Do any of you have non-toy birds???

[SammySamantha]

So it has been 3 months with me and Sam. :D He is an absolutely delightful velcro birdie. I think only one thing is lacking - he does not play with toys.

I have spent a small fortunue on all different types and textures of toys. I have tried wearing them around my neck for him to see while he is crawling on me. I have tried loading his cage up with them to stimulate him. I have tried emptying the cage and adding them slowly in case he is overstimulated. No matter what, he seems uninterested.

I would love to get him a boing or cool hanging gym, but I know that he would just glide to the ground and come find me. Sometimes he will stay in his cage when I am in the room, but he just sits on the perch and watches me. I feel bad for the guy when I go to work, so I leave the T.V. on for him. Maybe daytime soaps are rotting his brain. :wink:

Does anyone else have a non-playing bird? Does anyone have any other ideas for me to offer him some stimulation? :confused:

[Pips mom]

Gee, sorry, no advice here.....Pip is just the opposite....there isn't a toy he doesn't like! One time I bought a new toy for Ivy's cage before she even arrived. I brought the toy into the living room and shook it a little and Pip flew right over to me and landed right on it! He just can't resist a good toy! My tiels really aren't big on toys.....they only like the ones you can chew, so any toys they didn't like, Pip got them all!

[momo]

elmo only lieks paper and bells.. he's easily satisfied hahahha.
the only thing i did to get elmo in the bells was ring them everytime i put my hands in the cage and now he plays with them all the time..

[chromasnake]

tourmaline never plays with toys unless they are made of something she can shred to make a nest. Yellow Bird used to play with toys but now it's sporadic...and i haven't seen him play with anything since the eggs were laid from the last clutch. His greatest joy in life is pushing anything I put on top of the cage onto the floor (no matter how big or heavy!), so maybe that counts.

[bbslovie]

Bea loves swinging on her boing, (a curled rope perch with a bell at the end) a fleece multi-stripped toy with a bell, and she has a mirror that she loves to sing to. She loves the bells and will ring them in the morning to let me know she's ready for breakfast! Just too cute! :D She has lots of other toys, we bought a plastic playgym that she wants nothing to do with, we bought a wood playgym that at least she will perch on for a couple of minutes but I think I'm her favorite toy! :lol

Pallie, our gcc has a boing as well and has some shredable toys, but her absolute favorite toy is a plastic ball with a bell in it. She gets all puffed up and just attacks it! She throws that ball all over her cage! She even lets me fetch it for her! :rolleyes: It's hilarious to watch! :lol We got one for Bea and Bea wants nothing to do with it...:whistle:

[NickyBeth]

Cherry is a bird that likes very few toys. The ones that she DOES like, she loves to destroy.

I recently bought her a "plastic" nylon ladder to play with on the top of her cage. It seemed very well-made, even my 2 year old couldn't break it when she was holding it in the cart in the store.

Somehow, Cherry found a way to take the "pins" out of the joints of the ladder and made the latter fall apart. I've put it back together several times, and she does it over and over again. I truly think this is her way of "playing" and keeping herself content.

The other thing she likes is her cookie ring. It's a ring with birdie-type seed cookies on it, with a little bell on the bottom. It looks similar to this one, but it is for medium birds:

http://www.petco.com/product/7507/Pet-Ag-Pink-Parrot-Hawaiian-Delights-for-Conures-Amazons-Medium-or-Large-Birds.aspx

Another one Cherry LOVED was this one:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754616

She would actually find a way to untie all the leather knots and get the stars to fall off. One day, I was thrown for a loop when I saw a small circle at the bottom of the cage and thought it was an egg! Turns out, it was just part of this star thing....;)

Another one she really seems to dig is this one:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754689

She likes to take the "stings" of these toys and drape them to her perch and make a type of "rope bridge".

I know and believe that every birdie is different. Just some suggestions to tell you what mine likes (and she won't play with any other sort of toy, nothing shreddable, no happy hut, she doesn't like to "forage", and no balls or anything for this one!) and what she doesn't like.

When I go to the pet-store (which is getting more and more ridiculous in price, BTW) for her bird food, I always get her one new toy and just introduce it by hanging it in a different spot that she now needs to climb to. Most times, it will sit there for a few days, but she then grows interested and then attacks it with shear glee!

[michael]

At first Goofy lovebird was off to a slow start, but then it wasn't long before his investigative instincts kicked in. His favorites turned out to be Tupperware and stainless flatware, especially spoons. The tupperware I finally had to take away because ingesting the soft plastic was too much of a risk. The spoons though, are still a great entertainment because he likes the sound they make when he picks them up and drops them. Really, I have loads of toys he'd rather push off the table then go back to his silverware. Unfortunately the real problem was just like your lovebird he showed very little interest in anything placed "inside" his cage, whereas the main objective was to make sure he was always occupied whenever I had to leave for awhile. None the less, just about every single store bought toy regardless what is was (or costed) was completely ignored..........:(

