A Green Parrot drinking delicious nectar.
In the wild birds need to forage to find all of their food. This commonly is spent during the morning hours and again in the afternoon. During these searches birds rip, tear, bite, smash, chew apart and destroy all manners of different materials in an effort to find edible foods. While performing this intensive search they must also be vigilant of their surroundings to avoid hungry predators and other dangers. Many groups of birds have evolved a sack called a crop which lets them store a large amount of food and then digest it later. This lets them forage even more material on their food searches. This is an every day activity where many hours are spent actively foraging. Compare this to a comfortable cage life where prepared foods are presented in a bowl or dish and which a bird doesn’t need to fly and forage for hours to find. The lack of foraging investigation can result in an assortment of problems for the bird one of which is boredom resulting in “picky” feeding choices. For pets to be happy and healthy in the cage they need to exercise their natural foraging instincts.
This Quaker has found a foraging feast!
Fortunately, foraging bird toys can help fulfill this need and give pet birds an entertaining and healthy activity. Foraging bird toys commonly have materials that can be shredded apart, lots of materials that can be pulled out and satisfying breakable materials. Adding treats to these toys is highly recommended and makes foraging super rewarding for pets. Rotating new foraging toys in the cage will continually keep things exciting for pets, giving them plenty of mental and physical stimulation. Here are (3) of our wonderful handmade foraging toys designed specifically to fulfill this natural instinct.
1080 Foraging Shred Spoon
$9.99
$13.99
The 1080 Foraging Shred Spoon from M&M Bird Toys is a handmade shreddy hanging aviary toy. This toy has lots of shreddable parts to thrill beaks. At the top of the toy there is a quick link connector for fast… read more
The 1080 Foraging Shred Spoon has a natural wooden spoon body dangling from a metal ring and quick link connector. The neck of the spoon has been adorned with (6) colorful chewable ring donuts and a stuffed vine ball. The paper stuffing is our carefully blended selection of pet safe paper. The vine ball is an air dried woven rattan ball that’s easy for beaks to chew apart. The bowl of the spoon has a small hole drilled with a sturdy metal wire passed through. This wire is bent on either end and holds cardboard shred and small lengths of colorful bamboo finger traps. This longer sized foraging toy is excellent for medium sized pets like Amazons, Conures and African Greys.
1081 Bagel Biter Shred Ball
$9.99
$13.99
The 1081 Bagel Biter Shred Ball from M&M Bird Toys is a super foraging hanging delight. This bird toy is great fun for pets to dig into with their beaks and feet. At the top of this foraging bird has… read more
The 1081 Bagel Biter Shred Ball has an air dried woven vine rattan ball stuffed with colorful shred paper dangling from a small chain. A quick link connector on top makes for fast hanging in any cage. The small chain hangs the body of the bird toy with a sturdy metal wire. This wire has a small loop on top and bottom and is adorned with natural wooden beads and cardboard shreds. The vine ball body is stuffed with our wonderful pet safe shred paper. On the bottom a plastic ring dangles (4) small colorful chewable cardboard bagels. This shredding delight is awesome for medium sized smaller pets like Cockatiels, Quakers and Parakeets.
The 1087 Foraging Party Wheel is an explosion of shredding fun. A quick link connector dangles a long length of small link chain. This chain connects to the toy by (2) small loops that are formed in a horizontal sturdy metal wire. This wire is adorned with (2) natural wooden beads, cardboard shreds and (3) colorful bamboo finger traps. Each of these finger traps have their ends stuffed with lovely assorted colorful pet safe shred paper. The shape of this toy can be quickly changed by adjusting the finger traps letting it constantly thrill pet birds.
Works Cited: Gallerstein, Gary A., and Julie R. Mancini. The Complete Pet Bird Owner's Handbook. Howell Book House, 2003.