Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 9:40 am Post subject: Entertainment for Kikes in Cages
I like to experiment with various ways to entertain my birds. Specially sine the Kakariki is such an active bird. I've found that I must look to other species, and what we do to entertain them, and so far this idea seems to be bearing some fruit.
So far I've descovered the hamster wheel thing ( mentioned in a previous post ). Since then I tried a different type of wheel... a tire. Not the usual tires, but there is a specially made, not toxic rubber "tire"... a little smaller than my old mini's tires that has dental floss as it's "belts". It is made for dogs as a chew toy/dental hygene device, and so far the Kikes seem to like it. This particular model has a thick piece of multicolored rope attached to the bottom, knotted at the end ( the largest model so far ). I suspended it in the cage by another piece of twine, and hung it in the center of the cage. So far they seem to like it. The center hole is large enough for them to fit in quite comfortably ( Fred, my only male yellow fronted at the moment likes to sleep in the hole ) and they are frequently climbing all over it. They do nibble on it, but so far it is undamaged due to chewing My cockatoo also has one and she DOES chew it, but again the tire is proving quite resilient and minimal damage has been done to the tire after about 1 month.
My latest idea is the hamster or rather rat ball. It's a clear plastic ball ( again they come in funky colours ) about 12 inches in dia. ( The hamster version is smaller ). I chose the clear ball without any coloration ) I have has all three of my Kakariki's in it so far with neutral results. I continue to hope this will work because KIkes spend so much time on the ground. I am also encouraged by the fact that they don't seem scared, rather puzzled as if they are not sure what they have to do. I will continue to try a couple of times a week for another month and see what happens.
I just put a deposit on another "albino" red fronted today. He is being hand raised so I look forward to getting him home and to work in a couple of months
Good luck with your birds
Wiccawolf
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:40 am Post subject: Update
Here we are again updating my efforts with Kike entertainment...
As I mentioned in another post, the hamster wheel has dropped in popularity with my Kikes, but the tire is still way up there. I stopped using the hamster/rat ball because I felt the handling aspect was interfeering with the "bonding" between myself and the birds. They did not seem to like me grabbing them and putting them inside the big sphere. I'll pick up on this again in a month or two.
I placed a large tree branch ( Oak, 14 in dia, hollow, 30 in long ) that had fallen down at work, and they seem to enjoy playing follow the leader through it's three entrances/exits. I'm hoping that they will eventually use it for nesting.
Just in at my pet shop is a new device for cats. It holds 50 oz of water, and continually cycles the water thru a filter to keep it clean ( $50. Cdn ) ( there is a 100 oz model as well, avail only in the US ). It tumbles down a small "slide" and into a good sized bowl. I am hoping that this will help with the 3000000000 changes to their bathing water that I now enjoy doing every day.
We Canuks will try almost anything once......
Hope all your birds are well, and I am very sorry to see that RF's are now on the endangered list.
Hiya 8 ) I know what you mean about keeping kakarikis interested and not bored. This is something we struggle with daily. One thing I've found that ours likes are cat toys. Cheap, plastic, colorful egg-shapped with little bead inside. I bought two, the hubby accidently threw one out, I bought two more. Jack, our red-fronted kakriki, LOVES them. Somewhere long ago we got a holey small ball with a bell inside it. That's currently the favourite. One thing I'd suggest and that's to let your kikes use the hamster ball like a huge soccer/football. Ours likes to push ours around the floor. Granted, we have a very small hamster, so it's a small ball, but he still plays with it regularly. We also found toilet roll tubes and paper towel tubes are a good, cheap toy. I did buy a very expensive proper parrot toy, but he doesn't touch it.
Anyway, keep posting, we can all use the ideas!
A screw driverm spoon, rolled up newspaper, or a few sheets of printer paper, an old boot, old bunch of keys, jam jar, cd disc, peice of rope with a big knot in it....they all work, the idea is keep changing. _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
I know this is an old post but I was looking for some ideas for toys for our Kaks. There are some great ideas in this post but I had one concern about most of them. Are they safe for the birds. I would be concerned about CDs as they have a coating on them which is easily removed, also toilet rolls generally have some sort of glue on them.
Can you confirm whether they are safe or toxic to the birds?
Also any new ideas for toys
Can somebody please post some photos of toys and scratch boxes and general stuff they have created for their Kaks both in and especially out of the cage.
