Foraging Toys - Part 1

Captive foraging is an essential activity to keep parrots healthy and entertained. Providing different feeding methods and presenting opportunities to forage for food helps to alleviate boredom in pet parrots, as well as to stimulate mental and physical activity. To learn more, check out Kris Porter's website Parrot Enrichment.

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My two parrots are on different foraging skill levels, with Mr. Bubbles mastering challenging foraging toys and Mr. Chaucer mastering the basics. Consequently, they get a slew of foraging toys that match or test their respective skill level.

One of my favorite beginner foraging toys is the pine foraging block from Parrot Enrichment.

The cool design with all the nooks and crannies is perfect for stuffing with nutriberries or almonds or fresh vegetables, and the pine surface is ideal to encourage parrots to chip wood. This toy can be reused if your parrot isn't a heavy chewer; I can reuse this toy up to 3-4 times depending on which birdie gets it.

Other simple food foragers that get even the laziest parrots (aka Mr. Chaucer) excited include the food cup style forager, the metal cages, and the rubber nut case. Food cup style foragers are basic in design (can be a fun DIY project). This one pictured contains 3 acrylic clear cups covered with plastic disks which are all strung on a metal chain. Another one we use is simply a wooden cup and wooden lid strung on metal chain (not pictured).

These two stainless steel foraging cages can be used to feed a variety of fruits and vegetables or filled with an assortment of toys. It's a tough and resilient toy for most big beaks.

Due to the bar spacing, feeding nuts and similar treats can be difficult. I have to wrap the treat in paper (tissue or newspaper) and stuff that into the forager to prevent it from falling out. Alternatively, I've been placing the nuts in a mini bird safe shoe toy inside the foraging cage. Or I use a nut case.  My birds are nutty for rubber nut cases! Mr. Bubbles will just chew through the rubber rather than attempt to forage so he no longer gets this toy. Silly!

Mr. Bubbles -- the mechanical galah -- has a habit of unscrewing bolts and nuts and anything else that spins. I've purchased a few toys with his fixation in mind, including this Nature's Instinct Treasure Chest pictured below. The chest has a simple lock and key mechanism with two metal keys holding the top and bottom acrylic pieces together. All my galah has to do is rotate and pull the keys out and wait for the bottom to drop and reveal the treats inside. I highly recommend this toy for any inquisitive cockatoo!

Until next time for more foraging parrot toys....