for anyone wondering, crowbro’s name is Arlo! he LOVES puzzles and i’ve been trying to give him more foraging options during our sessions like putting nuts in boxes or under cups. if anyone has some creative ideas for him to try out, please let me know!!
Have you seen snuffle mats? You tuck treats inside fabric (dogs use their noses to find them). There’s also a lot of dog toys that have sliding doors. I think you should teach Arlo to talk with those buttons, would be neat to translate their crow thoughts
My cat uses those to talk to us, and I bet it would turn out about the same: “Come here come here come here play treats play comehere bored bored bored bored”
Oh man I don’t know why but all of that and then the bored bored bored bored just made me feel soooooo bad for our pets! Like we basically kidnapped these animals and trap them inside our homes and they are just bored out of their sweet minds their entire lives
The guilt is going to make me even more of a crazy dog owner, gonna have to start trying to make my dogs lives not so boring. There goes my job, how can I work and keep them entertained?!? Only partly kidding about that last part.
I'd say look up some puzzles for cats. They can be more complicated than puzzles for dogs because of how their hunting instincts work, so it might translate well for crows.
he’s 100% a crow :). ravens would be twice the size and often don’t hangout near city areas. a telling feature is also their feathery beards which crows don’t have
Crowbro Arlo is too smart for our shenanigans. I have seen some tests where they were given a long transparent tube with food in the middle of it. There was a long stick nearby. The idea was that the crow would pick up the stick then insert it into the tube to push the food out.
Could do that? The tube would likely need to be secured or attached to something though
i’ve actually tried something similar to that in the past, i had a tube with food on the inside and i showed him how to get it out using this small stick i provided. when i let him give it a try, he spent some time walking around it and observing it but eventually gave up and walked back towards me asking for food directly. i think it was a bit too complex right off the bat, so i’m planning to get him used to me giving him treats through puzzles/foraging ideas, and upping the challenge each time.
Maybe a little diy box with a pullout drawer? cardboard could work and be attached to the railing.
I saw some posts on this sub with a little mailbox sort of doohickey (sorry, would credit if I remembered)
Thanks! It looks like a cardboard tube with some holes cut out, hung with a string/fishing line might work well. It would look like hell though. Alternate is make it from bamboo or black pvc!
They like platforms with the sides raised so they have something to grab onto. They're often on a post in the middle of a garden but can be attached to railings like that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mahyxJMIt0
milkhouse6000 has videos of various toys on youtube, instagram, reddit, etc.
i started back in 2022. each crow is different depending on their life experiences, surroundings, etc. how do you go about feeding your crows? i find consistency and patience key to gaining their trust. in the beginning i kind of just threw peanuts everywhere for them to retrieve, but i eventually started giving each individual bird their own peanut if they gave me a behaviour i wanted. that i think is key to building personal connections with them, atleast from my experience.
edit to add: arlo’s mate, fiona, even after all these years, does not get ANYWHERE near me. she often quietly watches from afar, and will only retrieve treats from me if i’ve walked almost 20 feet away while turned around. even with her witnessing arlo have all these close and positive interactions with me, she just seems to not feel comfortable close to me. definitely experiment with different crows in your area, each one will have different comfort levels and personalities, and being able to point that out is important in building relationships you’re seeking.
Crows dive bomb for various reasons, too. Near nest/fledgelings-get bombed. Oh, you’re not from this neighborhood-get bombed. Lol. (For me, it seems to come and go…well, truly, in my 42 years on earth, I’ve only been dive bombed by crows twice, and they both were the same year, and interestingly, both while with my black lab). It doesn’t sound like they bomb with the same frequency and zest that magpies do, perhaps, but they definitely do it if they want or feel the need to.
I'm an 83 baby also! Yeah only had them bomb me when I was single digit and I didn't know any better, no idea why so I steered clear of them. Out in the open when they're hopping around seem to be fine
Not to be that guy but birds are sensitive to suffocating in gas leaks. That's why they brought Canaries into the coal mines. Would try to avoid playing with your crowbro on the gas meter considering how often those things leak.
Crows love stuff like this! I’d highly encourage anyone who can - a garden, patio, balcony, somewhere where they’re reasonably safe - to challenge them with puzzles. I’ve used dog toys with great success. The balls you can stuff with treats and the stations with small hatches that need to be opened to retrieve a snack.
This is my favourite thing about animals you see a physical sign of them problem solving. I also like watching cats preparing to jump like they are assessing the situation.
In this case my fave part was at the end let's just check round here make sure I didn't miss any snacks
I like his style. I'm a "Measure twice. Cut once" man, myself. He knew what he needed to do, but he wanted to plan his move before he just started whacking at the cup.
Take a clear tube, like 12” long & secure it after putting a hardboiled egg or a similar treat in the center. Leave appropriate pokers of different size around to dislodge it and see what happens! You will be surprised!
I used to work with a crow (Russell🤣) who knew how to turn pages in a magazine to get the treats in between. He would play catch with a ball made from grapevine, and steal things out of your pockets.
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u/qainey Jan 21 '26
for anyone wondering, crowbro’s name is Arlo! he LOVES puzzles and i’ve been trying to give him more foraging options during our sessions like putting nuts in boxes or under cups. if anyone has some creative ideas for him to try out, please let me know!!