Any tips for durable parrot toys?

[Nightstar]

I usually struggle a lot with toys for my BFA Loro, because he literally destroys everything within 2 hours at most. Unfortunately, his cage is essentially empty when it comes to toys, and the best I've found was a foraging box that is very sturdy and I can repeatedly fill with paper, scraps, etc for him to tear at. Only recently I started crafting them myself. Recently, with this forum's help, I started making DIY toys for him. I've browsed both guides on DIY toys here and all, and I couldn't help but notice that many of these toys take a lot of time to craft... only to be destroyed within minutes. It's a bit frustrating to me, because my parrot unfortunately still has an empty cage in the end.

Whenever I search about these things, I keep seeing cages full of colorful toys and contraptions that look like mini amusement parks. I can't help but wonder, how on earth do you guys manage such setups for bigger birds like amazons?? Literally anything store bought won't last an hour with Loro, and all the stuff I have crafted seem to have barely entertained him at all as they are gone in minutes.

 

[Mizzely]

Two things - a saw of some sort, and pine boards Best investment and bang for your buck

Honestly though, buying from our vendors helps me a lot; pet shop toys are nowhere near the quality or pricing. My Jardine's "chews like an amazon" as @Macawnutz has told me, and can destroy toys in a few hours, so even though I make a lot of toys for him, I buy from Seriously Nutz, also.

Welcome to Seriously Nutz - Bird Toys For Serious Chewers!

Seriously Nutz Bird Toys ~ Fun & Creative Bird Toys For Every Parrot. Custom Perches, Monthly Subscriptions. Foraging Toys!

www.seriouslynutz.com

Otherwise, you can buy precut pine at some of our vendors. For wood my two favorites are:

https://www.aviananticsboutique.com/

Welcome to cabirdnerds.com -

A skewer like this one is worth it's weight in gold. Stainless Steel Corkscrew Skewer

Buy 5 of those, load them up with wood, and call it a day. Only takes a few minutes per skewer to load them up!

For foraging toys, Caitec has a lot of great durable options.

 

[Shezbug]

Is he getting a variety of difficulty for the toys your giving him? I give Burt a mix of easy medium and difficult or nearly impossible stuff to destroy. I also usually do as much as I can in bulk so I have more than one replacement for each destroyed toy.
Maybe he could benefit from some stuff that is harder for him to destroy as well as the stuff that he’s finished in two hours.

 

[Mizzely]

Is he getting a variety of difficulty for the toys your giving him? I give Burt a mix of easy medium and difficult or nearly impossible stuff to destroy. I also usually do as much as I can in bulk so I have more than one replacement for each destroyed toy.
Maybe he could benefit from some stuff that is harder for him to destroy as well as the stuff that he’s finished in two hours.

Yes, good point!

Ripley LOVES balsa and 1/4" pine but it is gone in minutes lol. 1/2" pine lasts him longer, and then he will also chew birch slices and wood that is cut with the grain, both of which are harder to chew and last a lot longer. So having a toy made with several levels of difficulty helps keep him entertained for longer

 

[Maggiebird]

Can we see your diy toys? Sometimes if they look boring with dull colors and is almost close to perfect they won’t play with it lol that’s how my bird are ,I hope this helps!

 

[Nightstar]

Man those stores have great looking options, but right now shipping anything has been a nightmare. In my country, the post office keeps messing up all my orders, which even included a few supplies for Loro that ended up returned to the sender. They are currently late at delivering 3 international orders for me and I'd like to avoid ordering anything else for the time being ¬¬'. It's the main reason why I'm relying on DIY options.

@Shezbug
Well, that's the point. I have no idea how to make the difficulty any harder because he destroys everything, and I have yet to see any toys considered ''hard difficulty''. Not many DIY options I see around are anywhere close to durable.

@Maggiebird
He does play with them and they are all destroyed in a matter of minutes, so I doubt that's an issue.

 

[Maggiebird]

Have you tried making a bunch of toys and giving him them all at once? So he has so many options to choose from.