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:20 pm Post subject: entertainment for Kiks
I don't know a lot about them myself but the lady we got a couple from had one of those wine racks. They are an old model but they are made of wood. Her Kiks played in them all the time, weaving in & out. I got some from garage sales & 2nd hand shop for about $2 but haven't put them up yet. I hope when I do they'll have as much fun with them
Okay so first, how do you have these things in the cage, CDs and Cardboard Tubes. Do you hang them horizontally or vertically or just put them on the floor. Do you cut up the tubes. A few pics would be nice.
Thenan, can you post a pic of this wine rack so I can get somethig similar or even make one.
The wooden wine rack is a bit hit with my birds, i have two suspended in my avairy, and the birds love hopping up and down.
I bought some plastic scoubee's, and made a toy with all different wood beads. Ill find a pic and post it. They enjoy undoing the knots as its a plastic type string, and every now and again i hear a plop where they have got a bead off. They spend ages trying to undo the knots.
Split/crack a couple of walnuts, so enough that they have to work at a couple of holes. or even in half so they get the idea. Which as we all know does not take long with a kak
Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 5:51 pm Post subject: Long term update
It's been a while since I have updated this thread. I am still changing my toys on a regular basis. I have found it easier to buy one or two toys and rotate then around the 4 Kak and 7 other cages I have ( rotation after a real good cleaning ). I change toys about every 2 weeks unless it is a favorite. I have played with many ideas and keep coming back to the basics.... small plastic balls, the chew tire, the hamster wheel ( large ), beaded whatevers, bells, small children's wood toys, a zip tie around a perch or bar can provide hours of fun. I ( Remember KISS... Keep it simple silly.... ) have a hollowed out piece of log mounted in two of the cages, and the Kaks love running thru it or hiding from each other. A piece of PVC pipe serves the same function in another cage ( easy to keep clean as well ). The everful bathing dish is also an absolute fav at my house. it's entertaining to watch the cockatiels I have crowd around the Kak cage while they are bathing... taking advantage of all the splashing. The birds never got the hang of what to do in the Rat/Hamster ball so I have abandoned that toy idea. The Kaks also get out of their cage for about 2-3 hours everday and get to climb and play on the several play areas and "play Gyms" I have around the room. They interact well with the "tiels" and I have not had a serious spat between the species yet. Still I don't leave a lot to chance and all such inteactions are supervised from a distance.
Yeah got a few of these now, rem discuusing ages ago...called rat wheels in NZ cause we dont have hamters
They are a permenent fiture in most of our flights.
Quote:
( Remember KISS... Keep it simple silly.... )
I like the Kiwi version better ...Keep it Simple Stupid _________________ My Spelling is Not Incorrect...It's 'Creative'
i bought a few toys for my birds.... but to be honest they seem to prefur the twiggy branch i put inas a perch.... i left all the little twigs on which they love chewing at....
i got a sort of kebeb thing you hang n can thread different stuff on..... but they didnt touch it...untill i shoved a whole load of sunflower seeds in the bit of coconut husk which they love and spend ages picking them all back out..... takes me about twice as long to put them in tho than it does them to get them back out n eat them
they also found an old mouse ball on a shelf which they like to roll about ..... but Rosemary just loves doing flips in the cage .... when the top is closed she runs up the side and hangs upside down from the top often from just 1 foot...puts her head right back n flips over 180 degrees onto the perch..... this is now progressing into a 270degree flip onto the side of the cage!!!! she does it over n over
i put a cocanut shell in too with holes in ...but they seem to be eyeing it up as a prospective nesting place.....!!!!
im gonna try the nut thing ..... wonder if ive got any left from christmas _________________ May........
my kaki loves to try and get the budgies toys! i am going to try her witha hamster wheel as shes so hyper, she loves paper and loves to shread and throw it out of her cage which causes me alot of tidying up! im going to try her with a few of your ideas. What kind of playgym do you have? _________________ mom to 1 kakariki, 2 budgies, 2 canaries, 2 cockatiels, 1 port lincoln, 1 senegal and 1 house rabbit
Hi all I was just wondering whether you know which tree's I can use for branches here in the uk? Also when you say put a hamster wheel in the cage I assume you mean a solid plastic one? As I would have thought one with bars would be dangerous. Do they run in the wheel or just play with it i'm confused!
My kakariki (rhubarb who i'm fairly sure is a male) has a couple of parrot toys and comes out of his cage a couple of times a day.
I've only had him a few days and he is an absolute joy, he isn't quite hand tame but he's not scared of me and I can get him to put one foot on me before he flies away! He makes comical noises he sounds like a little monkey or something.
He goes back to his cage all on his own which is good as I didn't want to have to try and catch him to put him back as it would be stressful for him.
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