Parrot Playtime Walk into almost any pet store and you will find aisles and shelves full of toys for dogs and cats. Most people with those animals in their homes know that toys provide an opportunity to play, to relieve boredom, for us to interact with our pets to curb unwanted behaviors and, more recently, to learn. But many of those same people think that all a companion bird needs is a bell and, perhaps, a mirror. That could not be further from the truth. Birds are very active animals. In the wild they spend their days flying, foraging, socializing and even playing. Spend a few hours watching the wild bird in your yard or other place in nature and you will be amazed at their energy level. Companion birds have no less energy and, in the case of the larger parrots, have a high level of intelligence requiring not just physical but mental stimulation. This is especially
Atlanta Pet Life
true of birds that spend most of their time caged.
Caged, bored birds often end up with behavior issues such as feather plucking, self-mutilation, screaming, or they simply live much shorter lives. I personally experienced this with a 30+ year old Yellow Nape Amazon parrot that was rehomed with me after his original owner passed away. When I was contacted about this bird (and two others in the same home), I was shocked and saddened at what I found. “Barney� as I will call him for this story, was sitting in a cage so small that he could not extend his wings. In that cage was one perch, a food bowl, water bowl and a
34
Barney With a foraging box made with a box from a liquor store and stuffed with nuts wrapped in paper towels hidden inside.
large parrot that was obviously in trouble. Barney obsessively spun around in circles on that perch while at the same time turning his head rapidly from side to side and muttering to himself. He would stop this
behavior only for a moment when you talked to him. I found out that he had spent over two years living in those conditions and I was concerned that maybe the mental damage could not be able to be undone.