Lack of interest in toys

[Hopper]

I got my Peep about two weeks ago and hes settled in very well, not scared of too much anymore. Well, the other day (about a week ago) I put some toys in his cage. He wasn’t scared of them at all, or at least didn’t show it but he is very uninterested. I went to the store my friend bought him at to see what his environment was like and they didn’t have any toys, just perches and food/water dishes. And no cuttle bone, which I also bought him and he seems uninterested. I was just wondering if maybe he doesn’t know what the toys/cuttle bone are for? Or maybe hes just still a bit nervous and not showing it? Any ideas?

[helloyo53]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Finnigan at first used to be afraid of the toys, but now he's crazy about them, same with the cuttlefish bone. Maybe try putting certain toys in different areas? I know with Finnigan, I had a toy, put it in his cage and he like had a heart attack. So I took it out and put it somewhere else and he loves it. So you could do that, or jsut wait. Peep will eventually come around:)

[Vickie]

When my birds are afraid or simply ignore something new in their cage, I usually take it out and pretend to play with it myself while talking pleasantly. I can even get them to try new foods this way. Budgies learn by mimicking their flock mates, so sometimes seeing their owner enjoying something can make them curious about it as well.

No guarantees though! All birds are unique and some may simply not enjoy toys as others do. Keep trying! Maybe something will catch your birdie's eye.

[ronsig]

My birds also don't like toys...and they never touch their cuttle bone.
I give them branches off trees...and they sometimes shred them. That's about it.
They are rescued. Who knows what they had in their previous life.
I thought they would learn to like toys...but so far no luck;)
But they have each other...and that's probably the most important for scared birds...

Sigrid

[Robin's Nest]

I agree with all that has been said; your budgie may 'grow into' toys or not. We provide toys as one aspect of enrichment for our birds. In addition to giving them something fun and interesting to do, it helps with conditioning the beak and nails, work the various muscles of the beak, legs and the rest of the body, fulfills chewing and shredding desires and much more. But for each bird it is a little different. It may be that the toy that interests your bird has not yet been found, and when you find the favorite he will light up! It could also be that he plays when you are not looking.;) One way that works for some birds is to start with toys that are millet (or other treat) related since these can really be hard to resist! :D

From the standpoint of enrichment, fortunately toys are not the only aspect of enrichment available to the lives of our companions. Enrichment is anything from playing with toys to foraging for food/treats, watching you do something (we humans can be terribly fascinating), listening to music, watching other birds indoors or outdoors and much more. Toys are not a replacement for other enriching activities but in addition to them. So if your budgie remains disinterested despite all the suggestions offered here, and despite you trying a variety of different types of toys, changing locations, placing the toys on top of the cage or at a separate play stand, etc., then you may be in a position to rely more heavily on other forms of enrichment.

One aspect of enrichment is interest; something that peeks our birds' interest, causes them to look, to listen, to watch... to even ponder. Watching us at our computers or doing housework or a variety of other 'mundane to us' day to day activities can be downright fascinating to a bird. Reading aloud to them (if studying), singing a song, dancing with/for them, them riding around on your shoulder and all the fascinating things you do and places you go around the house, to even watching you exercise... are can work together to provide supplemental enrichment activities many of which will also support the bonding process. Good luck! :)

[Sweety&Tweety]

Some of my budgies love toys and hang on them and play with them all the time. Some of my budgies could care less. All of mine love the different style perches I offer in their cage.

I have the rope perches, real branch perches, little plastic perches in different styles, and the plain dowel rods that come in the cages. I put them in different places and angles all over the cage and they love to fly and hop around on all of them.

[skthurley]

Foraging is a great way to enrich a bird's life. providing opportunities for your bird to search for it's food, definitely makes life more interesting. From something as simple as clipping millet somewhere new, to a box that the bird has to chew through to get the food. One of my favourites is the cocohuts. I love hiding little seeds in amongst beads and pieces of newspaper, so that my birds have to search for the seeds. I also take little boxes with lids and string them from the top of the cage, and put seeds in them. the bird then has to lift the lid to get the treats. Callie LOVES doing this.

SOmetimes it also takes putting the toy in the right place. Jack NEVER used his swing. I was about to give up (i'd had him 6 months) when suddenly I found the place for it, and he loves it now! Regardless of where i put it in his cage, he will find it and hang out there for the afternoon... especially if I place one of his favourite toys (the shreddable vine balls) near it.

Just be patient, and know that your bird may not like toys, but you can encourage him to play with things if you add food to the picture.

[pinktaffy]

my budgie was the same with new toys . what i did was just put 1 thing at a time in till he gets used to his new surroundings. what i did was put 1 mirror in and cuttle bone in once i seen him use the cuttle fish and mirror i added somthing new in and then so on. now he has a cage full and loves it all

[rothko]

budgies are weird like that. sometimes we'll get a toy and it'll just hang there in the cage, completely ignored for weeks -- until one day one of the birds will be like "hey! what's that?!" and suddenly it's their favorite thing ever. i have no idea what goes on in their little heads.

since you've only had him a very short time, he's probably still kinda settling in somewhat. i'm sure he'll figure out eventually that those weird things in his cage actually do interesting things if he touches or chews on them! :D

[mayhaila]

dont worry about it, my budgies dont much like their toys either!!

[Tushkoo]

I bought Kenco one of those hanging traffic light toys with the bell at the bottom. He has only started playing with it the last week, and it has been in there since I brought him home on the 1st of Feb! Now he is getting more adventurous with other bells/toys though, I think it just takes time for them assess the situation!