*I plan on doing full features in the future with pictures, etc to help give people some ideas and what worked for us*
Well recently I started my full on efforts to teach Sid foraging. According to his previous owner, he really had never foraged. According to her, he hated all toys except his one rope toy. And he did just have a
dish of seed that he just ate from. And he chewed on his perches that were made of apple wood. That was it. Since he came to live with us, he's barely touched that rope toy, by the way, but once or twice. I've offered him a variety of toys, some not "official" toys, but he's been very receptive to new things, sometimes it just takes him a few days but he evntually figures it out. But most of the time, he'll go right to a new toy to inspect. Since he's a little piggy, I've noticed that if I can integrate food into it at first, he'll continue to play with that particular item later even if there is no more food. Here are the foragers I've tried this week.
Balsa Wood Pieces- This had been a bird kabob toy. He acted scared of them for a week or two. Then I took the pieces off of the toy, pushed some sunflower seeds and almonds into it a piece of it. It only took him a day to finally figure out to tear it up to get the seeds. He his now tearing up the wood pieces, even without the treats, with vigor, which is awesome to watch him make a glorious mess! He's now eaten all 6 pieces! I'm in a panic to find more balsa wood quick! So I bud on some on ebay! I'm also planning to make a few bird kabobs for his cage.
Foot toy wood pieces- His own gave me a bag of toy parts that she never used. I put an almond in one of the wood pieces and he went right for it. So I've made a variety of these so that he can have a new one daily or whe never, and they're ready to go.
Plastic Chain/Coffee Filters- This one he went right for the first time I put it in. It's the first foraging toy I offered and it was a hit. I put one filter full of buttons, one of flax seeds, one of almonds. I also
switch it up and put some pellets, or whatever else I can find. I put this in a location that he had to go onto the boing. He's not been scared of the boing, as he'll go on it in a training session, but I haven't really
seen him hanging out on it. Gus loves his but it did take him a long time to get to that point.
Foraging cage- He was initially scared of this, so it's been slowly moving closer to his cage to get him used to it. I put some coffee filter balls full of pellets in it as well as some index card strips. It took him another 3 days after being in his cage for him to touch anything inside, but he likes it now.
Foraging Tray- This was semi successful. For the first round, I put in toilet paper strips, paper, string, sunflower seeds, almonds inside of finger hancuffs, sticks, and buttons. I know that he got a few almonds out
of there but everything else seemed in place, including the sunflower seeds. He's not at fan but I'll keep trying.
Paper fold up toy- I stuck pellets and sunflower seed pieces in this and it took a few days, but he ate huge chunks of this one day. yay!
Shreddable hanging toy- He's not really been interested in this one yet so I put some seeds in this one also. I'll give it a few days and watch.
Small bird nest- These were like a $1.50. He took some stuff out of it but hasn't found the stuff inside yet but he'll figure it out.
Future Plans:
I'd like to get some acrylic and plastic foraging puzzle toys because I
have a feeling he'd be good at them. But I'm stocking up on the things
that have been successful first! Then we'll move on to new things.
His previous owner gave me a huge bag of Birdie Bagels. I want to find
stuff I can stick in there. I have nutriberries but he's not liking those yet.
I am going to buy a bag of shelled nuts, drill a hole in them, and see if
he'll go for them. They're cheap enough and I think they could keep him
occupied.
I really want to invest in a dehydrator. Right now I'm using seeds and
nuts to get him to forage. But if I could get him to eat dehyrdated
veggies and fruit, that would be SO much better for the little porker.
Mash foraging- right now the only foraging opp I have for him with his
mash is the coffee filter or paper on the dish. The problem with mash is
that it's obviously wet, so you're limited in what you can use without the
item getting soaked, or moldy, or even just staying put where you insert
it. There has to be better stuff. Some ideas I have heard: put mash in a
cooked or uncooked whole grain shell (jumbo shells or manicotti or
something), wrap a lettuce or similar leaf around it and tie it, put
things on top of the mash like twigs, rocks, buttons, or beads that he'd
have to throw out to get to his mash, tiny craft flower pots hanging,
stainless steel hanging buckets, and I think that's all I can remember at
the moment.
Kabobs- I want to see if he'll eat some veggies or fruit from a kabob. I'm
going to start offering one and see what happens.
Origami- I told April to relearn some origami so that I can make some
paper foraging toys, since he loves tearing up paper and/or cardstock. I'd
like to make some hanging toys and some foot toys with this method.
Changes I've seen in Sid already-
He's been coming out of his cage in the morning and immediately starts
chewing on stuff and playing. He was previously a little devil in the
morning and it took him an hour or two to even start moving in his cage.
Now, I turn the lights on, uncover gus (not covering Sid yet), open the
cage doors, and he's out getting into stuff!
He leaves no part of his cage or above his cage unexplored throughout the
day, which is GREAT!
He seems to be getting out much more energy and seems alot less moody to
me already. He's still typical bird moody but it seems like he's quicker
to go into a sweet mode, and he seems to be stepping up more readily for
me. He's even started making a few noises for me that he usually only
makes for April!
His beak is starting to look very nice. Before it was all flaky and gross
and really needed a dremel job, bad. But now he's chewing and rubbing his
beak on stuff so it's cleaning up quite nicely!
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