Recognising Unsafe Bird Toys

In this post, we will show some easy ways to identify unsafe bird toys when shopping online, instore and even when in use. These toys came with surrendered budgies at Lazzi's Legacy Bird Rescue & Sanctuary, and we using them for an educational post.

ROPE Starting with a fairly easy one, we have rope. Often sold white or rainbow coloured, these toys are popular as parrots enjoy chewing and swinging on them.

They are a leading cause of crop impaction and foreign bodies in birds, and loose threads can become wrapped around feet which cause stringfoot or entanglement.

This means that by providing rope toys, your bird may require surgery to remove the fibres, have part of their foot amputated or even break or chew their own legs trying to escape in panic.

Symptoms of an impaction include: vomiting, diarrhea, inappetence and pain.

Symptoms of stringfoot include: limping, chewing, and swelling.

Safer alternatives include seagrass swings or sisal boings.

All toys should be closely monitored to ensure you can see shredded parts on the cage bottom and floor - this means they are not swallowing the fibres. Loose parts should be trimmed off regularly.

HANGERS Spring snap clips (seen in the right image) and carabiners are not safe for hanging toys. They are not only often not made of bird-safe metals, but can be easily manipulated by your pet and snap shut onto their beak or feet.

Safe options include stainless steel quick links for all sized parrots, plastic c-links or nickel plated pear links for small parrots such as budgies and cockatiels.

All hardware should be replaced when rust appears.

BELLS

The majority of bells sold in petshops are still not made of safe materials.

We recommend staying away from coloured bells, jingle bells (spherical), and liberty bells (especially those with thin or bendable parts). Instead choose welded tube/cylindrical and/or stainless steel bells.

Aside from injury, one of the dangers of offering unsafe metals is Heavy Metal Toxicity - most commonly zinc, but at times lead too.

Symptoms may include: vomiting, diarrhea, green urine, neurological symptoms (e.g., seizures) and/or weight loss.

Always ask yourself when purchasing plastic or metal toys -

"could my bird's foot or beak get caught in any part of this item and be unable to get out?" and

"is my bird's beak strong enough to break off any part of this item and swallow it?"

WHY IS RUST BAD?

Rust weakens the integrity of metal, which can lead to escape from cages or ingestion of toy parts. This can cause easy ingestion of heavy metals since the material is no longer strong enough to withstand even a small bird's beak.

Stainless steel can rust as well, especially if it isn't marine grade 316. But small surface spots do not urgently need to be replaced.

Painting over rust does not solve the problem.

SANDPAPER/PUMICE/CONCRETE PERCHES

Sandpaper cage liners, as well as pumice or concrete perches and swings are often marketed to help trim down bird's nails.

Most of these do not work as advertised due to the width of the perch not reaching the nail tips or the bird is not landing with enough force to cause a grinding motion. Instead, these items can slowly grind down of the skin of the bird causing bumblefoot.

It is best to encourage your birds to fly and land on different textured surfaces, take them to a vet or train them to have their nails trimmed or filed at home.