Foraging Toys are really important because they provide your Parrot with lots of mental stimulation and stop them from becoming easily bored. Parrot behaviourists and avian vets all recommend giving your Parrot plenty of foraging opportunities. Ethologist Cheryl Meehan has discovered that foraging is even more important to Parrots than play, so the more chances your bird has to replicate this natural behaviour the better it is for them.
Foraging exercises your Parrot’s clever mind, provides your bird with physical exercise and ultimately makes their day much more fulfilling. Your Parrot will happily work for their favourite foods, treats, materials and other items they value, as long as they don’t have access to them elsewhere. A wild Parrot could spend six hours a day searching for and then eating their food. This means they’re kept busy for over half their waking day.
Many companion Parrots don’t have the same opportunities, resulting in lots of spare time. This causes them to start demonstrating birdie boredom and unwanted and destructive behaviours. There are two types of Foraging Toy available to occupy your Parrot, chewable and reusable.
Chewable foraging toys are made from materials like cardboard, woven vine and paper, whereas reusable foraging toys are constructed from tougher materials such as metal, acrylic and plastic. Reusable and chewable foraging toys work the same way. Scrumptious foods, treats or chewable materials are placed inside the toy and your Parrot has to work out how to get them out again.
In chewable foraging toys your Parrot needs to chew, rip and pull apart the toy to reach their prize. In reusable foraging toys your feathered friend has to move, twist and turn their toy to manipulate the goodies until they reach their reward. You can fill Foraging Toys with your own treats, food and materials or use the ones that have already been prefilled in the toy, like wooden beads, ropes and blocks.
There are different levels of Foraging Toys available; some cater for Parrots just being introduced to the foraging concept whilst others will really challenge your bird if they’re more experienced at searching for their food.
Provide your Parrot with Foraging Toys that are varying degrees of difficulty so there’s always something new for your clever Parrot to solve.
Foraging Toys give your Parrot a physical workout too. By placing Foraging Toys at different levels in your Parrot’s cage you encourage your bird to move around to investigate them. Stop your Parrot developing birdie boredom and make them work for their food with our stimulating Foraging Toys for Parrots.
Click to watch our video on Reusable Foraging Parrot Toys.
Click to watch our video on Chewable Foraging Parrot Toys..