Post by ekkiemum on Dec 21, 2005 12:54:32 GMT 8
TOYS FOR HORMONAL GIRLS
hey another article ive found (very useful since i have a girl!)
Toys for the hormonal hen are different from toys that we might provide for mental stimulation, fun and exercise. When a girl is hormonal, she needs to chew - or at least that is my opinion.
When we were researching Eclectus parrots long ago, we read many articles about them. In one, the author commented that if a female Eclectus is not provided with appropriate chewing materials, she may chew her feathers or toenails.
In nature, an adult female Eclectus (and maybe even juvenile girls) has a very strong instinct to make a nest. In the wild, a nest would be in a cavity in a tree...a cavity or hollow made by another bird or animal, or maybe created from a fallen limb, or she may excavate one in a soft trunk, such as in a palm tree. When a suitable location is found, she chews and scratches at the hollow with her beak and feet to dig out her nest. When she deems her nest hollow to be suitably deep (some of the nest entryways are quite long), she begins to modify the bottom of the nest into her little nesting chamber. She chews the walls and floor to make shavings that will form the bed her eggs are laid on. She makes a little scoop in the shavings for her eggs and chicks to rest in.
This is alot of chewing. It is an instinctive imperative, IMHO. When a girl's gotta chew, a girl's gotta chew... As we know, Eclectus do not have beaks that can crack hard nuts...and also, the material she makes her nest from - palm pith or partially decayed wood from trees - is not hard - it is relatively soft. Also as she chews, the trunk, branch, or etc stays where it is ...she can brace herself against it to chew and work her beak and feet into the soft pith or wood. So this tells us that Eclectus girls who are hormonal may need toys that are easily chewed up and torn apart (not hard wood, plastic, leather), and are fairly stationary, or at least are easily manipulated by her in such a way that she can hold them still and get her beak and feet onto them....and she needs a solid place to do this chewing.
In the normal toy scenario, we would look for places where toys could swing, or be hard to get to, requiring dexterity and cleverness to get to treats or play with puzzles...but for the hormonal hen, such toys would cause her to lose interest and turn elsewhere to express her need...like her feathers...she wants something she can get a hold of and tear up. Toys for the hormonal hen might be located in a corner, the edge of the cage or hung in such a way that she can get ahold of them easily. Near a comfy perch with good footing. The toys would be soft and easily destroyed such as .... Grapevine wreaths, willow wreaths, softwood sticks in slim rectangles or wafer shapes, thin or slim twigs woven through the cage bars, toys with soft, thin wafer shaped softwood pieces, Kabob toys (a toy made of bamboo chunks threaded on safe string...a hard shell on the outside, but a soft, pithy center that is great for chewing and tearing apart), small branches of cottonwood with the bark on (or willow, or other safe tree branches).
It might be a good idea to start out introducing her to these chewing materials while you are holding her...offer her the stick or wreath to chew...let her chew it while she is sitting in your hand...praise her while she does it (at first, she might not be interested or might not know what you are trying to do...try a different toy, or try again later....she will probably get the idea soon, especially if she is hormonal).
Once she understands that these toys are for chewing, place some in her cage...continue to use them as hand toys when she is out. Soon she will probably realize that the chew toys in her cage are for the same purpose as the ones she plays with in your hand...and will probably soon get the idea to chew them up. Cabby has a favorite chew toy for inside the cage...a natural willow basket. The basket is thoroughly rinsed and placed on top of her cage (we found out by accident this is a good place for Cabby...we placed a basket there, forgot to take it off, and found she LOVED chewing it through the roof of the cage from inside her cage...I never would have guessed it...learn something new every day). She demolishes an entire basket in just a few hours. She also likes willow ring hand toys (the ones at the site, which follows, have too small a hole to be placed in the cage...she might get stuck...but they are GREAT hand toys) and Kabobs. She likes other kinds of toys, too, as mentioned above. The site where we get our willow baskets and wreaths is www.busybunny.com
We hope this information is of some help to you
hey another article ive found (very useful since i have a girl!)
