If you live with parrots, you've probably heard about foraging. Birds "forage," or scrounge about for food, in the wild. They have to hunt for their food, and they spend a large part of their day doing it. Keeps them very busy.In our homes, that all-consuming task of finding food, the job they're programmed to do, is eliminated. We supply the food by dumping it in a bowl. If we're good parrot people, we offer toys and games to keep them busy instead of flying around, looking for a mate and searching for food and safe shelter.
Toys are great, and they're absolutely necessary. But foraging is another outlet for activity. I've been researching and playing about with foraging for some time. Quite honestly, it seemed a little daunting from a time management perspective.
My first attempt involved rolling nuts and dried fruit in newspaper and sticking these "newspaper balls" in toys for the parrots to find. I spent about 15 minutes making the newspaper balls for the two amazons, and they spend 30 seconds taking them apart, eating some of their findings and tossing or dropping the rest. Hmmmm. I was a little discouraged. I tried a few more times, and then I lost interest because I simply couldn't figure out how I would keep up with it for eight birds.
Then came Aloisious, Allie for short. Allie is a Military Macaw and my newest and ninth (and I swear my last) bird. He's a rescue, I've been told about 14 years old. He's a feisty, fiery bird, with loads of personality and an unhealthy obsession with me which was primarily manifested in relentless regurgitation. I solicited a number of opinions on what to do about this regurgitation. I got everything from allowing, but ignoring; to allowing and fawning over the "gift" to show I appreciated it; to absolutely shutting it down; to creating distractions; to medication. As with most things, certainly most things parrot, I settled on a blended course of action that seemed to suit this bird and was manageable for me.
Before doing anything, I took Allie to my exceptional, caring, super smart certified avian vet, Dr. Don Zantop (Dr. Z) in Fallston, Maryland, for his advice and to make sure there was nothing medically going on to cause this incessant gurging. The regurgitation was hormonal and directly related to Allie's attraction to me. Dr. Z believed firmly the regurgitation needed to be controlled for health reasons. Over time, excessive regurgitation can erode the esophagus and cause other health issues that can result in death. That was all I needed to hear, so we started his prescription of Lupron injections, in a series two weeks apart, that day. Dr. Z. also suggested I contact parrot behavior consultant Liz Wilson to strategize about how to manage Allie's compulsions.
After a bit of phone tag, Liz and I connected. Allie was on his second Lupron injection by then, and was a little less gurgy, but still rammy and aggressive when he didn't get what he wanted (a result of hormones and a completely undisciplined childhood, a discussion for another post). Her common sense, no nonsense advice:
- foraging
- friendship
I'll talk about friendship at a later date, I whined a bit about my prior attempts at foraging, and she rightly cut to the chase by sharing the wonders of Caitec and Cardboard. Caitec is a company that sells foraging systems, foraging toys and a host of other parrot paraphernalia - cages, toys, playstands and more. I rang them up clamoring about needing help setting up nine birds to forage. I was put in touch with Bill McGrath who was a wealth of information and very helpful in pointing out the right foraging systems and toys for my varied flock of nine.
I spoke specifically about my rather destructive Military Allie, and Bill advised a stainless steel baffle cage and another plastic contraption with four pull-out drawers. I ordered those up as well as a whole battalion of stuff to help start my birds on the foraging trail.
I'll talk about progress with my other birds in next posts, but right now, I'll share how it's going with Allie.
First, it's important to point out I've since heard about an alarming incident with the baffle cage. The Scarlet macaw of a fellow parrot person somehow wedged is foot in between the bars of the baffle cage and broke his foot. My friend has since tossed her baffle cages. I have not, because Allie has really responded to it and like to pry apples, squash and other fresh foods out of there. Instead, I've removed it from his cage and hung it from his playstand, so I can supervise and intervene if something goes awry. I suppose it can still present a danger, but life is rife with fluky danger and I've chosen to mitigate the danger as best I can while still allowing him his fun (it's better than an eroded esophagus).
The plastic four drawer toy lasted in his cage about two days. Once he really discovered it, he ripped it off the side and tossed it around like, well, like a piece of cardboard.
Which brings me to Liz's second ingenious recommendation - cereal boxes, pizza boxes, shipping boxes, gift boxes...you get the idea. In other words, cardboard. Cardboard is currently saving me money and, to a degree, saving my bird. Empty cereal box, instant toy. I stuff it with scrunched up newspaper, in which I bury nuts in the shell and other unperishables in more rolled up newspaper. The lure is unmistakable and a God send. Allie bangs these boxes around, uncovers his favorite walnuts, and then bangs around the boxes some more. A cereal box can be loaded up for two, maybe three, days before it's beyond recognition, but it hasn't cost me a dime and he's had a ball. Same goes for any box.
Keep in mind that boxes with tape, tape residue, or illegal foods like chocolate, on them are not suitable. Sticky stuff is no good for your bird.
The cardboard can be recycled after your bird has done his damage.
I tell my friends to save their boxes for me too.
So, embrace cardboard and Caitec, great sources for parrot foraging and fun.
