Lovebird Toys - 6 Toys Your Bird Will Love!
Did you know that parrots, including the small lovebird (genus Agapornis), are highly playful animals? If you have a lovebird, it's important to give it plenty of opportunities to play. This helps prevent harmful boredom and keeps it entertained, even when you're not home. There are all sorts of lovebird toys out there, so there's always something that your lovebird will like.
Let's have a look at Parrot Essentials' favourite 6 types of lovebird toys that your parrot will love to play with!
Why do lovebirds need toys?
It might come as a surprise to people who have never kept parrots as pets, but there's a reason their cages normally include a few colourful toys. Even the smaller species are highly playful beings that need access to plenty of enrichment items, like toys' to thrive.
Lovebird toys play into these mini parrots' natural instincts. They encourage your lovebird to chew, preen, climb, and search for food. This encourages exercise (which helps prevent deadly obesity), and helps keep its smart brain busy (which helps prevent boredom). A bored lovebird might start overpreening or feather-plucking, vocalising excessively, or even becoming aggressive.
A busy parrot is a happy parrot. And luckily, there are more ways to keep your lovebird busy than you might think!
1. Foraging toys for lovebirds
My favourite type of lovebird toys are those that encourage foraging. As described in the full post on foraging for parrots, they're among the best types of enrichment you can offer your bird! The basic idea of a foraging toy is to make your bird work for its meal, rather than just presenting food in a bowl for it to gobble up.
As I'm sure you're aware if you've been a lovebird owner for a while, they're very smart. Researchers have found that encouraging them to search for their food is a fantastic way to stimulate those fantastic little brains. It also helps ensure they get enough exercise, which is a real advantage given that obesity is always a danger for domestic parrots.
There are many different types of foraging toys. If your lovebird has never foraged yet, it's best to start with something simple, like a foraging ball stuffed with clearly visible millet. For intermediate to expert foragers, there are plenty of more complicated puzzle toys.
Did you know? Scientists have shown that many parrots actually seem to prefer to forage for their food. The phenomenon in which an animal will choose a foraging opportunity over a simple meal in a bowl is called "contra-freeloading".
Smith, 20202. Chew toys for lovebirds
If you've been a lovebird owner for a while, you'll know that sometimes it seems like their only goal in life is to chew up everything you love. Picture frames, lampshades, even the wall! But luckily, you don't have to choose between losing décor you love and covering everything in protective tape and paper. When it comes to satisfying your lovebird's instinct to chew, there are plenty of things you can do to redirect their attention away from your furniture.
Chewing is a natural behaviour for your lovebird: it helps keep their strong beaks trim. This is important because in the wild, these little parrots eat many foods that require some beak power to get to the good bits. They also nest in hollow trees, keeping the entrance in good condition by chewing away excess wood.
Most chew toys for small parrots consist of soft wooden items. Lovebirds just adore getting to destroy rattan balls, natural vine, balsa wood, cholla cactus wood, and much more. You can also forage for parrot-safe branches like willow outside, offer a half-cracked walnut from time to time, or place a few special lovebird chew toys in its cage.
3. Lovebird playgrounds
One of the staple items we recommend to all parrot owners are birdie playgrounds. These offer our birds a place to sit when they're outside their cage, which should ideally be most of the day, unless your birds live in a large flight cage or indoor aviary.
Instead of leaving your lovebird to search for a comfortable place to sit, which will inevitably lead it to choose one of your ceiling lamps and cover it in poop, you can just set a nice playground on top of its cage (or another high location) for it to hang out on. This way, you contain the poop and feathers, while also giving your parrot a comfortable place to hang out.
The ideal playground is made of natural wood, preferably a soft type that can also be chewed. Add a few toys, maybe a foraging option filled with tempting treats, and voilà! 
4. Preening toys for lovebirds
Just as a parrot instinctively chews, it also instinctively preens. You may have found your lovebird trying to preen your hair, beard, clothes, or even your eyelashes! It's a way for them to strengthen their bond with their flock and keep themselves busy, while also keeping their own and each other's feathers in good condition.
To channel this preening energy, you can offer all sorts of fun preening toys. Most lovebirds particularly enjoy crinkle paper toys that they can pull individual pieces of shredded paper out of. It makes for a bit of a mess, but seeing your bird working diligently to achieve total destruction makes it worth it.
Other great preening toy materials include coconut fibre, raffia fibre, natural leather strips and more. Rope is best avoided in preening toys, as the fibres can get stuck in your lovebird's crop if it accidentally swallows them.
5. Exercise toys for lovebirds
As we've already briefly touched upon, obesity is a common problem in captive parrots. Lovebirds are no exception. To prevent your bird's lifespan from being affected by fatty liver disease, diabetes and other issues, be sure to not just feed it a healthy diet but also encourage plenty of daily exercise!
All the aforementioned toys come with the added advantage of getting your bird to do some exercise as it plays. However, there's more: there are also activity toys designed specifically to get perch-potatoes moving. Most of these play into our birds' excellent climbing skills.
Examples of lovebird toys for exercise include:
6. DIY lovebird toys
Yep, as you've seen, even parrot toys for small birds aren't cheap. They need to be replaced as soon as they break, which can be quite often, and you should have quite a few on rotation to keep things interesting.
There is a solution! Making your own lovebird toys is absolutely possible. In fact, it's easy, and it can even be done using items you've already got at home. What looks like a simple coffee filter to you can be an exquisite lovebird toy if you cut small strips into it. Dried pasta on a string is infinitely fun to crack and chew.
Aside from the items you've already got in your home, you can also buy parrot toy parts for a lot less than premade toys. Stack them onto some parrot-safe rope like raffia or sisal, attach a sturdy pear link and you're done! It's fun and your lovebird will thank you.
FAQs
Why is my lovebird not playing with its toys?
If your lovebird hasn’t had toys before, it may not know how to play with them. Start with simple options like a foraging ball stuffed with millet to gently encourage play.
How many toys should I put in my lovebird’s cage?
Aim for at least 3–4 toys at a time, mixing different types such as chew, foraging, and preening toys. Rotate them weekly to keep your bird engaged.
Can lovebirds get bored without toys?
Yes. Boredom can lead to problem behaviours such as feather plucking, aggression, or loud screaming. Toys are essential for keeping your lovebird happy and mentally stimulated.
What are the best toys for lovebirds that chew everything?
Soft wooden toys, rattan balls, vine, and balsa wood are perfect for lovebirds that love to chew. They satisfy natural instincts while saving your furniture.
Do lovebirds need out-of-cage toys too?
Yes, they benefit from play gyms, ladders, and swings outside the cage. This gives them exercise, freedom, and a safe alternative to exploring your furniture.