Toys for the hormonal hen are different from toys that we might provide for mental stimulation, fun and exercise. When a girl is hormonal, she needs to chew - or at least that is my opinion.
When we were researching Eclectus parrots long ago, we read many articles about them. In one, the author commented that if a female Eclectus is not provided with appropriate chewing materials, she may chew her feathers or toenails.
In nature, an adult female Eclectus (and maybe even juvenile girls) has a very strong instinct to make a nest. In the wild, a nest would be in a cavity in a tree...a cavity or hollow made by another bird or animal, or maybe created from a fallen limb, or she may excavate one in a soft trunk, such as in a palm tree. When a suitable location is found, she chews and scratches at the hollow with her beak and feet to dig out her nest. When she deems her nest hollow to be suitably deep (some of the nest entryways are quite long), she begins to modify the bottom of the nest into her little nesting chamber. She chews the walls and floor to make shavings that will form the bed her eggs are laid on. She makes a little scoop in the shavings for her eggs and chicks to rest in.
This is alot of chewing. It is an instinctive imperative, IMHO. When a girl's gotta chew, a girl's gotta chew... As we know, Eclectus do not have beaks that can crack hard nuts...and also, the material she makes her nest from - palm pith or partially decayed wood from trees - is not hard - it is relatively soft. Also as she chews, the trunk, branch, or etc stays where it is ...she can brace herself against it to chew and work her beak and feet into the soft pith or wood. So this tells us that Eclectus girls who are hormonal may need toys that are easily chewed up and torn apart (not hard wood, plastic, leather), and are fairly stationary, or at least are easily manipulated by her in such a way that she can hold them still and get her beak and feet onto them....and she needs a solid place to do this chewing.
In the normal toy scenario, we would look for places where toys could swing, or be hard to get to, requiring dexterity and cleverness to get to treats or play with puzzles...but for the hormonal hen, such toys would cause her to lose interest and turn elsewhere to express her need...like her feathers...she wants something she can get a hold of and tear up. Toys for the hormonal hen might be located in a corner, the edge of the cage or hung in such a way that she can get ahold of them easily. Near a comfy perch with good footing. The toys would be soft and easily destroyed such as .... Grapevine wreaths, willow wreaths, softwood sticks in slim rectangles or wafer shapes, thin or slim twigs woven through the cage bars, toys with soft, thin wafer shaped softwood pieces, Kabob toys (a toy made of bamboo chunks threaded on safe string...a hard shell on the outside, but a soft, pithy center that is great for chewing and tearing apart), small branches of cottonwood with the bark on (or willow, or other safe tree branches).
It might be a good idea to start out introducing her to these chewing materials while you are holding her...offer her the stick or wreath to chew...let her chew it while she is sitting in your hand...praise her while she does it (at first, she might not be interested or might not know what you are trying to do...try a different toy, or try again later....she will probably get the idea soon, especially if she is hormonal).
Once she understands that these toys are for chewing, place some in her cage...continue to use them as hand toys when she is out. Soon she will probably realize that the chew toys in her cage are for the same purpose as the ones she plays with in your hand...and will probably soon get the idea to chew them up. Cabby has a favorite chew toy for inside the cage...a natural willow basket. The basket is thoroughly rinsed and placed on top of her cage (we found out by accident this is a good place for Cabby...we placed a basket there, forgot to take it off, and found she LOVED chewing it through the roof of the cage from inside her cage...I never would have guessed it...learn something new every day). She demolishes an entire basket in just a few hours. She also likes willow ring hand toys (the ones at the site, which follows, have too small a hole to be placed in the cage...she might get stuck...but they are GREAT hand toys) and Kabobs. She likes other kinds of toys, too, as mentioned above. The site where we get our willow baskets and wreaths is www.busybunny.com
We hope this information is of some help to you