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Question about plastic

Rain Bow

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:blahblah: :hello1:

I read somewhere that plastics are bad for companion birds, especially Parrots alike, especially McCaws & Zons. However I keep seeing vendors where their toys are 1/4 - 1/2 plastics mixed w/ woods. Thoughts???

:gbh: Rain
 

Wasabisaurus

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BUMP!

I must have bought wood and plastic toys somewhere along the line - I don't recall - but Wasabi's cash register tape thing has a plastic part which he chews up before I can get to it. It does not harm him. It would if he swallowed it, but parrots are smart enough to spit it out. No wood to that toy.

I recommend you take a look at the list of dangerous toys on this site and avoid those.

I shy away from most plastics - some vendors generously send sample toys and some are plastic. If this is the case with you, supervise play unless you're not going to give him/her/them plastic at all.

Wasabi gets mostly birdie bagels, phone books and pine cones. He is crazy for the foot toys and he has the Mother Lode toy from TNT bird toys. I think those hard beads in the Mother Load may be plastic, but Jen would never ever use them if they posed a danger.


W is quite happy with his toys
.
 
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jmfleish

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Thanks for the mention Terry! There is absolutely nothing wrong with plastic as long as you know your bird isn't ingesting it. A parrot can literally turn anything you give it into something dangerous if you don't know your bird and you don't know how it plays with toys. I have a lot of birds and they all like different things. Some of them love to chew apart the soft plastic toys, others like the harder plastics, some just like to mouth the really hard plastics and the acrylics. Some are more prone to like the shreddable materials, some I have to give all wood to because that's all they do is shred wood (like my baseboard you little pink buzzsaws!). I like to add variety to a lot of my toys so that they appeal to a variety of parrots. We will customize, so if you don't want something in your toy, please feel free to email and ask. We will try to do anything we can for you!:)
 

Hankmacaw

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Once in awhile you run into a poophead like Jasper. She ate a plastic whiffle ball, got impacted and $1,000 later she was well. You just have to watch your bird and make sure it isn't ingesting any part of it's toys, or the door casings or G'ma's beloved sideboard.
 

jmfleish

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Doesn't Sarah's GWM have a problem with anything wood? Parrots can be very strange sometimes! I have a friend whose Palms chewed up a corner perch that she thought was SS and it turned out not to be...oops...she had to treat them for zinc poisoning and that was not pretty. We all know what the beaks look like on those guys!
 

Hankmacaw

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@jmfleish Yeah, that would be Rosie (76 years old) - I think. Although, she has never played with toys. Being the Queen makes toys far below her status.
 

Rain Bow

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Once in awhile you run into a poophead like Jasper. She ate a plastic whiffle ball, got impacted and $1,000 later she was well. You just have to watch your bird and make sure it isn't ingesting any part of it's toys, or the door casings or G'ma's beloved sideboard.
This is my fear!!! He chews wood, spits it out. However, some items like this a softer plastic he seems to only being indenting. Like this chew toy thing.

IMG_20170606_140807.jpg

I fear :scared4: he's going to nail it & injest. It was the 1st thing I purchased. When I got it home, he was scared, My kid picked it out & I realized it was for a parrolet. Now almost 3 months later he seems to have started to eat the food portion, not the plastic. I have been keeping an eye on this softer plastic portion, I check it almost every time I'm in there always ready to remove it.

:gbh: Rain
 

Tyrion

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I have used several plastic toys for my flock and all they do is tear them apart and I find the poor toy in pieces at the bottom of the cage :)
 

aooratrix

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If you're leery of something or think your bird might ingest it, remove it. I give my birds all kinds of things, including household items, as toys. If I'm unsure, it is not used, or I put it on a play gym, so I can observe them with it.
 

Sarahmoluccan

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I kinda worry about BPAs and other chemicals in plastic. I'm not sure what you can do about it thou
 
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