Favorite Toys - Small Bird Edition

[BirdLady13]

I need to replenish the toy stock for my lovebird and two parrotlets. What is your small birds favorite toy?

 

[Shezbug]

My budgie loves bells and beads to bash about and seagrass rope and balsa perches to chew. There’s other stuff he gets and likes but those four things would have to be his long time favourites.

 

[Ripshod]

My budgies also like bells, but then they (the females especially) love chewing wood - but they're more into pine now rather than balsa.
When I had the parrotlets here I remember they loved to hide amongst a group of soft hanging toys I deliberately placed over a perch for them.
Big bells are great for many birds.

 

[Ripshod]

@Zara ?

 

[Zara]

@Zara ?

Difficult question. I have multiple birds and each like different things, so someone is bound to like every type of toy

Favourites would be shreddible stuff like raffia, dried banana plaits, dried palm shreddables. My females like balls. Most like bells or other noise makers. They all love boings and swings. Most love foraging cups for obvious reasons

 

[Sparkles99]

My budgies like bells, plastic beads, easy destructible toys & some like swings.

 

[K&W]

My budgies love Bird Kabobs and bells

 

[WikiWaz]

My budgies love shiny things and bells. But their favorite toys are toys related to food. They're also into preening toys.

Sprite and Wisp's favorite toys (in no particular order):
Pin Head - Made in the USA Bird Toys
Mahogany Foraging Wall - HootnHoller Bird Toys
JW Activitoy Disco Ball (it's shiny)
Rope Boings
Small Food Pyramid - Myparrotshop.com
Foraging Box Feeder - Caitec
Snack Table - HootnHoller Bird Toys
Star Cluster Mini - Planet Pleasures
finger traps filled with millet (with keep them busy for hours, because they are just learning how to shred)

 

[Zara]

I need to replenish the toy stock

Get a little of everything and observe your birds playing with each thing, see what get´s them excited and what interests them more. Having a good selection will help you discover your birds favourite toy types

 

[calibird]

The little ones love balsa.

 

[Zara]

The little ones love balsa.

I second this.
All of my birds love wood. Most like balsa, some like thin pine.
Most of the comments in this thread are budgie related, but a lovebird is much more destructive and will usually play with wood toys. I don´t know about p´lets... @fashionfobie ?

 

[Chris1234]

Our Rose Breasted Too LOVES the treat cage. If he ignores a toy it gets disassembled and placed in here and he's all over it.

Our Meyers loves her little foraging tray. She gets a dash of seeds and dried fruits and veggies sprinkled in it every day and has to toss everything around to find them.

 

[Zara]

Our Rose Breasted Too LOVES the treat cage. If he ignores a toy it gets disassembled and placed in here and he's all over it.

That´s a great idea!

 

[Mizzely]

By far, my customers seem to love balsa, yucca and Sola the most

Balsa

Balsa is incredibly lightweight and shreds beautifully instead of splintering, making it one of the most satisfying chew materials for birds. It's a fantastic choice for small birds, softer chewers, and birds who are still warming up to toys. If your bird is nervous around new things, balsa is...

lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

Followed by cork and mahogany

Cork

Cork is a fantastic natural chewing material; satisfying to destroy without being too tough for smaller or softer-chewing birds. All of our cork stoppers are non-agglomerated, meaning they're whole, natural pieces with no glues, treatments, or additives. We also carry cork bark, which comes from...

lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

 

[fashionfobie]

My little parrotlets like paper shred toys and rattan type toys. The most popular chew toy is probably branches with bark on. They love shredding bark usually stripping the branches bare. If you can find natural perches with bark on, I would choose those.

 

[BirdLady13]

Thanks for all the comments! My birds always have a variety of toys; I was just looking for some new ones.

 

[WikiWaz]

By far, my customers seem to love balsa, yucca and Sola the most

Balsa

Balsa is incredibly lightweight and shreds beautifully instead of splintering, making it one of the most satisfying chew materials for birds. It's a fantastic choice for small birds, softer chewers, and birds who are still warming up to toys. If your bird is nervous around new things, balsa is...

lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

Followed by cork and mahogany

Cork

Cork is a fantastic natural chewing material; satisfying to destroy without being too tough for smaller or softer-chewing birds. All of our cork stoppers are non-agglomerated, meaning they're whole, natural pieces with no glues, treatments, or additives. We also carry cork bark, which comes from...

lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

I can't wait to order toys from Lil Monsters. First Erwin, Sprite, and Wisp need to learn how to shred. Sprite and Wisp have learned to shred cork and finger traps.

 

[Mizzely]

I can't wait to order toys from Lil Monsters. First Erwin, Sprite, and Wisp need to learn how to shred. Sprite and Wisp have learned to shred cork and finger traps.

Not sure if you've seen it or not, but I do have an "Intro to Toys" section with some good starter options

New to Toys?

Is your bird new to toys or seem afraid of toys? These toys are intended to be more simple or have lots of textures to try with your bird. They are great for babies, older birds that haven't had a lot of toys before, birds learning to play, or those intimidated by large toys. Sometimes super...

lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

 

[PetFoster]

Our Rose Breasted Too LOVES the treat cage. If he ignores a toy it gets disassembled and placed in here and he's all over it.

Our Meyers loves her little foraging tray. She gets a dash of seeds and dried fruits and veggies sprinkled in it every day and has to toss everything around to find them.

I have a dumb question: is that really called a "treat cage"? I NEED one! Finally, after more than month, just today, Lucy started working on chewing up some balsa slats that I had intended to make toys with, but... She won't really play with the toys in her cage. I think the motion and instability of anything hanging really throws her off. But today, I wedged a few pieces of balsa slats into a mason jar that she could reach from her play stand perch, and she went to town on it! I want to be able to give her a similar setup inside her cage, but (for obvious reasons) a mason jar is not going into her cage.

 

[WikiWaz]

Not sure if you've seen it or not, but I do have an "Intro to Toys" section with some good starter options

New to Toys?

Is your bird new to toys or seem afraid of toys? These toys are intended to be more simple or have lots of textures to try with your bird. They are great for babies, older birds that haven't had a lot of toys before, birds learning to play, or those intimidated by large toys. Sometimes super...

lilmonstersbirdtoys.com

Yes I have! I read your article several months into bird ownership (way before I joined AA) and it influenced how I was buying toys! Beforehand, I was buying toys that were too large, too busy, and thus too intimidating for my birds. I was getting the wrong size wood, like 1/2" pine blocks for my cockatiel and budgie. After reading your article I started simple and small and based on your suggestions and worked my way up. That was with my past cockatiel and budgie. For my birds now, it took 6 months of living with us for Sprite and Wisp to actually show any interest in toys, now they look forward to the monthly toy rotation. I'm still trying to figure out Erwin's preferences.

Thank you for writing your "Intro to Toys" article, it helped me to get a better understanding of small beaks.