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Well for my IRN I get an empty tissue box and pull the plastic bits out. I fill it with shredded paper, foot toys, beads and a few peanuts and tie it to the side of Louie's cage. He spends ages pulling everything out and searching for the peanuts!!! When it is empty he starts shredding the box. lol

I like the tissue box idea As far as the homemade toys go, I started a thread specifically to share ideas like these so please feel free to add to or take from the ideas!

http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... =4&t=11240

This is where/how my birds live... I don't believe in keeping them caged. I removed the bars from the top, front, and back, and left the side ones for perches, toys, etc. They actually spend most of their time on the cage/stand, there is enough toys to keep them occupied there. Sometimes they venture onto the floor for an adventure, but they never go far. The stand/cage is ever-changing, I'm always adjusting it to suit their needs and wants.

The main reason I did this in the first place is because Lou, the green one, is a rescue and has cage issues. Now that I have done this, I think that if I ever have other birds I will do the same.

This also allows me to house a 3 year old male with a 9 month old male without problems, as they can escape eachother if they get annoyed (which Lou often does, he thinks babies are annoying but they do actually like eachother quite a bit, they act like siblings)

Get a pvc pipe bend and hang it from the bend bit with the point hanging down. You can put small treats like nuts and dried fruit in there and they have to work out how to get it out. Good for making them use thier heads. To keep them guessing you could cover the ends with various materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic with a hole in the bottom. So simple and cheap too. I can add pictures when I find my toy again. Straight pvc pipe attached to the side makes a great holder for branches that have flowers for them to chew on. I also have a basket that I hang off the roof of my room. I hang swings and other toys to the outside and smaller toys on the inside to keep him busy.

Celithemis wrote:This is where/how my birds live... I don't believe in keeping them caged. I removed the bars from the top, front, and back, and left the side ones for perches, toys, etc. They actually spend most of their time on the cage/stand, there is enough toys to keep them occupied there. Sometimes they venture onto the floor for an adventure, but they never go far. The stand/cage is ever-changing, I'm always adjusting it to suit their needs and wants.

The main reason I did this in the first place is because Lou, the green one, is a rescue and has cage issues. Now that I have done this, I think that if I ever have other birds I will do the same.

This also allows me to house a 3 year old male with a 9 month old male without problems, as they can escape eachother if they get annoyed (which Lou often does, he thinks babies are annoying but they do actually like eachother quite a bit, they act like siblings)

That would be quite an idea for those without pets or kids and a bird safe house! If you kept the back of it on you could put more things up while not changing the dynamic since the cage is against a wall Just a thought!

Very interesting and simple idea Shrek&Fiona!

Don't have a pic of my cage at the moment but in an effort to save money and get the biggest cage I could afford, I spent $200 and got a cat playpen. For a bird cage of the same size I was looking at $500 and that was way over my budget at the time, but the cat playpen was a much cheaper alternative. I'm now in the process of designing a plexi cage with some bar areas to hang toys and will be turning my cat playpen into an Iguana home (at least until the iggy outgrows it)

wow alot of great ideas. i really have to start thinking outside of the box lol.

WOW some of the Ideas are simply amazing!! I loveeee using the Egg case. I cut them up, and hide monkey nuts inside them. This way - A treat while foraging, something Cheeko loves to bits.

My most recent creative idea was to hide a small toy inside of a bell pepper. I want my IRN to eat bell peppers but he won't. However I discovered he enjoys tearing them up to get to the toy so I am hoping he is getting some degree of benefit from tearing holes in it. (gotta replug the hole in the pepper)

Donovan wrote:My most recent creative idea was to hide a small toy inside of a bell pepper. I want my IRN to eat bell peppers but he won't. However I discovered he enjoys tearing them up to get to the toy so I am hoping he is getting some degree of benefit from tearing holes in it. (gotta replug the hole in the pepper)

That's a really good idea. I guess one wouldn't do it too often cause the price of organic bell peppers is crazy. lol But what a great way to at least get your bird to get some of it. tricky tricky

Such wonderful ideas, recycle and save money!