Cheap bird toys

[Siobhan]

Rocky is very needy of time and attention, which I guess is normal for a 'too, and destructive of his toys (also normal) so in order to keep him busy since we can't hug him 24 hours a day, I've been desperately looking for things for him to destroy. I gave him a phone book and he didn't show much interest at first, but this morning he stuck his tail up in the air and went to work with gusto. Hooray! I get lots of catalogs and junk mail he can shred. A couple of days ago, Hubby gave him an empty toilet paper roll and you'd have thought it was a great prize. He loved it. Today he got an empty paper towel roll and we got the same reaction: "is that for ME????"

I gave him an empty cracker box and he tore it up a little bit but soon lost interest. Anybody have other ideas for stuff around the house that he might enjoy destroying (other than the woodwork or the dogs)?

 

[JerseyWendy]

I have some massively destructive beaks here, and the cheapest way for me is to buy 2X4 (untreated pine) at the hardware store, then cut them into chunks and drill holes.
http://www.parrotforums.com/do-yourself/38768-when-weather-outside-frightful.html

Here is a great thread for DIY ideas, too.
http://www.parrotforums.com/parrot-toys/282-cheap-parrot-toys.html

 

[Weezerj]

Do you add treats to the pine blocks or do they shred them without incentive?

 

[JerseyWendy]

Do you add treats to the pine blocks or do they shred them without incentive?

LOL, no, treats aren't necessary. My big macs look at the pine blocks as 'treats'. They turn those into toothpicks in no time at all. :54:

 

[Siobhan]

Hubby suggested pine 2x4s and I thought that sounded like it would be too difficult to destroy and just frustrate him, but maybe not. He certainly makes sawdust out of his store bought toys in no time at all.

 

[Allee]

It takes Poppy about a week to completely destroy this one. It has thirty six pine blocks.

 

[4dugnlee]

It took Peanut 1 week and a day to totally destroy a HUGE wood block toy (expensive one too). That beak cuts through wood like it's butter (I don't want to think what she could do to our finger/hand/arm if she wanted to). We have since bought untreated pine 2x2's to cut into blocks and drill, although we haven't gotten that part done yet. Hubby retired TODAY...YAY!!...so I'm sure it will be done pretty soon! Pea likes paper lunch bags too. I weave them in and out of her cage bars. I also cut them into strips and braid them and then loop them together (hope that made sense). It's cheap and easy. I think I have a pic I will try to upload. She also likes chewing on the cardboard egg cartons and tissue paper is a favorite of hers too.

 

[Allee]

Poppy sends a sweet Hello to the very handsome Rocky!



The lunch bag in the center of the basket is one of Poppy's favorite toys. Lunch bag, a hole punch and confetti. We have contests to see if I can make her a new one faster than she can shred it. She wins more often than I do!

 

[ShaunaR]

I make all of our bird's toys and one of the best things I have stumbled on is a bulk warehouse grocery store that carries restaurant supplies. In Canada it's called Wholesale Club and owned by the Real Canadian Superstore chain. You don't need a membership to shop there. There we found a wrapped up bag of cardboard drink holders without dyes of any kind. Since I am a Nurse I am very conscious about not giving our bird anything that has been handled by people shopping or cardboard that has come in the mail. The day I saw someone openly sneezing on a bread shelf at the grocery store convinced me I needed to make sure any shreddible stuff is clean before giving it to Pixie. I assume that everything at the grocery store has been handled by someone who just stuck their finger into raw hamburger or used the washroom without washing their hands. I am also careful that any dyes are vegetable based, for example here I have been told phone books are not so potentially poison. I may sound paranoid but I want our baby to live for a long time so I am willing to put in the extra work to that end. Just my opinion....ultimately you are the one to decide whats best for your bird.

 

[Siobhan]

I'm going to start picking up baskets at rummage sales and try this, Allee. Are those cupcake papers? I'm sure my results won't be as pretty as yours, but Rocky won't care.

 

[Allee]

Valerie, I shop for clearance baskets. Wicker paper plate holders work too, they are easy to attach chew toys to and then attach the plate to the cage, my small birds love them. I buy cupcake holders after they've been clearanced. Poppy usually spends some time turning them to confetti. It's messy, but Toos are notoriously messy, as long as they're having fun, huh? Poppy really likes her phone books too.

 

[Birdman666]

Rocky is very needy of time and attention, which I guess is normal for a 'too, and destructive of his toys (also normal) so in order to keep him busy since we can't hug him 24 hours a day, I've been desperately looking for things for him to destroy. I gave him a phone book and he didn't show much interest at first, but this morning he stuck his tail up in the air and went to work with gusto. Hooray! I get lots of catalogs and junk mail he can shred. A couple of days ago, Hubby gave him an empty toilet paper roll and you'd have thought it was a great prize. He loved it. Today he got an empty paper towel roll and we got the same reaction: "is that for ME????"

I gave him an empty cracker box and he tore it up a little bit but soon lost interest. Anybody have other ideas for stuff around the house that he might enjoy destroying (other than the woodwork or the dogs)?

Those baskets work.

Start putting stuff in the boxes he tears up. Especially foot toys and treats. Wrap some of them up in rolled up paper... and let him see you doing it, so he knows to look for it...

We used to do goodie boxes with broken toy parts from the other birds for the "problem" toos down at the rescue. Cardboard box, newspaper/tissue paper, and bits of broken toys, shelled nuts... etc. Wrapped in.

Put the box in the bottom of the cage closed up, and rattle it good before putting it in his cage... What's inside? I don't know. You better check and see...

We could keep them occupied for a good 2-3 hours with a goodie box.

and it was mostly free stuff...

 

[Allee]

Here's another idea for Rocky. This one stayed attached to the outside of Poppy's cage for about three days before it was trash. I always salvage reusable toy parts before I toss the toys.



My local deli gives me new pizza boxes.

 

[jlockhart29]

Pine cones and sweet gum limbs as well as bamboo if you have any growing there. If you're worried about disease bake in the oven at 200 for an hour. Mine had rether have a batch of bamboo than an expensive toy. And the price is right! Also shredded newspaper stuffed into one of those hard plastic balls made for Too's.

 

[Siobhan]

Rocky doesn't like the balls, though he does like a cat toy ball I gave him (my starling rejected it -- the thing about all these birds is that a toy one doesn't like, another one will). I gave him a couple of pine cones and he played with them a little but not much. He's destroying his phone book a bit at a time. We bought him a 2x4 today to make blocks out of. He's going to have to be alone for several hours tomorrow for the first time. We can leave the TV on for him, but he doesn't show much interest in TV.