who dies with the most toys wins”? Although a large number and variety of toys is important, you can go overboard — sort of. If your bird’s entire treasury of perches, dishes, and toys is stuffed in his cage, you may be limiting his movement and reducing his quality of life. Instead of giving your bird everything, get in the habit of rotating toys on a regular basis. Rotation every month or even every week not only reignites your bird’s interest but also helps you spot toys that need to be cleaned or replaced.
Materials: Like perches, toys are subject to your bird’s destructive nature — and safety during demolition is a must. Wood, rawhide, plastic or steel chain, rope, cloth, and hard plastic are among the more popular construction materials. Be sure to choose toys that can break down without splintering or breaking into pieces small enough to be swallowed. (Clappers on bells, for example, often require removal. If you don’t remove them before giving a toy to your bird, your veterinarian may be removing them from his gullet.)
Construction: Challenging toys, the best choice for busy birds, feature pieces combined in ways that make it hard for birds to pull the whole product apart — but not too hard. Indestructible toys are not appropriate for most birds, because the fun of ripping the gadget apart is missing.
Size: Little toys for little birds, big toys for big birds. A big bird can catch and lose a toe in a toy made for a smaller bird, and small birds can get their heads trapped in toys made for larger relatives.
Connectors: If the toy isn’t already equipped with a connector, a simple key ring, available from any hardware store, is one way to attach the toy to the cage. Not all birds can safely have access to key rings, though. The larger the parrot, the greater the potential for them to pry it open and then injure themselves if their tongue or beak becomes trapped. Good ways to connect toys to cage bars include C-clamps and balls that rest on top of the cage with a hook hanging down for attaching a toy. You can also tie toys in place with pieces of rope or rawhide, but they won’t stay put very long.
What toy is bound to light up your bird’s face? Unfortunately, no clear-cut answer exists. Toys are a trial-and-error endeavor, a matter of individual preference where only your bird has a vote. Watch your bird. Look for trends in the kind of toys she prefers; those clues can guide you when you’re shopping for new ones.
CHEAP! CHEAP! AND FUN, TOO!
Toys can really break your budget, especially if you have a very destructive parrot. No matter how much you love your bird, you’re bound to mutter under your breath the first time you watch him gleefully and quickly destroy a toy you spent $20 on just a few hours before. Keep in mind, though, that aggression toward toys and perches is better than destructiveness directed toward your bird’s mental stability, his feathers, or you. Tearing toys up is properly channeled normal behavior for most parrots, and a very good thing. Just keep reminding yourself of that — again, and again, and again.
Fortunately, some alternatives to expensive store-bought toys exist, but you need to rely on creativity to find them.
The cardboard cores of toilet-paper and paper-towel rolls are perfect for shredding, especially for smaller birds. String those tubes together on a thick leather cord and hang them in your bird’s cage for his discovery and play. Other cheap options include ballpoint pens with the ink tubes removed, Ping-Pong balls, old plastic measuring cups and spoons, and plastic bottle tops.
Toothbrushes are another bargain toy, sturdy and colorful. You can buy them new or give your pet your worn ones — just be sure to run them through a hot, soapy wash and rinse first. Hard plastic keys on a ring for babies or puppies are also a budget-wise buy that birds love, and real keys can be just as fun. Stringing these “jewels” onto leather shoelaces and hanging them in cages provides a very low cost, very big entertainment thrill for your bird.
Keep your eyes and mind open for playthings — you may surprise yourself with the possibilities. Think cardboard boxes, magazines or newspapers inserted with their pages down into the top of the bird’s cage, and paper cups or cupcake liners. Use your imagination!
Remember, however, that really none of these items is intended for consumption. If your bird is able to chew them apart and potentially eat them, it may be time to rethink what you offer.
Harness and leash getups are a recent invention, geared for larger parrots. With a harness, you can take your parrot along when you’re running errands or visiting friends, without worrying about him getting away. (Even a wing-clipped bird can achieve enough loft to escape — it’s just harder.) Harnesses can add a lot to a companion bird’s life. Just think about it! You can harness up your buddy, let him perch on your shoulder, and go out for a walk. How fabulous is that! Not all birds benefit from this, of course, and no bird should be forced into a harness that he’s afraid of or doesn’t understand. But it’s definitely something to consider when thinking of ways to enrich your bird’s life. For more on the basics of harness training, see Chapter 20.
Clearing the Air
Depending on where you live and what kind of and how many birds you keep, you may want to add an air cleaner or humidifier (or both!) to your shopping list. Paying attention to air quality is good for your bird and for you, too.
First, the pitch on humidifiers: Today’s climate-controlled houses are often too dry for birds, some of whom represent species most at home in tropical rain forests. Daily misting is a great idea (see Chapter 7), but so, too, is keeping the moisture content of the air up with a humidifier. If you live in Hawaii, South Florida, or another tropical environment, lack of humidity isn’t a concern. In other parts of the country, however, dry air sometimes can be a problem. Remember, too, that when it gets cold outside and the heater is turned on inside the home, the relative humidity of your home drops.
As for air cleaners, the decision whether you need one depends on a couple of factors. Some species of pet birds — the cockatoo is perhaps the best example — give off a lot of feather dust, a powdery natural grooming material that originates from the powder-down feathers over the flank and hip areas. (The dust factor is why we don’t recommend cockatoos for people with allergies — other particularly dusty species are the cockatiel and the African grey parrot.)