 

[Mizzely]

Sorry, didn't know you weren't in the US. So, skewers, a bandsaw, and pine boards

 

[Toy]

When you can afford it......I'd suggest buying heavy plastic, acrylic or metal toys to go along with his toys he can destroy. Use metal chain to assemble them with heavy quick links on each end. Use pliers to close them tight so he can't unscrew them. All 3 of my parrots have a couple plastic toys they beat up, but don't destroy, in their cages 24/7.

Check the vendors on the board here. Many sell toys, toy parts, etc.

I'd also suggest these sites: Welcome to MakeYourOwnBirdToys.com - DIY bird toy parts Click on toy parts - Plastic Bird Toy parts & also Bird Toy Hardware for metal chain. Pick out big stuff that will hold up to large parrots.

Another site: Bonka Bird Toys - Parrot Toys & Bird Toy Parts They have several big bird toys that are plastic & metal. They also sell toy parts.

Last site: My Safe Bird Store | Discounted Bird Products | BIRD FREE ENVIRONMENT| Free Shipping Available They have lots of toy parts & hardware on their site.

I'd also suggest a set of Jungle Talk Goofy Links, large size.

You can also use heavy rubber dog or baby toys too. Always wash them good first.

Once you get a couple heavy duty plastic/acrylic/metal toys they should last a long while.

 

[Shezbug]

@Toy are these the links you mentioned? jungle talk goofy links - Google Search

 

[Nightstar]

@Maggiebird
That's tricky. Loro is always super scared of new toys and we have to introduce them one by one. Right now I'm working on three new DIY ones, and since Loro has never seen them before they will have to be put inside his cage one at a time. These are pretty much disposable, so each DIY toy is a new frightening object to him as well. Ugh.

@Toy
So far I've had to use entwined wires instead of chains because Loro easily destroys them. What do you mean by heavy plastic, though? The foraging box I use for him is made of acrylic, so I definitely see how sturdy it is first hand. I've seen dog toys brought up often, is the rubber really harmless to parrots? I've always imagined that their sharp beak would just shred the rubber all over XD.

Ohh the stores you linked for toy parts look awesome! It's unfortunate that the shipping is too expensive and doesn't make it worth buying such small parts.

I wish we had specialized stores for bird pet supplies. Here there aren't any, and such supplies(which are mostly lesser quality) are just sold through third party online stores.

 

[Toy]

@Toy are these the links you mentioned? jungle talk goofy links - Google Search

Yes. They come in 3 different sizes....Small 7 inches long, Medium 13 inches long & Large 19 inches long.

These links are super tough & hard to get apart. I've used the same set in our outside aviary for 20 years. They get put away for winter months. They are getting weathered, but still usable. The sets in their cages are still going strong after all these years.

I'd suggest Medium or Large for macaws. Use caution when ordering, as some vendors call the medium size large. Check the length. I've bought other brands at bird fairs, but they aren't as good as these are.

 

[Toy]

@Toy
So far I've had to use entwined wires instead of chains because Loro easily destroys them. What do you mean by heavy plastic, though? The foraging box I use for him is made of acrylic, so I definitely see how sturdy it is first hand. I've seen dog toys brought up often, is the rubber really harmless to parrots? I've always imagined that their sharp beak would just shred the rubber all over XD.

Ohh the stores you linked for toy parts look awesome! It's unfortunate that the shipping is too expensive and doesn't make it worth buying such small parts.

I wish we had specialized stores for bird pet supplies. Here there aren't any, and such supplies(which are mostly lesser quality) are just sold through third party online stores.

Perhaps you could save up & buy enough to do a one time purchase, which would make up for the shipping cost.

Stainless Steel welded Chain. There is no way any parrot could destroy this. 3.5mm thickness would probably hold up to a hyacinth macaw.


This is a plastic & metal toy. Heavy thick rings & ball.


Jumbo size Marbella beads. They are 1-2 inches in size.


These are balls for dogs. They are a thick rubber, but yet you can squeeze it some. The holes in the balls allow the bird to pick them up. I use them as foot toys, but you could also string them on a chain with other toy parts for hanging.

