Comments on: Your Parrot Won’t Play with Toys?

By: Traci

Traci — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:12:30 +0000

Thanks for the feedback, I guess I really didnt think of it like that. I have a quaker parrot as well and I dont think she has ever had a shy bone in her lil body.

By: Best in Flock

Best in Flock — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:55:09 +0000

Hi Traci – thanks for taking the poor thing in and taking good care of him. He’s only been with you for 5 days, so I would say that he probably needs more time; at this point he’s probably still shy and taking it all in. Keep socializing him and getting him used to you and all the various thing in his environment, maybe even start some training, but give him more time to feel at home. I’m going to bet you haven’t seen his real personality yet.

By: Traci

Traci — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:38:39 +0000

I just recently got a 6 yr old DYH Amazon. The boy was in a cage so small that he couldnt even stand up straight on his perch. He was owned by 1 family for 6 years then they decided they couldnt take care of him anymore so returned him to the pet store. The poor lil fella has began plucking on his back on one side. I do have a vet appt this afternoon for him to get this checked out. I have only had him for 5 days.

He is now in a large cage with a play area on top. He is very docile most of the time. He steps up quiet well but will not let you touch him at all. If you even move your hand close to him from any direction he is spooked. He doesnt explore nor does he play with any toys. He does talk and sing some but it seems he is only verbal when it is initiated by me. It seems to me that he has not been handled very much at all. The fellow at the pet store said he was a bad biter when they got him back. He has been in that small cage for 4 months.

I was able to get him to explore a couple of small items last night but it seems he has to be away from his cage to check out these new items. He is intimidated by larger items. By larger I mean bigger than a pencil in diameter. And he will not even check them out if he is on his cage. I dont push him too hard but I was wondering what kind of activities would be good to do with him?

In this small cage he was in the perch was also small, to me it seems he is weak. Not sickly weak but not strong. When I take him back to his cage I try to put him on the side of the cage so that he has to climb up. I havent even seen him explore his new big cage.

He doesnt seem curious about anything. What can I do to get some of this poor lil guys natural ambitions, curiousities, and energy back in his world. It seems that he has forgotten he is a bird. I would appreciate any feedback you can give me.

By: Best in Flock

Best in Flock — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:00:05 +0000

Hi Chris,
I’m not an expert, so I can’t tell you what’s going on. It sounds like changing his cage definitely upset him. You don’t have it anymore, right? But 4 years is a long time to adjust, so it sounds like something more is going on. Is the cage in the same location? Has anything else changed?

Have you tried building something for the top of his new cage that he can use as a playtop?

Is he otherwise happy? Does play with you, just not toys? Or does he just not “play” at all? Is there anything else about his personality that changed?

Some birds just aren’t into toys, and that’s not abnormal. But it seems strange to me that he used to play with toys a lot and now doesn’t.

I’m glad you ruled out any health issues. That’s always the first thing you want to cross off the list of explanations.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:23:16 +0000

I’m glad that there’s a website to answer this question. My dilemma is that my bird (lilac crowned amazon) *stopped* playing with his toys when he got a new cage 4 years ago. He used to love playing on his cage top playpen, but his new cage doesn’t have one, and he’ll only chew on the ladder now. New/different toys don’t entice him, and the old favorites are ignored. He doesn’t play on the perch outside his cage, he just sits there and stares or grooms himself and he much prefers to hang out with me. Is this normal? He is a healthy bird.

By: Stewie's gal

Stewie's gal — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:23:04 +0000

Wow, at the same time I was writing this blog post, Barbara Heidenreich published an article on the exact same topic. Check our her advice on getting your parrot to play with toys.

By: tone

tone — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:23:09 +0000

have you thought about getting stewie a friend?

By: Stewie Sun Conure

Stewie Sun Conure — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:51:34 +0000

Thread with lots of great pictures of birds playing with toys on BirdBoard