Gym time.

Fredrostarrrox · 01-12-2021, 04:31 AM

Hi everyone! How do i make my bird play at her play gym? Her play gym is placed on top of her cage. Each time i placed her on her gym, she just isn't interested at all. She kept flying towards my shoulder and just wanna stay there. Everytime she flew to my shoulder, i picked her up and placed her back to her gym. Can't recall how many times i did that. Lol. Her gym has hanging toys and everything that i think she likes. She just wanna hang on my pant's belt loop and chew on it. She likes to perch on my broomstick and bite on the handle while i am sweeping her mess. She is everywhere except on her gym. Its kinda annoying that she is in my way while i am trying to clean her cage & changing her food & water.

And another thing, i understand that parrotlets tend to be territorial of their cage. Does placing her cage at different areas of my house on certain days help? I tried placing her cage at my living room where everyone in my house is always at but she is terrified. She is jumping all over her cage and caused a mess as she jumped into her food bowl and all. She always tries to nip whenever i need to remove something from her cage for cleaning while her cage is in her room. She isn't attached to any toy in particular.

Any advice is appreciated.

**Rubydoo252** · 01-12-2021, 09:15 AM

Hi!
Tumi doesn't like play gyms at all, and I have never found a way to get him to hang out on them. However, instead of play gyms, I have some small cages that serve that purpose. While he won't do play gyms, he likes tiny cages with food and water in them and toys for fun. Maybe she would take that approach as well.

Tumi is cage aggressive. The only thing that works for me is distraction. He is particularly vicious when I do which water bowls. Having multiple cages helps with that, as I clean the cages that he isn't in and then move him.

JackieRTP · 01-12-2021, 09:33 AM

When you place the cage in the living room, is it against a wall or is it in the middle of the room? They tend to prefer to be placed against a wall so that they can see what is approaching them and as well as from an instincts perspective.

Fredrostarrrox · 01-12-2021, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rubydoo252

Hi!
Tumi doesn't like play gyms at all, and I have never found a way to get him to hang out on them. However, instead of play gyms, I have some small cages that serve that purpose. While he won't do play gyms, he likes tiny cages with food and water in them and toys for fun. Maybe she would take that approach as well.

Tumi is cage aggressive. The only thing that works for me is distraction. He is particularly vicious when I do which water bowls. Having multiple cages helps with that, as I clean the cages that he isn't in and then move him.

Hi!
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll try to find a small cage soon. I'm just hoping that she'll at least try to have fun on the gym as the room that i placed her cage is quite small. She does a lot of flying and destroying/chewing on things that she isn't supposed to. Lol.

Fredrostarrrox · 01-12-2021, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackieRTP

When you place the cage in the living room, is it against a wall or is it in the middle of the room? They tend to prefer to be placed against a wall so that they can see what is approaching them and as well as from an instincts perspective.

Hello!
The cage is placed against the wall but near to my kitchen entrance. Maybe thats why she's acting that way? I'll try to place her at another location where there isn't much movements by my family members. I'm trying to familiarise her with other parts of my home so that she can navigate herself the next time i let her have her out of cage time. She flew to my closed window few hours ago, it was only a short distance though. I quickly carried her and looked out for any injuries. Thank god she's fine. She's not displaying any symptoms of a concussion. Eating fine and flying fine.

Anya · 01-12-2021, 11:31 AM

I had the same problem getting Cleopatra onto her playstation. How I got her over her fear was by not giving her any millet for a few days, knowing how much she loves it and would miss it. Then I attached a small sprig of millet onto the playstaton. I got her on my finger, walked over to the playstation and showed her the millet. As soon as she saw it, it must have looked really yummy to her because she jumped onto the playstation with no problem. Her love of millet was stronger than her fear of the playstation.

This technique may or may not work for your bird since they are all different, but you may want to give it a try, especially if they are fond of millet.

Fredrostarrrox · 01-12-2021, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anya

I had the same problem getting Cleopatra onto her playstation. How I got her over her fear was by not giving her any millet for a few days, knowing how much she loves it and would miss it. Then I attached a small sprig of millet onto the playstaton. I got her on my finger, walked over to the playstation and showed her the millet. As soon as she saw it, it must have looked really yummy to her because she jumped onto the playstation with no problem. Her love of millet was stronger than her fear of the playstation. [IMG class=inlineimg]https://www.talkparrotlets.com/images/smilies/wink.gif[/IMG] This technique may or may not work for your bird since they are all different, but you may want to give it a try, especially if they are fond of millet. [IMG class=inlineimg]https://www.talkparrotlets.com/images/smilies/smile.gif[/IMG]

Hi Anya

I've tried that numerous times. She just won't stay at her gym. After stuffing her face with the millets, she will fly to me and peck at my earlobes. Lol. She's not afraid of the gym, she just don't bother to play. 😅

**ozzie3860** · 01-12-2021, 04:02 PM

I have never had much luck with Jules and play gyms. The closes I managed was when I decorated the outside of her cage like the inside to get her to come out back when we first got her and she was cage bound. Once she broke that fear we became walking moving playgrounds for her and seem much more fun for her.

Now with Rio we are trying again with a bit of luck. There is a area in our kitchen that is effectively Jules / Rio feeding area. A two foot or so area of kitchen counter were we put bread, broccoli, bananas, popcorn, etc. that they can eat on during the day while out. So to try to get back into the playground mindset I have now gotten a "tinker toys" wood set and have built a play area for them that I have set on top of their food / treat area. Jules pretty much ignores it, Rio is a big scaredy cat but now that he has gotten used to it is starting to sit and play on it. My hope is that once it becomes his thing he will follow it around if we move it.

Here are the "tinker toys"
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Anya · 01-12-2021, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fredrostarrrox

Hi Anya

I've tried that numerous times. She just won't stay at her gym. After stuffing her face with the millets, she will fly to me and peck at my earlobes. Lol. She's not afraid of the gym, she just don't bother to play. 😅

Oh, sorry! It was early and I hadn't had my first cup of coffee yet. Perhaps I need to have some caffeine first before I come on here.

You could provide some foraging toys when she is hungry stuffed with goodies. That might occupy her time longer than millet. Have you tried tiring her out with some exercise before putting her on the playstation? If she is tired, she may decide to take a nap. She might like it if you move the playstation right next to where you normally sit or spend time so she still feels like she is still spending time with you. That would make it a lot easier to put her back on her playstation again.

You just need to try different things. It could be one small change that makes all the difference to her or she may be like Tumi who just does not like playstations. Not all birds do.

Fredrostarrrox · 01-13-2021, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anya

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fredrostarrrox

Hi Anya

I've tried that numerous times. She just won't stay at her gym. After stuffing her face with the millets, she will fly to me and peck at my earlobes. Lol. She's not afraid of the gym, she just don't bother to play. 😅

Oh, sorry! It was early and I hadn't had my first cup of coffee yet. Perhaps I need to have some caffeine first before I come on here. [IMG class=inlineimg]https://www.talkparrotlets.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif[/IMG]

You could provide some foraging toys when she is hungry stuffed with goodies. That might occupy her time longer than millet. Have you tried tiring her out with some exercise before putting her on the playstation? If she is tired, she may decide to take a nap. She might like it if you move the playstation right next to where you normally sit or spend time so she still feels like she is still spending time with you. That would make it a lot easier to put her back on her playstation again. [IMG class=inlineimg]https://www.talkparrotlets.com/images/smilies/wink.gif[/IMG] You just need to try different things. It could be one small change that makes all the difference to her or she may be like Tumi who just does not like playstations. Not all birds do.

Thank you. I will definitely try that. You guys are the best!