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Most Recent Posts Why your pet parrot needs Bird ToysPosted May-16-08 23:48:51 PDT Why Your Parrot Needs Bird Toys Just like children, your birds / parrots can benefit from having and playing with toys! A baby bird that is busy with its bird toys is not eating your wood furniture or ripping your leather jacket that you left out. Toys can help sooth your birds chewing need and calm them while you are away. From bird swings, boings, shreddable toys to puzzles, there is a toy for every parrot.Bird toys give your bird safe items to explore - birds seem to be fascinated with dangerous household items. When your bird(s) are attracted to items they should not have - giving them one of their toys is the PERFECT distraction. Give them lots of attention when they are playing with their toys. When your parrot is playing with an item that you do not want them to play with -- ignore them! If you need to take away a forbidden item -- do not give your bird any attention, simply take the item away (negative attention is attention in your birds mind). If your bird tries to entice you into a game of look-at-what-I-have-you -better-get-it-me try getting one of their toys and start playing with it. When they come to get their toy, that is a great time to use your Clicker Training System because that is the behavior that you want! Soon they will choose their toys over the other items that do not get them attention.Birds benefit from being challenged. A bored parrot is going to find a way to entertain itself, maybe by eating your couch or re-wiring your tv/ stereo system! When you are shopping for bird toys make sure you get a variety of sounds, textures, and challenges. Some sound toys make noise when you bite them them, others when you shake them, others you just have to nudge -- Baby, our sound loving blue and gold macaw, will work with a bird toy until he has figured out how to destroy it in the most effective way, or how to create the most noise. Chino, who is a Umbrella Cockatoo mix loves foraging bird toys. Chino have to figure out how to get puzzle toys apart, Chino loves to take the apart over, and over again.Some Parrots just love destroying their toys. Just like the children who you give a new bike to, only to have them take it apart! Baby and Chino rarely take apart their toys; however, when they do the pieces (we call it a carcass) become treasured toys. You should see Chino prance around the play gyms, play stands carrying and shaking whats left of her bird toy.If you need help selecting the right bird toy for your parrot, let us know -- we are just an eMail away! Toy Tips
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