Fresh flowers on the gym

[Tiger]

We have found that Buddy really likes the play gym, we use it a lot and move it around to wherever we happen to be working. We're also still finding out what he likes to eat/play with. But flowers wilt fairly quickly. So we've been fiddling with pieces of string and I found a plastic test tube with a ***** top which I tied onto the play gym in two places (to stop it from tilting sideways). So now when we cut flowers and leaves for Buddy to explore, we can keep them fresher for much longer, so they won't wilt within half an hour like they used to.

We've also put something similar in his cage, so when we pick some thistle or similar, we can put it in water. It keeps him happy with it for longer.

Very simple to do and as you can see, Buddy really enjoys being able to chew fresh flowers!

[Kip.The.Great]

Buddy looks like he's having a ball! :D
I love the play gym.

[BUUZBEE]

how fun for buddy!!!

what flowers are they, is that big poofy thing on the left a type of bottle brush? I've only seen red here, but figured maybe in oz you have a bigger variety?

[Tiger]

There are two types of flowers in the photo - the red-orange spidery thing is a grevillea (variety Ned Kelly) and the pale yellow big one is the flower of the Old Man Banksia. That is the main colour of the wild variety. We have a lot of these trees in the area.

Bottlebrush is a callistemon, it's different. The most common colour for bottlebrush is red but there are lots of varieties now. We've got a lot of bottlebrush flowers on our tree in the front yard, I'll cut a couple for him in the morning.

I kept the grevilleas for a couple of days before the petals started to drop. Then I tossed them all out, because the banksia had a shorter stalk and was drying out too fast. The banksia is also a very heavy flower so that's when we discovered we needed to make sure the make-shift 'vase' was attached firmly and upright.

Buddy seems to like chewing the ends of the petals, but only if the flowers aren't dropping in the slightest. He also likes the string it's all tied on with! He gets a grip and tugs hard, like a dog playing tug o' war!

As an alternative to the test tube, I'm going to try and get a couple of plastic tubes that are sold by florists with a single spray of orchids in each one. They have a rubbery bit on top (silicone, I think) that grips the stem and holds it firmly while keeping the water in.

The test tube works for now, because the thread at the top where the lid went on, is something for the string to grip.

The play gym itself - we made it ourselves from windfall sticks from the peppermint gum in the front yard. We made it smaller so it would be more portable. I'm looking at painting the base though, because it's chip board and I want to make it easier to clean. Any ideas on what I could use to seal it, that would be safe around a very curious budgie?

[BUUZBEE]

gotcha :) i used to put bottle brush plants in the aviary, but they shredded them in days :( LOL

[Tiger]

The zoo down the road from us stopped trying to grow callistemons and grevilleas in the free-flight aviary. They put cut callistemons in the browse daily, instead. We often supply them with browse from our peppermint gum - they bring a truck round, trim our tree for us (it's so big you can take a truckful and still hardly see where it's been trimmed) and then get back to the zoo fast while it's still fresh.
The leaf then goes straight into the koalas. They LOVE peppermint gum but only eat the leaf tips and only when it's really fresh.
Next day the leaf is taken from the koalas and put in with the parrots. The day after that, it is shredded and goes into the mulch.
I think they use water in the containers they put the browse in, to keep it supple for longer. Otherwise it would be fairly awful for the parrots and from what we've seen, the stuff they have looks pretty good.
They don't eat the leaves but they play with them and eat any lerps they find. We have some types of lerps on our eucalypt trees that are actually good 'bush tucker'. They're tiny scale insect covers, not the thick waxy ones you get on citrus trees but the scaly ones. They are about pin-head size and taste a bit like wafer biscuit. Sweet and a bit crunchy. The birds love them but they have to go look for them.

Our budgies haven't discovered lerps yet. Our gum tree doesn't have very many, it's a very healthy tree.

[Pippin's mom]

Great play gym!:) Buddy looks to be enjoying his fresh flowers!:D Thanks for the tips for keeping them fresh..I never even thought of the little florist tubes.