I wanted to post some of the store bought foraging toys that Tonka really likes, starting with some of the first ones that he figured out, as a youngster!

JW Nutcase- This one is a classic. It comes in two shapes, and mine is orange colored. I cram it with all kinds of goodies, paper wrapped treats, wooden sticks, etc.






















Caitec Foraging Sphere- This was his first foraging toy that he really loved. I fill it with nutraberries, or peanuts, etc. Sometimes I will put frozen cherries in it in the morning, and come home to an empty foraging toy and a purple bird! :)

Caitec Seek n Find Foraging Boxes- He likes these quite a bit. I put seed and small treats in the little pockets inside. He still hasn't figured out that he could just rip into it, instead he will spend ages moving all around and sticking his face into each hole, one after another. But at least it keeps him busy!

Super Bird Bottoms Up- This one works great for Tonka, as I actually took it apart, and strung each cup on it's own chain. So we have three toys, instead of one! It is pretty easy, so now that Tonka is starting to get better about foraging, I am slowly making it more difficult by adding shredded paper on top of the treats, etc. If I make it too hard, he'll just ignore it, so I have to progress very slowly!!

 

                                                                                                                                                                      

Caitec Buffet Ball and Kabob-Bolt on- This is a recent addition, but he really likes it. I cram it FULL of stuff- shreddables, wood, treats, paper, etc. Also, the cardboard forager above fits on here perfectly, and you can use the ball as a foot toy, or hang from leather, etc for variety.

                                                                                                                                                              Caitec Foraging Wheel- This is the newest store purchase. I was worried it might be too much for him to figure out, but he loves it! He certainly doesn't calmly swing it around, he just uses brute force and sheer craziness to work the goodies out.

Here's a before and after pic:

EDIT- I can't believe I forgot a few!

Jungle Talk Mazey Munch- comes in two sizes, and I have the smaller. Nutraberries and small wooden beads fit in here perfectly! Tonka loves to cling to this and swing it around as he chews the goodies out.

Nature's Instinct Barrel of Fun- He loved this one, he would swing from it and bash it around till it opened. Then I tried to make it more difficult by taping it shut, and he hasn't touched it since. Whoops! Guess I'll have to start from scratch again with this one.

Nature's Variety Tiki Takeout- Tonka loves chewing on wooden dowels, so I thought he would like this one, but he WILL NOT chew through the dowels here. He'll swing it around and try to stick his face between the dowels and then lose interest after awhile.

Nature's Variety Snack Rack- I just got this in a toy swap. As long as I seperate the rings so he can just barely stick his face in, he'll use this one. I put toy bits, treats or small foot toys inside, so this one is versatile!

Archie Bunny!

This is to show what a horrifying mess a rabbit can make in just a few hours! It's a good thing he's cute!
(Sorry about the bad photos)

More toys

Tonka loves little wooden beads, little sticks, and foam beads, so that is ALL that is on this toy. It also has some small pieces of dried indian corn, and some almonds with holes drilled through them tied on at various places.



I couldn't even get a picture of him still, he loved it so much. Since then I have rotated it through his cage several times, and it is over half chewed up. See all the empty stretches of string? Yay!

Foraging Basket #2

This one was really enjoyed, though he didn't chew the basket like I hoped, and he certainly didn't get ALL the toys off. But he would pick out the treats and have fun with any loose bits, so it was pretty successful in my book!

More toys!

I like experimenting with different things to see what Tonka gets excited about. I was hoping he would like the fleece, or the paulie rope at the top, but what he REALLY likes about this toy is pulling the scrap bits of fleece that I poked into the wiffle ball out. I kept poking more back in, and he kept pulling them out!


Each beige cup has treats inside and some sort of toy covering the opening.



I put treats in all the measuring cups, and taped them closed with paper. He'll ignore this one for weeks and then chew every single treat out in one afternoon. Wierdo.




I gave this one to an Austin Parrot Society Member, as well as the next four!

Foraging Ice Cube Tray

Tonka LOVES this, as long as I don't cover it with the paper, lol. He is starting to destroy paper a bit more, so hopefully I can try to cover it again in the future!

Shopping!

Here are some examples of some shopping "sprees" at my favorite place to buy bird toy parts- Dollar Tree! Hands down the best dollar store. A "spree" here might run you a whoppin $20/$30. :)

Foraging toys, thinking outside the box

I had one of these: www.amazon.com/Soda-Bottle-Watering-Well-Birds/dp/B00328QMN6


So I turned it into three foraging toys, for the birds at my work!


This makes a great simple foraging toy, with a few chewies and some seed in it!

Tonka's first foraging toy that he LOVES!

This was a quickie toy I threw together, but he LOVES it so so much, I have had to remake it several times after he chews the plastic up. This is awesome, as he tends to be delicate with his toys and I want to encourage more chewing!

More toys!

First foraging basket

Also a bit ambitious! I just got excited, and over did it a bit! But he had fun, at least, even if it was a bit much.

I started with a basket:


Then gathered a bunch of crap, er... I mean goodies together:


Put it all together:

(see Tonka in the background? He was very interested)

Then added some fresh foods the night before and stored in fridge:


It was in his cage for a day or two and he picked most of the fresh foods off it right away, then seemed to lose interest. I moved it to his playgym after that, and he liked it again!