbirdtoys.com/foragingtoys.html

Cavalier is new to me but they have lots of fun new toys.  Chauncey looked warily at the new addition in his cage for one day but soon delved inside to get the pistachio nut that he saw me hide there. 

I also purchased a noise banger toy for Joshua.  He seems to like to make a racket!  He is much more cautious about new items.  I hung it across the room and moved it closer slowly over the week.  Today it's in his cage for the first time and he is avoiding it completely.  (Therefore I didn't position it near his food or water!)  I'm sure he'll attack it with pleasure soon.  Joshua likes to hang on vines (ropes) and make noise with just about anything.  Perhaps I'll move one of Chauncey's musical toys over to Joshua's cage for some variety!