Quote Originally Posted by Anatopism View Post
Unfortunately, she needs to learn how to play with toys and explore the rest of her cage. She sits next to her food dish all day and just stares. I put the TV on for her today, so she has something else to keep her occupied. I'm afraid that since some of her feathers are growing in she will pluck them from boredom, because she never learned how to play and keep herself entertained.

She definitely has funny noises I am not accustomed to yet. Only one loud call, that happens about twice a day, which I'm learning is sort of a 'Oh hey! Hello!' or a 'Hey, don't forget me!'. Most of the time she sounds like a dog toy. lol. Definitely still a sweetheart.
I had a female Lovie that came to me with similar anti-toy mannerisms. Gentleman who bought her had her as his 'baby girl' for a few years. Then met his wife, who had two young boys, and they were having a baby together too. The bird, named Tweaky, was put 'away'.... Into a closet for over a year. Yes, I'm serious. When I went over to see her, he pulled her out and she was just a wreck. No feather plucking, but skinny, dull feathers and terrified. The boys immediately started banging on the cage and yelling at her.

When we brought her home, she would just cower on this one perch and not move for hours. What we eventually did was bring treats close to her and clip them if we could. We removed the 'busy' toys and had one simple toy close to her, with a few other toys on the further side of the cage. Lots of perches, and textures (fuzzy things, like a fleece happy hut we make). Her favorite toy? A bell. A simple, on a chain, hanging from the top of the cage in front of her bell. I would ring it and she'd look at me so weird. I'd slowly swing it a bit (hand in the cage at this point) and, again, she would just be unsure of it.

One day we came home to the noise of the bell ringing. Violently. Walked into our bird room and there was Tweaky, bashing it around like a boxer. She was growling at it! Hahaha. It was so cute.

With her we had to start really simple so as not to overwhelm her. Get her used to one toy, and the concept of it, then add a new one or two. Took about a year for her to finally break out of her negative habits. She was always cage aggressive, however. That never changed. But, she began to understand the game of "Drop the bell on the floor". We had a loose bell, we'd put it beside her and showed her that if you bumped it, it would fall with a clatter. Then we'd pick it up, repeat. Eventually she did it once and it was game on from that point.

I'm sure she'll get there once she's comfortable. Hopefully no more feather plucking until then. Poor girl. She has a long road, but it'll be so worth it in the end.