warning please be careful!!!

[serz]

I had a toy that hangs from the ceiling of the avairy. Its hard to explain but its kind of spring shaped with a bell on the end and tassles and it quite large. All the birds loved it.
A few mornings ago i went in the avairy to find it on the floor with a bird stuck in the tassles. On closer inspection i noticed that one of my budgies were tangled in the string around the bottom. It took me 15 mins to cut the string free from around his neck. I was that tight that it had cut into his neck.
One of his eyes were shut completely and all puffed out and the other eye didnt look too healthy.
I think that if i hadnt of gone in at that time 10 mintutes more and he woukld have been dead. Needless to say that the toy is now in the bin.

I just wanted to point out that the toy looked completely safe and i never had any previous problems with it but it still was nearly deadly so please double check that your little ones arnt getting caught in there toys

[BudgiesBuddy]

Toys which have loose string can cause damage to budgies. Thanks for sharing your experience. A picture of the toy would help others.

[serz]

I will try and find a pic of the toy on the internet as i have thrown it away now. Thats the thing BB the string was like the type your see on most standard toys. It wasnt excessivly long or tangled or anything.

[Ryan.W]

poor budgie, i hope they recover serz. Thanks for the warning.

[Marianne Marlow]

I hope your little bird is okay Serz.

Thanks for highlighting this important issue.

[Sarah]

I hope your bird is ok. I always worry about the stringy toys for exactly this reason. Thanks for sharing.

[china]

thanks for warning,just been out to aviary and cut off all hanging tassles,shall b keeping a eye on them

[serz]

The little one is ok now thank god but i really didnt think that he would pull though. I couldnt believe how tight the string had gotten round his neck. I just avout slid something between the neck and the string to cut it free. I think he had been struggling and with that tangled himself more.

Hope that its helped a ew of you avoid this issue x

[Hezz]

Thanks, serz. This has been brought up before. To reiterate, tassels are dangerous! Cut them all off as short as possible, so they are no more than at the most an inch in length. If I get any toys with long tassels, I pull a cable tie as tight as possible to the knot or however it is finished off, and cut the strands as short as possible, before giving them to the birds. The cable tie is simply to reinforce whatever method has been used to end the rope perch or whatever it is and where the tassels start.

There is one toy I have seen that really worries me. It is a curved disc, like the side of a ball and hanging from the middle of this is a whole heap of tassels. I think it may be called a "jellyfish".

[stace]

Good save, Serz. Thank heavens your bird is okay.

Given the problems I've had with a really really short piece of natural string causing a blocked intestine in my bird, I don't feel good about any string at all. It wasn't even a length of string, just a tiny tuft.

Also, be aware that metal chain can also wrap around a bird's neck and choke them.

[serz]

really stace a little piece of string getting ingested could cause that many problems I didnt even think of little bits like that.

I order all my toys from scarletss parrot essentials but i am now at a loss as to what to buy that wont be a risk to my little ones.

The toy that i am refering to is on a thread above this one i think rachael has put up. Its the boingy one that she has just ordered

[Rachael Kellett]

Would it be one of these Serz?



Its called a boing and budgies love them. However whenever I buy a new one I cut the tassle parts on the top and bottom as short as possible. Loose threads and tassles are a big health risk for budgies, they can tangle around the neck and legs and even kill them.

Boings are a great toy and can still be safe for budgies as long as you cut the tassles really really short

[starling]

Ah, yes, I have posted before about an incident with a tassle. I was in the room when my cockatiel got his head caught in a knot. He was trying to get out but twisting it tighter around his neck. Thankfully I was there and he wasn't left hanging. I've cut the tassles off everything now.

Glad your bird is ok

[Marianne Marlow]

Starling I am so glad you got your Tiel out of that mess. Poor thing.

[Hezz]

Thank you Starling, you are one who has brought this up before.