Reddit mentions: The best bird feeders

At our house we used cardboard for a while to block holes, but we ended up just watching our rats when they run around instead. Most of the time we just play with our rats on the couch (covered with their blanket). However, one of our rats is more of an explorer than a cuddler, so she always runs off. Another solution is a play pen. You can make them like this or buy one, but rats are pretty good at getting out of things so you'll have to be careful what you buy.

Some good toys are things like sticks (not from outside) soaked in juice. I bought a bird puzzle feeder which is a great foraging toy. Here's more info on toys. It's also good to give your rats fruits and veggies occasionaly in supplement to their normal food. I cook with a lot of broccoli and kale and my ratties love the stems and since I don't eat them, they get a lot!


Some rats can be too aggressive for cage mates but that is not usually the case. Keep an eye on them to make sure they do okay. In the first week or so you have them they will be establishing dominance and fighting more. But they should settle down.

If your rats are skittish they probably weren't socialized well and you might need to socialize them. One good way to get them to trust you is trust training.

Hope that helps!

Yes absolutely! There is no better way to get a bird mentally and physically engaged than with food.

That being said, birds aren't born with perfect knowledge of how to forage. Usually they learn from watching their parents or flock mates. So if you throw a bunch of boxes in your bird's cage and he has zero foraging experience he may just sit there and stare at you. And if he has no other food available, he may end up going hungry.

Check out the free ebooks at www.parrotenrichment.com. Then consider how you want to go about teaching your bird how to forage using baby steps.

Here's an example. Say I want my bird to forage for their pellets in a bowl that I have filled with shredded paper/toy parts and taped shut with more paper. How I would teach this skill to my bird:

1. Start by filling the bowl with a 1/2 pellets and 1/2 toy parts. Mix them up so your bird has to pick through the inedible things to get the food.
   
   
2. Once they are ok with that, layer the toys on top of the pellets.
   
   
3. Then add a few strips of shredded paper, but not enough to cover the toys/pellets completely.
   
   
4. Add enough shredded paper to cover the food completely.
   
   
5. Tape a 1 inch wide strip of paper over the bowl that is full of the shredded paper/toys/food. You bird will have to learn to rip through it or go around it.
   
   
6. Add 2 strips of paper, then 3, etc so that your bird learns to rip through the paper to get into the bowl.
   
   
7. Finally, tape a full, unbroken piece of paper (or even multiple sheets of paper) over the bowl.
   
   Depending on how fast a learner your bird is you might add or eliminate some of these steps. It's all about working with your individual bird. You can use similar baby steps to teach a bird to look for food in other situations. There are also easier and more difficult situations you can use to tailor to your bird's skill level. All of our birds really like using a foraging bowl (just an extra food bowl full of toys and other random items that I will throw treats in) and they are super easy. Our larger bird loves the plastic foraging toys you can buy, including this see saw, wheel, and 4 way forager.
   
   Even if you don't put ALL of your bird's food into these kind of foraging opportunities any foraging you can encourage is good. Good luck!

Harrison's, mixed with
Roudybush, topped with mixed human grade freeze dried veggies (broccoli, spinach, peas, corn, tomato, bell pepper, and carrots). He gets a couple nutriberries in his hanging treat ball. Plus he eats his share of whatever we're eating.

It sounds like a lot, but I mix the pellets in one container, and the veggies in another. In the morning I put half a shot glass scoop of each in his bowl, plus a couple nutriberries in his treat thing.

He is a healthy weight, and recovering from a blood infection. If I could get him to eat fresh veggies instead of dried, it would be great, but he refuses. Loves the dried. It would cost a lot to get everything at once, but buying over time wasnt that bad.

Edit: fixing the formatting.

Have you tried acrylic foraging toys like these?
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Foraging-Systems-E487-Feeder/dp/B004TRYI3U/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1394131550&sr=8-13&keywords=Bird+foraging

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Foraging-Systems-6-Inch-Diameter/dp/B001N2TG22/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1394131550&sr=8-8&keywords=Bird+foraging

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Foraging-Systems-E487-Drawers/dp/B00D84OEFC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1394131550&sr=8-3&keywords=Bird+foraging

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Foraging-Systems-Sphere-Diameter/dp/B001MWZF7S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1394131550&sr=8-2&keywords=Bird+foraging

There's SO many like these out there! It'll require your cockatoo to think as well, so it should theoretically keep him occupied longer ;) they're a tad more expensive, but they last longer and are less messy so there's value in that! I don't have a big bird anymore, so my sources are out of date, but maybe another redditor can provide some suggestions on where one can get the best deals for these :)

Good luck!!

I use this litterbox with the white tray removed, and Yesterdays News litter. I stuck it in the poop corner and they trained themselves.

I used the water botle that came with the All Living Things Starter cage, but my boys are in my bedroom and the nighttime drinking noise was intolerable. I got them a locking dish and I like it, they like it. But I started to worry they weren't drinking enough water, so I got a Lixit valve bottle and I love it. My boys love it too, they picked it up very quickly.

Just out of curiosity, how did they chew through the plastic bottle? Was it mounted inside the cage?

