I found it: My conure’s favorite wooden toy!

On the Bird Board discussion forum, someone kept mentioning how their sun conure loved this wooden duck, so when I saw it at PetCo, I immediately bought it. And indeed, Stewie loved it — so much so that he literally bit its head off in a matter of minutes. He was making his happy purring/chirping noises for a long time as he broke off piece by piece.

I bought him a similar toy shaped like a cat’s head from an online store, but it uses different wood that’s not as soft. So Stewie gnaws on it, but the cat doesn’t crumble into little pieces the way the duckie did. No little pieces = no adorable happy noises.

I’ve since been to every PetCo and PetSmart in the metro area (okay, I exagerate, but only a little) and several online stores and no one had the duckie!

Well, I finally found it. Here it is:

Apparently you can get the Jungle Talk Duckie at a site called ChimpFeet.com, although you might not get the exact selection of shapes you want (p.s. I just found it out you can get it from ChimpFeet via Amazon too, if you feel more comfortable purchasing that way: Jungle Talk Lots of Legs Toy). I think Stewie would be okay with that, as long as it’s that wood he likes.

Stewie gives the wooden duck (with “lots of legs”) two enthusiastic birdie-toes up!

Conure Toys: Vote for Your Favorite

Vote for your favorite Conure Toy on this widget I created.

Toys I (or Stewie) recommend for your conure (or other medium-sized bird) are:

1. Wooden Ladder
2. Mazey Munch (Treat Labyrinth)
3. Rope Swing
4. Snuggle Hut (a.k.a. Happy Hut)
5. Bird-Safe Bell on a Chain
6. Shredder Toy (such as a birdie pinata)
   

Stewie has been learning to play with toys a lot more, although he seems most interested in perches and food… toys that incorporate foraging for food are probably his favorite “toys” and the only ones I see him interacting with regularly. But who knows, maybe one day he’ll be ready for those birdie rollerskates! Ha!

This list comprises my top five favorite parrot toys. What are yours? Any that should be on the list that I missed?

Day 8: Introducing New Toys

I got Stewie a Mazey Munch Ball (4″ diameter) but he hasn’t really shown much interest yet. I, however, think this toy rocks. The best treats to put inside are small balls like NutriBerries.

You’re supposed to swap out toys on a weekly basis so that the parrot doesn’t get bored. As far as I can tell, Stewie doesn’t seem to play with any of the toys he has in his cage, except for his mirror. So I need to do some more experimenting to see what he likes (and/or teach him how to play with the toys).

Wood Perch vs. Rope Perch

It’s so hard to know what the bird will like. And, no, he still doesn’t have a name.

I had two new perches I wanted to put in his cage: a branch and rope perch. He already has a branch perch; it’s his favorite. But when he saw it, he acted a little alarmed. So I put it away. Then I showed him the rope perch. No problemo. He was in LOVE with it. He didn’t even get off when I adjusted the height. He just walked up and down the rope perch making happy little cooing noises.

Birdie’s Pooped

We spent an hour tonight playing and “training” and he’s really catching on quick.

He loves all the food that’s bad for him: sunflower seeds and peanuts. Junk food. And his little belly is so tiny that even just a little bit of junk food takes up valuable room in his belly - room that’s needed for more nutritious food. He picks through the pellets in order to get to the stuff he wants, but I’m not going to worry about it too much. Right now the focus is on getting him comfortable with me (and seeing me as the magic purveyor of the junk food).

After an hour of training, though, he just gave up and climbed into his Happy Hut (a little fuzzy tent for sleeping also known as a Snuggle Hut). I had been trying to get him to step up in order to reach a seed that was just out of reach. Always end on a positive note - that’s what all the training stuff on the web says. So, since I could tell he was starting to get frustrated (he tried getting to that seed every which way possible, every way except making contact with my finger), I was going to make it really easy and then call it quits. But then he just walked away, climbed into his Happy Hut and didn’t move. Apparently it was bedtime.

It was barely past sunset (and nowhere near my bedtime) so I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned. But I imagine all that attention must be pretty exhausting if you’re not used to it.