Just How Smart Are Cockatoos? Check It Out!

This cockatoo’s puzzle solving skills are really impressive.

Doesn’t she look like she’s having fun? Just another example of children’s developmental toys making good (large) bird toys too. (Imagine having to keep a toddler entertained and healthy … that’s at least how much work a cockatoo takes too!)

Mr. Monk and the Sun Conure

I’m watching TV today — an episode of Monk (Mr. Monk and the Red Herring) — and imagine my surprise when they feature a sun conure! On the show, Monk goes to a pet store and notices a bird. The geeky pet store clerk says, “You can have him for free. We can’t get rid of him, people keep returning him.” When asked what’s wrong with the bird, the guy says “he depresses people: he doesn’t talk, he just sits there and cleans himself.”

Aughh!!! This is such a huge pet peeve of mine (pun totally intended). An animal is not a toaster oven!! You don’t just return them because they aren’t as “fun” as you thought they’d be. When bringing home a new pet, you make a commitment to him/her. You don’t just exchange it.

This attitude isn’t just writers’ license on a television show; I see people say things like that all the time on the Internet. “Oh, he didn’t bond with my wife, he likes me better, so we’re thinking of returning him and getting a different bird.” Ugh!

Makes me very unhappy. Some people take the decision to bring home a bird much too lightly. (Good reasons NOT to get a parrot)

Oh, and that cage the bird was in (in the fictional pet store) was WAY too small. A conure cage should be at least 20″ in the shortest dimension. Stewie’s cage is 21″w x 32″l x 35″h and I’m actually of the opinion that it’s a little too small (even though I can fit my whole body in it). Once you put toys and perches in a cage, it really starts looking small, fast.

Here’s what a cage that size looks like; notice the conure standing on the door.

More Bird Trick Training (with props)

Stewie got tired of the the “put the ball in the cup trick”… not sure why, but he just doesn’t want to do it anymore.

Here’s a picture of him when he was still eager to do it:

We’ve been working on “put the ring on the peg” but this one has been difficult. To tell the truth, I’ve sort of abandoned the clicker. I’m terrible with it… my timing is off, I’m inconsistent, I’m uncoordinated (I need three hands to handle the prop, the clicker and the treat at the same time). So I’ve been trying to do clicker training without the clicker. It’s slow going.

Here’s the prop:

I originally got him the small version of the toy (I can’t help it, I keep thinking of him as a small bird, not a medium-sized bird), but it was too small. This is a picture of him with the medium-sized Ring Toss prop.

He’s still not very good at it, but he’s done it a few times where I was holding the peg and helped him get the ring onto it. Today I spent a bit of time playing with the rings and peg, picking up the rings in my mouth and putting them on the peg like I want him to do (rather than doing it with my hands). And he did it a few times by himself!

He also likes to throw the rings off the side of the cage, which is cute too (but doesn’t earn him a treat).

Update:
Stewie has gotten much better at putting rings on the peg. He’s not as good at it as he is with some other tricks, but he knows exactly what he’s supposed to do.

Check out this post for a list of cool parrot trick training toys and places that sell bird training props.

DIY Small Bird Toy Idea

I just came across a really simple foraging toy that doesn’t cost and arm and a leg. I stopped by the drug store today and saw a pack of toothbrush travel covers on sale… you know, those containers you snap on over the head of a toothbrush so it doesn’t get all nasty when you travel? I bought a pack of four and filled them with NutriBerries and seeds. Stewie isn’t big into toys that he can’t chew on *unless* there are treats inside. So this is a nice foot-toy-sized plastic container that fits just a little bit of birdie yummies inside that double as a foraging toy.

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.