# 4yo female cockatiel training



## King_Kaitt (Oct 21, 2019)

Hi, so iv had my cockatiel since just before she was weaned and I had to spoon feed her, iv taught her to step up when she was little and we have a great bond but I never knew you were meant to teach her how to forage or show her how to use toys ect I just honestly thought she just wasn’t interested, I have started teaching her to forage for her enrichment part of her diet by putting some shredded paper over a bowl with her tropimix under the paper so she has to dig through it she’s got the hang of this now(only took her like a day and I’m pretty proud) but where do I go from there as I don’t want to make it too hard and she gets overwhelmed as this is unfortunately all new to her because I didn’t know to teach her?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The foraging habits of wild cockatiels are actually pretty simple - they mostly walk around on the ground picking stuff up. Nature hasn't prepared them for the more complicated, acrobatic foraging activities used by parrots that get most of their food from trees, so cockatiels give up pretty easily if you make it too hard for them. You can do a reasonable simulation of nature just by having food stations in various places around the room so she can visit them and get some food without having to work too hard for it.


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## King_Kaitt (Oct 21, 2019)

Oh i didnt know they only forage on the ground,that would explain why she doesnt use the ones i bought that hang in her cage.thanks for the info ill definitely make her some foraging stations :cinnamon pearl:


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## LeahB (May 25, 2016)

I hide nutriberries in my cockatiels' toys and they so eventually find all of them!


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