Q: How do you get parrots to go back inside their cage?
A: Bribe them.
Bribe them with something sooooooo yummy they can’t resist. Not just a sunflower seed or a pistachio – although those are pretty good as treats for normal occasions. No, to get any bird in my household to run right back inside their cage no matter what, you have to use…. a Nutriberry!
They come in bags that look like this:
They smell super yummy. They are fun to eat. And they are so tasty, we’ll do almost anything for one.
We always have a routine. When it’s time to go inside, the human gets two of these out of an airtight container and places one in a foraging toy inside the Stu-monster’s cage and the other one in one of my foraging toys. We run inside and she closes the door behind us. Then she has about 5 minutes of peace and quiet as we get to work getting the Nutriberries out and devouring them.
She thinks Nutriberries must be very, very special for us to like them so much. She’s right.
To buy some of these magic treats (which come in different flavors), visit our favorite site for parrot toys and treats: Drs Foster and Smith. Or just go to your local pet store. They have these in most pet stores — my human sometimes has to drive to Petco or PetSmart (even though she doesn’t really like them) because she runs out of Nutriberries and she doesn’t want to wait several days for an online order… because then we might not go inside for days!
5 Comments
January 27, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Um, Mika? Do you think our humans talk? Michelle does the same thing before she goes to “work” each morning! I kid you not! We usually get a nut piece and a nutriberry. We all love nutriberries!
January 28, 2009 at 8:45 pm
My human talks… I just don’t understand what she’s saying. Maybe she and Michelle speak the same language? If you understand your human, can you see if you can get a message to mine? Tell her we want more than just one Nutriberry.
Do you run into your cage like the cartoon roadrunner whenever Michelle puts Nutriberries in your cage, too? Or do you wait for her to put you inside?
February 5, 2009 at 8:07 pm
More than one nutriberry? I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe I could get more than one nut, too! Hm…
I go running across the room and back in on my own. Gillie even flies. Nutriberries are gooooooood.
May 13, 2009 at 10:24 am
[...] Mika blogged about why she goes back inside her cage a few months ago. She doesn’t realize that she’s constantly taking part in training, [...]
May 22, 2009 at 10:54 pm
All the parrots in my house get Nutriberries, too! Our human says it’s because we’re so cute and have been so good that day. This is not true because while we ARE very cute we are rarely good.