Yeah, a good estimation is the length of the enclosure should be the same length (or more if able, obviously) as the snake. I'd say it's time to maybe look into something in the 50-60 qt range, like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sterilite-56-Qt-Latching-Wheeled-Storage-Box-14988004/206721481

Good way to avoid bowl flipping is using a bowl holder like: https://www.amazon.com/Parrot-Feeding-Hanging-Stainless-Perches/dp/B0748FVXKN just drill a hole for the screwing mechanism when you're adding the normal ventilation holes. Can also be a good time to add things like bird perches for enrichment, both for climbing opportunities and making extra hide areas by hanging plants over them to make a canopy.

Dried worms in a clear window feeder. Like everything else, available on Amazon.

The window feeder I have (it's like 3' from the bed) looks like this only has a removable tray. I'd wait for that one to get restocked or look locally.

They're adorable!

You may want to look into getting bowls like these. They clamp to the cage and can't be moved/flipped. Ferrets tend to have trouble getting enough water from bottles like that.

You can make an extra feeder boxs, I've got one big one they use... They all kind feed thru out the day (This is my feeding tray). It all really depends on what the do I mean if the share enough, you may only need on dish. These might be a good size water dish (This is their water dish) and you could maybe get the smaller size for their food dishes. I mean it's kind of whatever you want.

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Clickers are used for training. I'm not familiar with them, but YouTube has a bounty of clicker training. From what I gather is it's more of a distraction for the birds to focus on the clicking while you train them. People have been very successful with clicker training. I don't use it as I was trained differently, but everyone finds their own methods.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009SPV0U2/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the water dish I got for my bun. I usually clean and fill it every other day as it holds a good amount of water for him.

Birds?! Easy!

Standard bird feeder.

Double suet feeder.

Solar powered bird bath fountain.

Maybe a water dish that can be locked onto the cage or x-pen: https://www.amazon.com/Lixit-Corporation-SLX0520-Critter-20-Ounce/dp/B0051V9FMW

I've used this style before, though not sure of the brand. Looks like there are a variety of brands/sizes out there. We used to use two when we had more than one bunny and wanted to make sure they never ran out of water during the day. Though they tended to just pick one and ignore the other. Oh well. It was there if they really got thirsty.

It does exist. It's called a table shepherd's hook, or a shepherd's hook stand, or a lantern hook.

Here's what one looks like.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Black-Metal-Coach-Style-Candle-Lantern-On-Shepherds-Hook-Stand/49469614

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Metal-Lantern-Stand-Hanging-Candlestick-Glass-Globe-Desk-Candle-Ornament-Holder-/162404548780

https://www.amazon.com/Mosaic-Birds-M424-Hummble-Tabletop/dp/B01CF2PXG6

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https://www.amazon.com/Black-Lantern-Plant-Flower-Holder/dp/B01B8LQ8JG

white

https://www.amazon.com/Giveme5-Hanging-Ornament-Candlestick-Decoration/dp/B01N4I214H/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=white+tabletop+lantern+hook&qid=1554265040&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Lantern-Plant-Stand-Flower-Holder/dp/B01KE9RXD8

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the best brand in europe is called crystal deluxe classic

costs < 1 euro in EU

in US its basically the same plus the extra high delivery cost^^

https://www.amazon.com/Nobby-Rodent-Feeder-Classic-Deluxe/dp/B001UKNGLO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506358430&sr=8-1&keywords=crystal+deluxe+water

the small size is big enough for all hammy races


i always use bottle stands as i also always use glass walls, sadly they seem to be a little harder to get in the US

example link from UK

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rodipet-Rodipet%C2%AE-Bottle-stand-18-5/dp/B014RIWDU0/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1506358611&sr=1-3&keywords=bottle+stand

Sometimes I dip chew toys in apple juice to make them more appealing.

I also have unpainted, unvarnished wooden beads that I add to the bird fruit skewer I use (see https://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Stainless-Parakeet-Cockatiels-Lovebirds/dp/B07BSFGY96 or similar models from other brands).

It's a suet cage.

I use to have a water bottle for my buns but it never seemed like they got enough water for the work required so I got them [one of these] (https://www.amazon.com/Lixit-Animal-Care-Fountain-48-Ounce/dp/B009SPV0U2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1511886530&sr=8-2&keywords=rabbit+water+bowl) and now they drink so much more water.

That looks like it'd be kind of a pain to keep clean.. Our dish is always gross from food contamination etc..

https://www.amazon.com/Mrlipet-Stainless-Parakeet-Cockatiels-Lovebird/dp/B06XKR29N7/ is what I have and I describe in my other post in this thread (height, how to keep 'em from popping the dish out, etc.)

Rats need to have food available all the time. I'd strongly suggest getting them on a feed that only consists of one pellet type (I use Versele Lagas Rat & Mouse Pro, and I can also recommend a brand called Altromin), and then just keeping their bowls full. If they keep stashing it, you could raid their stashes everyday, and put it back in their bowl, so you can keep an eye on how much food they have.

And here is an outburst of outrage: I think it is irresponsible that you changes their diet based on how expensive the food is. Having animals is costly, and that is just something you'll have to deal with when deciding to keep pets. The way you describe it with them 'going crazy' when you fill up their food, and the weight loss suggests neglect to me.

I do however appreciate the fact that you choose to seek out help. I realize that you might not have been aware of the fact that rats need 24/7 access to food, and I hope that you put them on a steady diet. Raiding their stashes everyday is a pain, as they are masters at finding new places to put it. What sort of dish do you have for them? I have heard that using this kind discourages them from doing so. (This is the kind I use, and I am very pleased with it, as there is no way for them to pull it down)