# Cardboard Box



## Conrad's Keeper (Aug 11, 2013)

I just wanted to announce--or agree--that a cardboard box is the best cockatiel toy ever invented!

One of my two birds, Zeke, is very energetic and chewy. He's hard to handle because, in addition to flying almost constantly, he also needs to chew almost constantly, to entertain himself. And I want him to be happy. He has tried chewing on my electrical cords, my walls, my books, my cell phone case, my computer keyboard, and other things that I didn't want chewed on. Then I read on this forum the suggestion of getting him a cardboard box.

Oh. My. God. 

He loves it.

Zeke spends hours inside the box, chewing on it, and making a beautiful little woodchip-like flooring of chewed up cardboard on the bottom. He has stopped chewing the rest of my house up. Thank you, cardboard boxes!


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## stevete003 (May 14, 2017)

Conrad's Keeper said:


> I just wanted to announce--or agree--that a cardboard box is the best cockatiel toy ever invented!
> 
> 
> 
> ...




That sounds great, any particular kind of cardboard box?


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I would be very wary of letting him have the box 24/7, as he is displaying strong nesting behaviour that could eventually bring out some aggression as he grows attached to the box and becomes protective of it, as he is viewing it as a nest. While chewing is encouraged, perhaps try making him some shreddable toys that hang from the cage.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

To a cockatiel, any enclosed space that's about the right size (like a cardboard box) is a potential nest. Male cockatiels "fix up" the nest by chewing around the entryway and basically making wood shavings. Playing with the box may stop him from chewing up the rest of your house, but it's also ramping up his hormone levels. Hormonal males are often aggressive, so this can lead to problems.


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## frozengirl (Nov 26, 2016)

If you cut off the roof of the box would it deter the hormones?


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Maybe a little bit, but not all of it.


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