Baby Toys Ok?

As you guys might remember, I don't live in America anymore, so no Western hemisphere options are available to me, unless paying for expensive shipping.

That being said, Cairo needs wood toys. I've tried looking locally, but they're almost all unsafe (for my standards). They're made of wood that sellers don't know about (material, origin, treatment), coloured with sellers not knowing what kind of paints/dyes used, made of not safe string materials (plastic twine is common), have loose tassels, have curved bells, too small, etc. I've looked into buying from the regional equivalent of Amazon, but even they don't have toys that I would feel comfortable buying for Cairo.

However, I did find this: Plan Toys
This is a brand of high-quality baby toys (these sell for quite a bit locally because the expats here buy only the best Western-standard for their kids). These toys, made of rubber wood, meet US and European safety standards. They're constantly rated the best internationally.

Since I can find these Plan Toys locally and they look to meet my comfort level of what's acceptable for Cairo to put in his beak, should I get these? Or should I just suck it up and pay extra to ship parrot-specific wood toys from the US?

I'm totally unfamiliar with them, but they LOOK good. I would think they are worth a well-supervised experiment, knowing your Cairo as well as you do, and having had experience with what's good or not.

Let us know what you find!

I buy Peanut's toys from the bird store and they were all most likely made in china. I noticed the little, rubber duck's head in the basket completely disappeared one day, she chewed it completely off. Don't know where it went. Just disappeared.

I don't think it matters what kind of toys you get, it all needs to be supervised because they can digest anything or get their tiny claws tangled in anything whether it's made out of natural stuff or crap made in china.

It's a gamble--many people do it but manufactures of baby toys dont account for teeth or a shredding beak. I watched one of Max the cockatoo's videos on Youtube and his owner was disturbed when he took a chunk out of an alphabet block for babies which revealed a metal screw. Is online shopping via Amazon still an option?

I used to buy hard acrylic baby teething rings etc for an Indian Ringneck I had about 25 years ago, thinking if they were safe for babies they'd be safe for a bird. Bottom line I guess is that a bird's busy beak will inevitably break off teeny tiny shards of whatever material they're made of and possibly ingest them whereas a toothless human baby will not. I'm fairly paranoid now so I tend to get the untreated wood or wicker chew toys that my vet clinic sells. They get destroyed in fairly short order but at least I'm less paranoid!

Is rubber tree wood safe for our fids?

I don't recall seeing it on any list good or bad.

My bird- after just playing with it for months- just tried to eat my toothbrush, so nothing is really safe.


But you can find local wood and make you own I guess?
Birch is rather soft but almost always untreated, nobody sprays beachwood, oak, hazel or chestnuts (oak: no bark, but branches for perching are fine).

Get hold of some cabinetmakers and other craftsmen- they usually dump offcuts for fuel etc. -- and craftsmen(and women) *know* their wood. They know what is what and what happened to it (processed or not).
If you are clumsy / do not have the time you can probably find someone to (help) make them for you.

TiredOldMan said:

Is rubber tree wood safe for our fids?

I don't recall seeing it on any list good or bad.

Click to expand...

Yes, if it's true rubber tree wood that has not been exposed to chemicals including vehicle exhaust. In other words, backyard or interior trees are safe.

LaManuka said:

I used to buy hard acrylic baby teething rings etc for an Indian Ringneck I had about 25 years ago, thinking if they were safe for babies they'd be safe for a bird. Bottom line I guess is that a bird's busy beak will inevitably break off teeny tiny shards of whatever material they're made of and possibly ingest them whereas a toothless human baby will not. I'm fairly paranoid now so I tend to get the untreated wood or wicker chew toys that my vet clinic sells. They get destroyed in fairly short order but at least I'm less paranoid!

Click to expand...

The black paint used for outlines, lashes and eyes of baby toys has often been shown to contain lead, so be careful.

Liquid- filled teething rings should be avoided.

Cabinetmakers/furnituremakers often use chemically-treated or pressure-treated wood. Ask first!