homemade bird toys

Does anyone make their own bird toys, perches or play stands? I made one toy, but I'm not sure if its safe. I cut up an old shirt and knotted it together.
I attached a picture. It's not really colorful. I was just playing around to see what I could do. It kind of reminds of a dog toy in a way. If people think it looks safe for a bird and my bird likes it, I will probably make them more colorful next time. Let me know what you think. ***The location of the cage in the pic is not permanent. It is next to a window so there's a draft and the curtains would get shredded. I just have to do some rearranging before my birdie arrives.


I have also been collecting toilet paper rolls and placing them on perches. I have weaved rolled newspaper in and out of the cage bars. I don't have my bird yet, so I don't know what type of toys he will be into. I have heard that they can go through toys fast and its cheaper to make them. Any ideas on homemade toys would be great. Thanks!

It's a neat toy but just a word of caution...be careful not to make the strands to long...I would be afraid of little feet getting stuck in it....sounds like you are being very resoureful..that is always good.
I suck at making bird toys until just recently...I work at a nursing home and the activity directer was looking for charity work for the seniors to do....I came up with the idea of having them make bird toys...so I jumped in with both feet and spent about two hundred bucks on supplies(I got a LOT of supplies for that) Now with the left overs I am making toys like crazy and actually enjoying it. You can buy the pieces pretty cheap on line...now my pliers and scissors have become my best friends. LOL

I agree with Kitt (btw nice to see you again stranger!) about the strand length.

I use anything I can find to make toys (granted it's a safe material). neither of my birds are fond of toiletpaper rolls... even if i cut them into smaller rings... they do LOVE paper though. Each bird has their own roll of adding tape attached to their cage. Something I found to be useful, especially with a cage like that, is to weave a sheet of heavier paper through the bars above the food and water bowls! I don't have a tray for Bleu's playtop so the heavier paper catches any poo that may find it's way dropping into a food or water dish! he loves chewing the paper too!

kitt said:

You can buy the pieces pretty cheap on line...now my pliers and scissors have become my best friends. LOL

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What website do you use? Sometimes I think homemade is best and I think I could probably make some pretty cool toys, if I tried.

Do you think the strands on the one I have made are too long? What is a safe length? I can cut off extra length to make it safe.

One of the best (an only) home made toys Alex had was strips of an old cotton shirt with knots in it. He loved it!

I did consider making my own toys, but we have a wonderful pet store here with a huge selection of toys for $5 each. Not cheapy toys either, big wooden and rope things with bells and vine balls and all those fun things! It's cheaper for me to buy them there then to source my own parts. I do the newspaper shreadables and all those easy and fun things sometimes though.

I don't think I've heard any harm coming to bird chewing up toilet rolls, but I'd keep in mind they can use adhesives and scents on the cardboard.

SunMommy said:

kitt said:

You can buy the pieces pretty cheap on line...now my pliers and scissors have become my best friends. LOL

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What website do you use? Sometimes I think homemade is best and I think I could probably make some pretty cool toys, if I tried.

Do you think the strands on the one I have made are too long? What is a safe length? I can cut off extra length to make it safe.

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My greatest concern is rather or not the strands will unravel thus catching little feet.
The two web sites I use the most are californiabirdnerds.com and parrotangeltoys.com I hope those are the right addresses....you can order stuff by the piece and it is so much fun to shop like that...i got a nice collection of all different textures..wood, plastic, leather, arcrylic. Then to buy the hardware and jump rings...I love it now....
The residents made over 24 toys that look store bought and I sent them to a bird sancutary in NJ. Now I have made some toys for friends and am making toys for christmas for my babies...I am having a blast with it.
Good luck to you...if you have any questions about the sites..just ask..I will do what I can to help......

Amber said:

One of the best (an only) home made toys Alex had was strips of an old cotton shirt with knots in it. He loved it!

I did consider making my own toys, but we have a wonderful pet store here with a huge selection of toys for $5 each. Not cheapy toys either, big wooden and rope things with bells and vine balls and all those fun things! It's cheaper for me to buy them there then to source my own parts. I do the newspaper shreadables and all those easy and fun things sometimes though.

I don't think I've heard any harm coming to bird chewing up toilet rolls, but I'd keep in mind they can use adhesives and scents on the cardboard.

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Amber-does your pet store have a website? Do they even do online sales? Cuz those toy prices are extremely reasonable,

woubette said:

Amber-does your pet store have a website? Do they even do online sales? Cuz those toy prices are extremely reasonable,

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The pet stores near me are Petsmart, Petco, and Pet Supplies Plus. I am pretty sure they do online sales, but I havent really looked into it. I guess I figured their prices would be the same online. I will check it out tomorrow. For now I'm off to bed.

woubette said:

Amber said:

One of the best (an only) home made toys Alex had was strips of an old cotton shirt with knots in it. He loved it!

I did consider making my own toys, but we have a wonderful pet store here with a huge selection of toys for $5 each. Not cheapy toys either, big wooden and rope things with bells and vine balls and all those fun things! It's cheaper for me to buy them there then to source my own parts. I do the newspaper shreadables and all those easy and fun things sometimes though.

I don't think I've heard any harm coming to bird chewing up toilet rolls, but I'd keep in mind they can use adhesives and scents on the cardboard.

Click to expand...

Amber-does your pet store have a website? Do they even do online sales? Cuz those toy prices are extremely reasonable,

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They are a small (tiny!) local store (In Australia where I am) So I doubt they would be much use to you, sorry ): . I have done bulk 'orders' for others overseas (where I would go buy them a bunch of assorted $5 toys and ship them over) but by the time you pay postage it's not much of a saving. You can find them here if you're interested, but they don't have much on the site Possum Pets I can't remember the brand name, but they come with a large attached blue circle of cardboard with a cartoon of a parrot and the name... I think it's 'birdy toys" or 'birdizes toys' or some variation of that. All the toys are made along these lines



(Basically wood and rope chewables, some with bells and vine balls and all that) but they vary. Most of they toys in the shop are the standard price, but these ones are just really good and cheap!

Coincidently, the store is also my favourite aquarium store (I'm massively into aquaria) huge clean tanks and nice stock. That's how I ended up there in the first place.

Edit- They source these toys from http://www.dezheng.us/PetProduct/category_20.html apparently, which is why they are so cheap. The wholesale price per toy can be as low as 50c, and rarely is it over $2. So that is why they are so cheap to purchase in the store. If you can find someone that stocks Dezheng you'll probably be able to score some cheap. I don't know if they sell direct to public (Oh I wish though, I could get like 20 toys for $10 in that case!)

Here is a link for a company that sells bird toy parts. I've not used them, so I know nothing about them. It's just something I came across.
Toy Making Supplies

I tried making Pearl a "foot toy" once. It was made of bird safe material and tied together. I sat it on top of the cage and when she crawled on top, she had one look at it,let out a shriek attacked it then jumped off of the cage. I caught her and I have never tried to make a toy since.

Mamanda said:

Here is a link for a company that sells bird toy parts. I've not used them, so I know nothing about them. It's just something I came across.
Toy Making Supplies

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Thats california bird nerds....great company

suncon97 said:

I tried making Pearl a "foot toy" once. It was made of bird safe material and tied together. I sat it on top of the cage and when she crawled on top, she had one look at it,let out a shriek attacked it then jumped off of the cage. I caught her and I have never tried to make a toy since.

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That totally cracked me up!