Well, I felt something just had to grab his interest one way or the other so my own little program was as follows. I hung a couple spoons in his cage, added a couple of those large bells, like the ones for amazons, then decided whenever he was out with me we would work on taking his toys apart in order to rearrange their design......:)......didn't help much but at least he's no longer afraid of them :roll:. He does like his flimsy plastic swing though :)....although not those real nice ones with the wired in perch rod :roll:. He does have a thing for plastics like those large coloured rings (have to be yellow, blue, or green like him), pingpong balls, a small playgym (yes, it blue and yellow :roll:), and a small green swivel mirror he beats the daylights out of.......:)....... Other stuff thats helped gain a bit of his curiosity have been; Knotted or twisted up paper towels, cardboard, bundled up straws (make sure they don't eat them), mini bread or zucchini sticks (without seasoning), and rice cakes stuck in his cage bars. If I'm only going to be gone for about an hour or so I cut him a couple corn cob pieces cut crossways into disc's. What I figure, sometimes those certain food items (attached or otherwise) can help provide the jumpstart they really need..............:)

[LauraO]

While some birds aren't really toy birds, I would say a lot who seem to not like them play with them when their owners are not around. It may be that when you are home Sam's sole desire is to be on your person, and when you are gone, she plays around with her toys. Or maybe she's finicky and you haven't found the right one:roll: .

I will say I have an older Alexandrine that is not a toy bird. We don't know her age, but think she's anywhere from 12-20 years old. We've had her a good two years and she not only hates toys, but is often afraid of them. However, recently we've found that under certain circumstances she'll chew on wood, books, or play with some of her smaller food containers or other things that have interesting textures. So the key is to never give up8o .

[unstuckpilgrim]

Paper is what does it for mine. Store-bought toys can be fun for a minute, but he is all about destroying paper or cardboard. I had to bird-proof the living room, which is where he gets most of his playtime, by hiding all the coffee table books and magazines because he will just destroy them. I once left a pair of scissors on the table and he spent a good half hour just flipping it over and over. Fancy wood blocks or bells? Not interested. Hey, at least he's cheap!

[marlowsix]

I have four lovebirds and my two parent birds never play with toys, but their offspring are toy lovers - go figure. I've tried every type of toy for my original two and nothing interested them. I finally tried a boing, which is really more perch-like than toy IMO, and it took them about 3 months before they would even set foot on the thing. But eventually they did and seemed to enjoy it. They did chew it up pretty good and I just recently replaced it with another type of boing...back to square one with these two. Probably another 3 months before they venture over to it. Oh well...at least I'm not spending far more than I should on their toys like I do with my others.

[cp.lovebird]

Ducky loves all toys - especially ones he can destroy! His favourites are ones with bells - the more the better! I think he actually opened the barrel of fun and got out the nutriberries while I was at work one day. He's a real smartie!

Squeaky isn't too interestd in toys. Honestly, I don't think he ever learned to play. He spent 13.5 years of his life with his mate, Blue Meanie and she didn't let him play with anything! He likes to chew on a bit of paper and will sit on his swing for hours and chew on the ropes on it. I think Ducky is teaching him how to play.

I think getting lovies to play with toys is like anything with lovebirds - patience, persistence and love!

[Buy A Paper Doll]

I had the same problem with Milo when he was a baby. Someone on this site suggested that perhaps he didn't know that they were toys, and needed to see someone else play with them first. Try that and see if it helps. :)

I will admit that this little trick did not work for me, because Milo saw right through me. His all time favorite toy has always been the one that his momma and daddy pick up and play with every day - the remote control.

[Triock]

Jack plays with anything now took him a while, but I jus left the things in his cage and palyed with them while he watched then offerred it to him and now he loves to shred, bite twigs, wood(safe wood), rope toys, attacks his ball with a bell in it, its really funny to watch him chase it with is beak open ready to attack , lol. He ven love old toilet roll and paper towel tubes. Anything taht takes their interest will do, you dont always have to spend a fortune on shop bought toys.

[BarbieH]

Gracie isn't interested in toys. She's all business, and if she had her druthers she would spend every month of the year nesting. All "toys" in her eyes are meant to be shredded. :x

I think your Sam already has a toy: You.

[SammySamantha]

I will admit that this little trick did not work for me, because Milo saw right through me. His all time favorite toy has always been the one that his momma and daddy pick up and play with every day - the remote control.

What is it with the remote??? That IS one of the few things Sam shows interest in. I even bought him a toy make of the same type rubber as the remote buttons. I tried subbing the toy for the remote and Sam just looked at me like I was crazy.

The remote, metal nail clippers, and me. That is where his interests lie. Oh well, I will just keep trying. Thanks for the ideas, everybody.

[Triock]

What is it with the remote??? That IS one of the few things Sam shows interest in. I even bought him a toy make of the same type rubber as the remote buttons. I tried subbing the toy for the remote and Sam just looked at me like I was crazy.

The remote, metal nail clippers, and me. That is where his interests lie. Oh well, I will just keep trying. Thanks for the ideas, everybody.

Thats so weird, Jack was happly playing with his toys last night until he spotted the remote control next to me, flew right over ran across my body and dived on to the remote like a crazy bird :rofl: , and when i tried to move it he ran after it.............lol

[cp.lovebird]

I think they like the buttons on it! Ducky loves the phone and computer keyboard too. He doesn't like my new cellphone because the keypad is flat. He still tries to chew them however! :rofl: Silly birdies!

[SammySamantha]

On a related note, I made a 1 minute video of Sam going after the remote. It is dumb and very rough, but I just did it so my brother in NY could seen my birdie. Here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZrM4vH7PXY