 

[Zara]

Stainless steel toys are a good investment. When the other shreddables have been destroyed, your bird will always have their SS toy to play with until you get/make more shreddables
Shipping and import tax might make them cost more, but they will last so it is a good investment.

Blu's Bird Toys - Stimulate Your Bird's Senses!

 

[tka]

I know what you mean about international shipping. There are so many great toy vendors in the US but the shipping ends up costing as much as the toys!

I would recommend investing in a bandsaw and an electric drill, and sourcing safe wood to make your own wood chunks, cubes or slats. You can thread these on a stainless steel skewer or chain.

To make things easier for your bird, use softer wood, cut thin slices and cut against the grain so you can see the rings.
To make it harder for your bird, use harder wood (like birch or beech), cut thicker slices or cubes, and cut with the grain.

There's a list of safe woods here: Bird; Birds: Safe, Toxic Trees, Woods. Safe Tree Wood. Parrots. Parrot cages.
Make sure you know exactly what kind of tree the wood comes from.

 

[budgieluv3]

I agree ss toys are a great option. If your bird is a fast chewer make sure he has some chew toy in his cage even if you end up getting ss toys.

 

[tka]

Also: parrots need to chew. It is expensive to keep them in toys, but it is incredibly beneficial to their mental and physical health to have toys that they can destroy. Supplying toys that are too durable - toys that a bird cannot shred or interact with - is not going to be interesting for them. Commercial toy makers often make this mistake: they make toys for even small birds out of very hard wood and these toys ultimately get ignored.

You're looking for a sweet spot where Loro can still shred toys but has to work a bit harder to do so. It may be that you switch to a harder wood, or that you give him pine cut along rather than across the grain. You may choose to give him a mixture of materials, like a skewer loaded with some softer and some harder materials. You still want him to be active and have fun playing

 

[Nightstar]

This is a plastic & metal toy. Heavy thick rings & ball.
View attachment 358928

That is actually the chain I talked about XD. I've bought multiple toys for Loro that came with those chains and he destroyed them in a matter of days. In fact, the foraging box I use for him used to have that same chain(you see it in the photo), and it was reduced to scrap metal within 3 days. As usual, I replaced it with entwined metal wires.

And yeah shipping is just so tough right now. In my country, the USD value is at an all time high. About 6-7 years ago was 3 times as expensive as our currency. Now it's 6 times. Even if I were to buy in bulk, the shipping costs still make a big hole in my family's finances, specially now that my mother is about to lose her job ¬¬. Dog chew toys seem much more accessible, so I'll check my local petshops for those.

By the way, just to clarify, I'm an adult, but I still live with my parents and I'm financially dependent on them. They really, really don't want to bother with buying wood and cutting/drilling them and whatnot for little projects like this, because they haven't done this kind of thing in 15 years and are already at elderly age. I know nothing about woodworking either, so I'm pretty much useless on that matter. However, there's a store nearby that has some wooden supplies that can be promising. I suggested going there with my mother tomorrow and she agreed.

Oh I actually made a few keychain-like SS toys and he rattles them often. I should make more, then!

By the way, I finished crafting a big cardboard toy for Loro. As usual I hanged the toy outside his cage at a good distance(almost 1m), but he is scared crapless of it so badly, he has been literally frozen in place for over two hours now. He isn't moving a muscle, not even his eyes(besides pinning). He usually does that for an hour or so before warming up, but this is lasting way longer than I'd like, specially considering he isn't eating at all -.-'. How do you guys introduce new stuff to your birds? Sometimes I feel like I'm doing it wrong.

 

[Mizzely]

For scaredy birds, I let them see it outside the cage several meters away for a week or two and slowly move it closer. Then I put it on a playstand or top of the cage to investigate on their own terms before adding it to the cage.

 

[tka]

Yes, what @Mizzely said. If he's uncomfortable with it, move it further away - 1m is still pretty close. Can you put it on the other side of the room?