Birds
Bird Cage Size Guide: Minimums by Species
Width beats height, bar spacing is a safety issue rather than a preference, and the 'minimum' on the box is usually a sleeping cage.
7 min read
Foraging Treat Ball
Makes them work for it, which is the point.
Wild parrots spend most of their waking hours looking for food. A ball that makes the bird work for it gives some of those hours back rather than handing dinner over in a dish.
$12.69
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- Halves twist apart to load and to wash
- 8-9 cm across, sized for small and medium parrots
- Takes nuts, seed, pellets or pieces of fruit
- Chain version hangs from the cage roof
- Two-pack available for rotation
Size: Ball only
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Why you'll love it
Made for happy, healthy pets
Foraging is most of what a wild parrot does all day
In a cage that work disappears and the bird gets bored, which is where feather-plucking and screaming often start. Making food take effort is the single most recommended enrichment there is.
Start it easy or they give up
Load it loosely at first, with the favourite thing visible through the gaps. Once the bird knows food comes out of it, pack it tighter and hide the good bits deeper.
Rotation keeps it interesting
Any one puzzle stops being a puzzle once solved. Two balls used alternately, moved to different spots in the cage, hold attention far longer than one left hanging permanently.
Good fit if
- Occupying a bird alone during the working day
- Slowing down a bird that empties its dish immediately
- Introducing foraging, since the difficulty is adjustable
- Budgies, cockatiels and small to medium parrots
Look elsewhere if
- Your bird has never foraged and needs an easier start
- You feed mostly fresh food, which will not fall through
- You want something the bird can shred
Foraging is most of a bird's day
A wild parrot spends a large share of its waking hours searching for, reaching and processing food. A cage bird gets the same nutrition in a dish in under a minute, and the hours that were meant to go into finding it have nowhere to go.
That vacuum is where boredom behaviours come from. Screaming, bar chewing and feather plucking are all associated with under-occupation, and plucking in particular is very difficult to reverse once it becomes a habit. Making food take effort is the most direct available remedy.
Adjusting the difficulty
How hard it is depends on what goes in and how tightly. Loosely packed pellets that fall out with a nudge is the right starting point, because the bird has to succeed early to keep trying. Larger pieces that need working towards the opening make it considerably harder.
Increase the difficulty only once the bird is confidently emptying it. A puzzle that yields nothing on the first few attempts gets abandoned, and the bird has then learned that this object does not produce food, which is a lesson that takes far longer to undo than it took to teach.
Hanging or loose
On a chain it hangs and swings, which adds a balance element and makes it harder, and it keeps the food off the cage floor. Loose on the floor it is easier and suits ground-foraging species and birds new to the idea, since a stationary target is simpler than a moving one.
The two-pack is more useful than it sounds. Rotating two balls with different contents keeps the novelty up, and having a second one clean and loaded means the first can be washed and dried properly rather than being refilled while still damp.
Fill it from the daily ration rather than adding treats on top. Moving one of the day's feeds into a foraging toy costs nothing in calories and buys hours of activity, whereas loading it with extras alongside normal meals quietly adds weight to a bird that is already under-exercised.
In the box
Everything you need
- Foraging ball, or two in the twin pack
How it works
Simple, from basket to doorstep
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Browse
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- 2
Order
Check out securely with card, PayPal or one-tap Apple Pay & Google Pay. Free delivery over $59.
- 3
Delivered
Fast, tracked dispatch straight to your door, and a happier pet before you know it.
The details
Specifications
- Diameter
- 8-9 cm
- Weight
- About 60 g per ball
- Material
- Plastic
- Fill with
- Nuts, seed, pellets or fruit
- Care
- Twist apart and wash, dry fully before refilling
Washing
Twist it apart and wash it weekly with hot water. Food residue and dust collect in the seam and around the openings, and in a warm room that goes stale quickly, at which point a bird that was using the toy quietly stops without any obvious reason.
Dry it completely before refilling. Damp inside makes pellets swell and stick to the walls, which blocks the openings and turns a working toy into a sealed container, and the bird gets nothing however hard it works at it.
Good questions
Before you buy
Almost always because it is too hard to start with. Leave it open on the cage floor with food visible, let them raid it a few times, then close it. Never leave a bird hungry to force the issue.
Yes, but check the chain link and the twist seam weekly. A determined macaw will eventually crack it. This is sized for budgies through to small parrots, not the big hookbills.
Fruit is fine for a session, but wash and dry it afterwards. Anything left damp inside a sealed ball will go off quickly.
Make it easier. Load it loosely so food falls out with a nudge, and put it on the floor rather than hanging. Most refusals are a bird that has not yet learned the object produces food.
Yes, provided you check it weekly for cracks or sharp edges from chewing. A damaged plastic toy should be replaced rather than repaired.
Better not. Fresh or damp food clogs the openings, sticks to the inside and goes off quickly in a warm room. Keep it to the dry ration.
Last reviewed August 30, 2026
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