Budgie-safe Materials for Toys etc
Oct 26, 2011 5:52:33 GMT
els, ollieisaprettybird, and 2 more like this
Post by Hezz on Oct 26, 2011 5:52:33 GMT
Budgie-safe Materials for Toys etc
Toys: When buying or making your own toys for your budgies there are a few things to remember. The most important thing is to ensure that all material you buy or use is non-toxic to our feathered friends.
Metals: Most metals are toxic to all birds, not only budgies.
Toxic: Brass, copper, lead, zinc and rust are all toxic to budgies.
Non-toxic: The safest metal to use by far is Stainless Steel. Steel, Tin (not galvanized), nickel-plated metals, are non-toxic. But this only applies as long as no rust is present. As soon as any metal toy shows signs of rust the metal should be disposed of. This means checking all metal components on the toy (eg bells) as sometimes the exterior of the toy will look harmless, but in the case of bells, the clapper or metal ring holding are made of inferior metals and have rusted.
Beware also of painted metal bells as quite often the paint hides the fact that the metal underneath is not budgie safe. They look pretty and the birds seem to love them but be aware of their potential to harm, especially if your bird is a chewer. Metal poisoning in caged birds is a very real, and often fatal, problem.
Symptoms of heavy metal poisoning:
Stainless Steel hardware for your budgie toys is more expensive than the other metals but you can rest assured that your birds are not coming to harm.
Remember, when the rust shows, out it goes!
Timber products: The perches and wooden toys for your birds should all be natural and un-treated. Wooden toys dyed with vegetable-based dyes are fine but anything painted should be avoided. Most wooden toys and play-gyms are made from un-treated pine, but if you are looking to make your play-gym from natural branches, be sure to check that the branches you are sourcing are on the non-toxic list of trees and shrubs. Pine dowelling from your local hardware is cheap and easy to use if you decide to make your own gym. The budgies may eventually chew through your dowelling but that gives you an excuse to build them a bigger and better one!
Play-gyms: If you are looking to make your own, as mentioned above, pine dowelling of varying thicknesses is cheap and easy to use. To connect your pieces together you can either screw them using stainless steel screws, glue using a hot glue gun, or some people even tie theirs together using rope such as sisal, or even cable ties.
Play-gyms can be as simple or as complicated as you wish.
Stainless steel screws: because stainless steel is the only truly safe metal.
Glue: hot glue gun glue is the only glue I have had recommended to me as being budgie-safe, but never use your glue gun around your birds as the fumes can be toxic.
Rope: sisal, jute, abaca, cotton
Sisal and jute have short fibres which tend to break easily and therefore don't carry the same risk of injury to your birds as cotton does. Cotton fibres are generally longer and stronger and when frayed can entangle an unsuspecting budgie leg or toe. Some bird-product stores sell cotton rope with a shorter length fibre which should work well but with which I have had no experience. If using any rope, make sure to check it regularly for fraying, and remove any lengths, before allowing your birds access. The same applies to tassels from some store-bought toys. Make sure you cut the tassels off as short as possible before you give these to your birds.
Other materials you can use for your toys or gym are vegetable-dyed leather (strips or shapes), hard plastic beads (make sure they are large enough so there isn't the likelihood of them being swallowed) or chain, natural or vegetable-dyed wooden beads, paper, coconut shell, willow wicker, wooden beads, wicker toys, raffia, palm-leaf or sea-grass, raffia, barks and seeds and pods from budgie-safe trees. Palm-leaf plait, sea-grass chord, seeds and pods.
Anything sourced from your local park etc needs to be pesticide-free, and washed, then dried, thoroughly before allowing your bird free range.
Toys: When buying or making your own toys for your budgies there are a few things to remember. The most important thing is to ensure that all material you buy or use is non-toxic to our feathered friends.
Metals: Most metals are toxic to all birds, not only budgies.
Toxic: Brass, copper, lead, zinc and rust are all toxic to budgies.
Non-toxic: The safest metal to use by far is Stainless Steel. Steel, Tin (not galvanized), nickel-plated metals, are non-toxic. But this only applies as long as no rust is present. As soon as any metal toy shows signs of rust the metal should be disposed of. This means checking all metal components on the toy (eg bells) as sometimes the exterior of the toy will look harmless, but in the case of bells, the clapper or metal ring holding are made of inferior metals and have rusted.
Beware also of painted metal bells as quite often the paint hides the fact that the metal underneath is not budgie safe. They look pretty and the birds seem to love them but be aware of their potential to harm, especially if your bird is a chewer. Metal poisoning in caged birds is a very real, and often fatal, problem.
Symptoms of heavy metal poisoning:
Stainless Steel hardware for your budgie toys is more expensive than the other metals but you can rest assured that your birds are not coming to harm.
Remember, when the rust shows, out it goes!
Timber products: The perches and wooden toys for your birds should all be natural and un-treated. Wooden toys dyed with vegetable-based dyes are fine but anything painted should be avoided. Most wooden toys and play-gyms are made from un-treated pine, but if you are looking to make your play-gym from natural branches, be sure to check that the branches you are sourcing are on the non-toxic list of trees and shrubs. Pine dowelling from your local hardware is cheap and easy to use if you decide to make your own gym. The budgies may eventually chew through your dowelling but that gives you an excuse to build them a bigger and better one!
Play-gyms: If you are looking to make your own, as mentioned above, pine dowelling of varying thicknesses is cheap and easy to use. To connect your pieces together you can either screw them using stainless steel screws, glue using a hot glue gun, or some people even tie theirs together using rope such as sisal, or even cable ties.
Play-gyms can be as simple or as complicated as you wish.
Stainless steel screws: because stainless steel is the only truly safe metal.
Glue: hot glue gun glue is the only glue I have had recommended to me as being budgie-safe, but never use your glue gun around your birds as the fumes can be toxic.
Rope: sisal, jute, abaca, cotton
Sisal and jute have short fibres which tend to break easily and therefore don't carry the same risk of injury to your birds as cotton does. Cotton fibres are generally longer and stronger and when frayed can entangle an unsuspecting budgie leg or toe. Some bird-product stores sell cotton rope with a shorter length fibre which should work well but with which I have had no experience. If using any rope, make sure to check it regularly for fraying, and remove any lengths, before allowing your birds access. The same applies to tassels from some store-bought toys. Make sure you cut the tassels off as short as possible before you give these to your birds.
Other materials you can use for your toys or gym are vegetable-dyed leather (strips or shapes), hard plastic beads (make sure they are large enough so there isn't the likelihood of them being swallowed) or chain, natural or vegetable-dyed wooden beads, paper, coconut shell, willow wicker, wooden beads, wicker toys, raffia, palm-leaf or sea-grass, raffia, barks and seeds and pods from budgie-safe trees. Palm-leaf plait, sea-grass chord, seeds and pods.
Anything sourced from your local park etc needs to be pesticide-free, and washed, then dried, thoroughly before allowing your bird free range.
. Lucky budgies are aonly little critters or poeple might start to notice big bits missing off their trees. 
