#play ask

[flock-talk]

How do you teach a bird to play by themselves anyway? My conure is a velcro bird when out of her cage and I’d love to let her stay out while I’m doing stuff she can’t be part of instead of having to put her away. She has a whole play gym setup and fountain on the bedside table in my room but she won’t even look at it unless I’m right next to it.

There’s a variety of ways to do it, the easiest is usually to set up foraging opportunities close to you and just slowly start to move yourself away while they play with it ensuring not to go so far as to trigger them to feel stressed out. You want them to acknowledge you’ve moved and choose to go back to their activity. Over time you can add more distance

Another way is to shape the behaviour, any time they play with something mark and reward it so playing becomes a more frequently offered behaviour. You then, quite literally, teach them that playing is valuable and can begin to apply it in gradual distances. Initially they may play with something you’re playing with, then something on you that you’re not interacting with, then beside you, then further and further away.

With this you have classical conditioning along for the ride which in layman’s terms wires the brain to feel that playing is reinforcing and fun. Even though the treat rewards were what was fun initially. With enough consistency they can begin to exhibit the play on their own since it now triggers the brain to feel reinforced and excited even in the absence of the original reinforcer.

[flock-talk]

i think I may have already sent an ask about this before but I honestly can’t remember. My bird doesn’t seem to want to play or forage, just preen & be scritched. I just started a new job and am gone for a big chunk of the day and I’m worried about boredom/over preening due to boredom. How can I/what can I do to get my bird interested in playing or foraging at least for something to do while I’m at work?

You did send it, sorry it’s taken me a while to get back it just requires a bit more energy to answer this one than I’ve had as of late.

Birds can refuse to play for a variety of reasons: stress, not knowing how, lack of motivation, lack of UV, feeling unsafe when they’re alone, toy type, the list goes on.

One thing to keep in mind is that natural parrot behaviour tends to have them active first thing in the morning, largely resting and roosting during the day, then active again near sunset. So it’s not totally unusual for them to be less active during typical work/ school hours. Most healthy and stable birds will just use that time to nap, small bits of play, and preening.

First thing to assess when encouraging play would be toy variety and toy comfort. Are these toys different in texture, material, colour, size, do they do different things and offer different experiences. When they aren’t playing I first experiment with different toy types to see if they happen to be drawn towards a particular style of toy or a particular style of play (shredding, noise making, foraging, thrashing). Along with that we observe their behaviour around the toys: are they comfortable with them? Do they appear stressed or weary around them? Do they avoid them? As well as checking these same elements under parrot safe UV light. Since parrots see the UV spectrum it’s common for them to present depressive behaviours and be less interested in play as nothing seems as vibrant and interesting as it’s supposed to when the UV spectrum is lacking.

If all of that has been checked and there’s no interest being shown there’s two main strategies to take from here: modelling and classical conditioning.

With modelling you would play with the toy yourself and praise them for any interest in it. Gradually showing them that each toy is fun, showing them how it works and demonstrating how to play. Parrots are social learners in many cases and can pick up on new behaviours by observing others. Watching you have fun and play while enticing them to do so can elicit the play behaviours from them more naturally.

Classical conditioning is usually a much more lengthy process and is far more finicky. Classical conditioning is when you have a response that is triggered by a certain stimulus, you pair stimulus 1 with stimulus 2 so that the new stimulus will now trigger the response you were getting from stimulus 1. This is Pavlov’s dogs drooling to the bell: drooling is the response, food is stimulus 1 and the bell was stimulus 2 which was paired with the food enough where drooling would now happen at the presentation of the bell. You’ll do the exact same thing for toys and treats. You can offer a treat whenever they interact with a toy (starting at just a glance and working up to actual chewing) to shape a play behaviour, and from there every time they play a treat will follow. Over time the excitement and anticipation they feel when they eat a treat can begin to be elicited by the play itself. Eventually causing a self reinforcing behaviour since play now brings the happy exciting feelings on its own.

Foraging is an easy way to also ensure that behaviour remains reinforced. Making the prizes easy to find at first and gradually having less treats involved and harder to find. The excitement and thrill of locating the hidden treat can further drive and motivate the play to continue.