What Would You Do...

[Deleted]

with these?



The swing I was thinking I could hang some things off of, like buttons and such. The red thing currently has a stick through it, but if I get some of that leather strap stuff I could probably use that instead, maybe to string beads on either in a line or hanging or both. I could vary that a lot, as Munchy does have a tendency to undo knots, or at least he used to.

Currently I'm making little pieces of wood short enough to fit onto the carousel but I don't know how to make them attractive to play with. It used to have balls on it that were about 2-3cm in diameter but he kept breaking off pieces of plastic and chewing them, so I removed them. He generally likes anything that jangles, but I don't know what to attach/how to attach it to make it fun :/ Anyone know where I can get some small wicker balls that might fit? I might be able to squeeze some plastic beads into them to make them rattle or something.

If anyone has any other ideas of what I could do with these things then please tell me. I don't want to let them go to waste.

[Hezz]

Some sparkly beads and leather ........ we call them thongs, but Marianne will tell me that that only applied to underwear so I will say strap too ;D, a bell or two (stainless steel keyrings are good for attachments as you don't have the worry of trying to close an o-ring) could make both top and bottom photo interesting for Munchy.

As for the middle thing, I had one of those, but it was that part that broke - I still have the little balls and they are threaded onto a leather strip (thong . But that may have been because I think one of my boys threw it at the other in a tantie! If you had some really small dowel and some way of making a small enough central hole in each end you could make it something like a hamster's wheel. Sparky used to walk around on the balls when they were still attached and I would hang it up in the cage - mine didn't have a stand, but a hole right through. I think the perch was supposed to go through the middle, but in my mind the perch would have had to have been too thin. Hopefully that will give you some ideas anyway.

[Deleted]

Awesome ideas, Hezz I'm going shopping for some of that leather and some beads. Today I shall pop into the market and see if the nice man that runs their pet shop has any bird toys, and perhaps pick up a cuttlebone from him. Hopefully Munchy will actually use it this time ^^;

Ah, I've seen the one you mean on Amazon, Hezz. I'm not sure if Munchy would fit on this one to walk on it (he never tired before). I can actually take this off the stand but the hole goes through the stand, not the wheel. I might be able to string some bells to each section, along with some strings with beads that can be used to pull the wheel around. Then maybe hang it upside down from the top of the cage. I'll have to see though, because obviously I don't want to make the strings too long.

Thank you so much, Hezz ;D (And don't worry, I won't mention using Marianne's underwear to anyone )

[Hezz]

Well I am not sure (only she could answer that one!!) whether Marianne was referring to her own undies or not. ;D And Sparky was a particularly acrobatic youngster. So I wouldn't expect every budgie to get up to what he did. Good luck with it all.

Regarding cuttlebone, I had one for Bluey that just sat and sat and sat. Finally I threw the damn thing away and put up another and guess what? He nibbled. But to be honest it is only my hen Smudge who has ever given the cuttlebone a proper going over. The boys I see very rarely at it.

[Deleted]

;D Okaaaaaaay, maybe I won't use her underwear, then Yes, they're all different like that. I remember my hamster, actually. He used to run on the outside of the hamster wheel instead of the inside. I'm mainly not sure that a short enough dowel would be big enough for him to stand on. It's not very sturdy. Sparky sounds brilliant XD

Yes, Munchy's first one was like that. Eventually it got pooped on when he was on top of the cage so I chucked it out. The metal thing that holds it to the cage (which was useless anyway) was starting to look bad, too. I bought one from the market pet shop yesterday. It's twice the size of the last one and around half the price. It doesn't have anything to hold it onto the bars so I'll have to buy some clips or something.

Ah well, even if he doesn't use it, it was worth a try, and only 80p. It was nice talking to the shop owner, too. He actually seems to know what he's talking about, which I guess is because he's running a small business rather than a chain of stores, and his animals' cages are always clean, plenty of food and water and the animals are healthy in appearance and energetic.

[Hezz]

Nice to have a caring store owner to talk to. I have seen the large hamster wheels in a pet store cage - the budgies were all over it.

And a clothes peg should do nicely to hold the cuttlebone. They usually have a recess for the line to go, this is where the bar of the cage sits, and the cuttlebone should be able to be held by the parts that come together. Use two pegs if you need to.

[Deleted]

Yes, it is Really? I might have to consider one for Munchy ^^ Not sure whether he'd take to it or not but if I can find one for a reasonable price then it doesn't matter. Never know, he might really enjoy it. Or he might only want to use it if I come up with some way to attach something he wants into it in a way that keeps it moving as he does so that it's out of his reach XD

Ah, really? There's nothing on mine, just the bone. I didn't want to try to tie it in because Munchy will probably chew the ties rather than the bone, and will untie the knots if he can reach them. Such a naughty little birdie ;D I shall see if I can find anything that will do the trick.

*Facepalm* Okay, now I understand how it works. For some reason my brain was still thinking in terms of the cuttlebone being flat against the bars. Now it's clear ^^

[Hezz]

;D ;D

[sarah*glittergirl2212]

We have this for our cuttlebone, it doesn't get pooped on too often because it's up against the cage bars, and some of them even use the little perch instead of going down to it and hanging vertically off the cage bars to eat it (we have budgie bats in our house!!)
www.pet-supermarket.co.uk/products-Four-Paws-Cuttlebone-Millet-Spray-Holder_NC3805.htm

[Hezz]

There is an idea for you Ira! I just toss my cuttlebone into the second side of a double seed pot. Smudge jumps in on top and does her level best to empty it before the day's end.

[sarah*glittergirl2212]

Surely never innocent little Smudge... who'd have thought it??

[Hezz]

I assume she digests a certain amount of what she destroys. But a whole heap does end up as calcium dust, some of which I offload into the seedpots. Otherwise it is thrown into the garden. I wouldn't be very happy if I were buying them, I assure you!

[Deleted]

Thank you Hezz and Sarah Munchy took a few nibbles at the thin end of this one today. It was so big that my granddad sawed it in half for me because when it was whole the sheer size of it frightened Munchy. I stuck the thin end through the bars from the inside and used a peg to secure it in place. Now he can chew it from the inside or the outside.

Also, the ladder on his gym has never lain flat because on of the sticks that holds the rungs bends up at one end. So I took the hooks off of that end, so now the ladder is a slanting ladder instead of a flat ladder, and used them to try to make another ladder. Sadly, my holes started going all over the place, so I have two rungs near the top and then ended up with some sticks sticking out in various directions near the bottom. Two of them were facing the same way, so I put a thicker stick on those to make a perch, and hung it from the horizontal apple branch of the play tree. Needless to say, it was ignored, until I put a ball on the thinnest stick and shoved part of a millet spray to it, pegging the stalk to another stick on the thing so that it wouldn't fall to the floor. After that he was on it for ages, happily eating the millet (which he doesn't get very often), and now, a few days later, he will happily climb up and down 'the thing' and start playing with the ball as if he's trying to get the bell inside it out. I think he likes it mostly because it's something different.

And he's found a new place to perch. The handle of the window in the living room, so now he can sit high up and still look out the window ^^ I get the next week off uni and have to stay home a lot to work on my essay and a section of a group presentation, so there will be lots of outside time for little Munchkin this week, although he's not so little any more.

[Hezz]

Isn't it lovely Munchy doesn't know that your ladder-thingy didn't work out as you wanted, but is still usable to him.

[Deleted]

Yes, it is XD I'm keeping that fact a closely guarded secret If he finds out that I 'failed' then he might nip me XD


Edit: By the way, what size beads would you recommend for budgies? I don't want to get anything too small, but how small is the minimum to ensure that he doesn't eat them?