How to Get Your Perch Potato to Exercise
Playing games with your parrot, providing a variety of stimulating, interactive toys as well as exercise equipment and playgyms will all help encourage your bird to engage in healthy play and exercise.
The best ways to provide outlets for exercise are:
- Provide toys that stimulate movement (swings, ladders, vines, rings and bungees).
- Provide destructible, manipulative and preening toys to engage your bird in activity and encourage movement.
- Provide out of the cage play areas that encourage movement and play (playgyms, cargo nets).
- Place foraging stations high and low around your bird’s cage to encourage movement (foraging toys).
- Provide a cage large enough for your bird to fully flap his wings.
- Purchase an indoor or outdoor flight cage.
- With your bird securely perched on your hand, get a firm grip on your birds toes and encourage flapping by gently moving your arm up and down or swinging it in an arc while your bird hangs upside down. Your bird will flap its wings to maintain balance.
- Send your bird to "Basic Training" and work on step up's with your bird.
- Play games with your bird such as hide and seek, ball toss and chase me.
- Dance with your bird (it's good for you too!)
- Flight training (Flight suits & Aviator harnesses)
- Showers encourage wing flapping and preening activities (shower perches).
- Work on Training Your Bird to Perform Tricks such as roller skating or playing basketball.
How much exercise is enough ? We recommend a minimum of two 5 to 10 minute sessions a day that combines the above activities and games. If your bird starts breathing heavily during wing flapping sessions make sure to stop and let him catch his breath before continuing.
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