Foraging for Parrots

This is a very quick, very easy and cheap, and very successful foraging toy in my house.

Here’s what you need:

• Wiffle balls (I got mine at the dollar store – 5 in a pack for a dollar)
• Something to hang the ball with – a shoelace works. (Please note: use cotton shoelace only, as nylon can fray. The BEST choice for hanging bird toys is Paulie Rope, available many places.)                                                                                    Thread this between 2 holes of the ball and knot.

• Food to put in the treat. The food needs to be small enough to be able to be pushed into the holes, but not so big that it will fall out of the holes when the parrot moves the toy. I have found that pistachio nuts work well – you have to shove them in; they won’t fall out, but the parrot has to work to get them out. Also, healthy, sodium free multigrain crispbreads and crackers, cut into long pieces work well; and finally, as shown, sugar snap peas and long pieces of cut apple. To start, you can have pieces sticking out, as in my example above, and as your birds get better at it, use smaller pieces that are harder to get out, but not so small that they will fall out of the holes.

Difficulty for humans to make: easy

Difficulty for birds to use: medium to challenging, depending on fillings.