# foraging toys/ideas



## Ezzie (Jan 19, 2010)

Ive decided to help Buddy (Birdie would hate the idea) and his exploration of new things by taking advantage of him not being so afraid of anything like Birdie. 

So, ive decided to try and make some sort of foraging tray/box/group/play thing! Any pictures/ideas/suggestions etc would be so very helpful because i dont even know where to start.

I dont want to overwhelm him at first so millet will be used to help him investigate things more (it is his fave treat- and because i only give it to him every 2-3 weeks, its prized) and i wouldnt make a giant box because thats soo much for him- so starting small would help.

Thank you in advance!


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## dude (Mar 29, 2010)

Cat toys work GREAT ! Wrapping millet in paper like candy works too (aslong as you don't have a bird like mine that eats paper)
A shallow dish with pasta and colour safe beads and stuff to dig through for the treats.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Here's a few I've done..

*1.* Paper Cup Foraging

I put millet in the 2 paper cups, then put colored paper over the top.










*2.* Foraging Ice Cube Tray

This is a really easy foraging toy! 

I put millet in the cube parts..










Then covered the top and side with newspaper and stuck it down so the newspaper won't come off..










You can also put other things in other then millet, such as pasta, toys, dried fruit and any favorite treats and etc.

*3.* Egg Carton Foraging

You just cut it up as such, then put stuff inside of it. My Cockatiels love this one, they always enjoy tearing them up to get to the treats inside. It's really simple to do..




























*4. *Foraging Pine Cone

If you have Pine Cones around your area, grab them! you just have to scrub them clean really well, then put them in the oven for 15-20 mins to kill anything.

Shove millet, fruit, vegetables, pasta, anything you can on the inside and hang it up and watch them go for it - they may not straight away though. This is another one of my Cockatiels favorites.










I'll post some others later.. gotta go jet off and have dinner.


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## dude (Mar 29, 2010)

Oh you have great ideas solace.

Pine cone one is good for dude because it doesn't involve paper. We have GIANT pine cones here where I live. Like 3x the size of dude...lol.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

Thanks, and yeah, we have tons here. I go bushwalking looking for some too, there's a trail with the heaps bigger ones. 

You might want to check out this thread too: 

*The Captive Foraging Thread - http://www.talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=11399*

There's tons ideas in that thread as well that you can use.


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## dude (Mar 29, 2010)

Hehehe. I just made dude a pine cone one... stuffed with bits of millet. He's to busy playing with the cable tie that I used to hang it on his cage to notice there is millet in it yet.... 

Wait... he just found some millet ... LOL.
Loves it.

(Yes they were baked when we got them a month or 2 ago and have been in a bowl as decorations since then, so its fine  )

Yay dude loves it !

Funny how they swing back and forth and they have to catch it in the right spot to get the millet. LOL. Dudes a huge fan or foraging made toys and trays.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

That's great, glad he liked it!

Some more foraging ideas..

*1.* These are great for foraging. Stuff some treats in there then shred up some newspaper and put it in, so the treats are in the middle and the newspaper is on the outside, and they will need to forage through the newspaper in order to get to the treats.






























*2. *You can make one of these easily, just need a paper bag or a box.










*3. *Foraging Paper Bags

Another great foraging toy - grab a paper bag/paper bags, put stuff in them, twist it and tie some string onto it and hang it up, watch them rip the paper bag and get to the treats - easy and great fun for them.










*4. *Foraging Coconut

If you can get a Coconut, you just need to clean out the inside, put some large holes in different spots, and put whatever you desire inside, put some string on and hang it up, or you could leave it on the bottom of the cage since they do like to forage on the bottom more so then anywhere else.


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## chris24 (May 3, 2010)

I have an box that I use for foraging I just fill it with stuff and put it on top of their cage!! its funny to see all 8 of them sometimes go in it at once and forage around lol


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