Parrots use their feet, tongue and beak to interact with their environment. Though impressive looking, their beak may be used as a very delicate tool as they preen a feather, pick up a speck you can barely see, or crack a small seed. These actions don't tend to concern us. It's their other functions which worries us.
Parrots are designed to crack, rip, tear and shred with their powerful beaks. As companion parrots, we don't want them to destroy our home or us, so we give them toys to enjoy. How do they enjoy their toys . . . they destroy them. This isn't bad or mean on their part, it's simply their natural behavior being shown to us.
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See how Pepper can lift one disk to get to the item he wants. |
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Variety is the key to keeping your parrot happy. Variety in size, shape, texture and material. Store bought toys offer all of this, but not all toys need to be expensive. A nut in a shell, the cardboard roll from toilet paper or paper towels, or the subscription cards found in magazines all will keep a parrot happy.
Pepper has some definite favorites with his toys. Anything with a bell he loves. He bangs it with his beak, lunges at it, and grabs and shakes it. All the while making a clicking sound he only produces when playing with a bell.
Toys with leather straps. Pepper enjoys chewing these and untying knots he finds. If there are any toys that the leather is threaded through, these get chewed and broken into little pieces. When only leather straps are left dangling, he grabs hold, then climbs and swings on them.
It amazes me the size of wood toys he tears apart. At first I looked at wooden toys that were made for small to medium birds. Most of these were turned into toothpicks in a matter of minutes. I then found that medium sized toys with larger wooden pieces worked best for Pepper. He also has favorite shapes. Disks and cylinders are attacked much more quickly than cubes and spheres. Color doesn't seem to matter.
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Here's a before and after photo of similar wooden toys that Pepper has played with. Didn't I say he's good at shredding wood ! ! ! |
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Wiffle balls with beads or bells inside provide hours of fun . . . before they're destroyed. Every morning the first toy he goes for is his wiffle ball. I love watching him rip a hole in the ball, then manipulate it in his foot, till he gets the beads inside of it out with his beak.
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Two before and after photos of toys Pepper has enjoyed.
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Here are two plastic wiffle balls Pepper has played with. |
Here's a hard plastic ball Pepper has played with for about five minutes. Some toys don't last long with his beak.
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Most acrylic or plastic toys do not bring enthusiastic play. There are two exceptions to this, he often plays with two acrylic foot toys. One is a plastic linked chain, which was the first toy he selected and I purchased for him when he was still being weaned. He'll play and manipulate this chain for hours during the week. The other is a cluster of hard pacifier-like toys. I'll often hold one of these two toys in my closed hand. Pepper will screech, then aggressively (aggressive towards the toy, not my hand) attack the part of the toy visible, pull it out of my hand and throw it. He then stays on my hand waiting for me to pick up the toy and repeat the game. When he wants to stop playing, he walks away carrying the toy and throws it outside of my easy reaching range.
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The toy on the left is the first toy Pepper selected for himself. The toy on the right regularly gets dropped on the floor. Pepper's done a good job at training me to pick it up. |
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Toys specifically designed to be shredded may be destroyed or ignored. He has completely ignored Pinata and other woven toys which were in his cage for months. Two of Pepper's favorite shreddable toys are the smallest size Bird Kabob, produced by Wasco Pet Inc. and Kokokrunchers, produced by Planet Pleasures.
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Before and after photos of some favorite shreddable toys. |
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Bird Kabob
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Kokokrunchers
(Toy on the right is a shorter version) |
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I have a number of foraging toys I use with Pepper. Be sure to read about these and see the images found on "Page 6: Food And Feeding" page.
There may be a time when your bird uses his beak against you and bites you hard. Below is a photo of when Pepper bit me and drew blood. The reason I believe he bit me . . . he was mad. I had been eating some food and didn't share any with him. The first chance he had after my eating and not sharing, he lunged at my finger and took one good bite. Not wanting to react and reinforce this bite, I kept my finger there (stupid me) and he bit me two more times. All three bites were not a simple bite and squeeze, but they all included a grinding of his beak during the bites, while he glared at me with fire in his eyes. Since this first bite I have been bitten hard twice, both after not offering him a food (both times chocolate ice cream) I was eating. All three bites were my fault. Looking back at his behavior, before the bites I saw, but didn't react to his posture and eyes, which clearly showed that he was not in a good mood. I should not have reached towards him any of these times.
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Here's a photo of my right index finger, a day after Pepper bit me. |
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