By Robert Markman
Homemade parrot toys are an excellent substitute for pet shop bought toys as long as you know what entertains your parrot and you keep their safety constantly in mind. Parrots rely on toys to keep themselves amused as well as for a lot of their mental stimulation and ability to carry out their natural instincts like foraging, burrowing and exploring.
It is a good idea to initially buy some manufactured toys from the pet store so you can get a good idea of the correct size of toys your parrot can play with safely as they normally have a size guide on the parrot toy packaging. Also you can see how your bird reacts to the toys and what style of toy your bird really enjoys. As parrots naturally explore and play with their toys they will bite, chew and gnaw on them and eventually they will break and disintegrate until they are unsafe for the parrot to play with anymore and this is when you can replace them with your homemade parrot toys.
You should always have your parrots safety at the forefront on any homemade toy design so you should only use materials that are safe for your bird which normally means no artificially coloured materials or materials treated with chemicals of any sort. This leaves you with materials such as cardboard, rope, towels, certain types of paper, certain types of plastic and certain types of metal chain ( although zinc plated metal should not be used as it is toxic to parrots).
If you have experienced parrots before you may already know of their fondness of any and all jewelry you may be wearing as well as your hair and pretty much anything they can grab or play with about your person. A good way to combat this is to make an activity blanket or shirt. You take an old comfortable shirt or towel and sow everything from buttons, coloured strings and beads all over the front side. Now when you take your parrot out of its cage it will quite happily play with all of the shiny sown on items. Just make sure after each session of play that you check to make sure all of the buttons and beads are still securely in place.
Other popular toys involve placing a cardboard box in the parrots cage covered in paper so that it presents the opportunity for your parrot to burrow and explore what is their new 'cave' and hiding a treat inside just adds to your parrots pleasure. Another popular toy is constructed using a thick rope that is knotted in various places as this makes an excellent toy for your parrot to grab and chew on. Other popular toys can be made out of bubble wrap, empty brightly coloured soda cans, squeaky dog toys etc
The only real limit to homemade toys is your birds safety and your own imagination and with that advice you should be able to come up with and make many many enjoyable and entertaining homemade toys for your parrot.
Robert Markman is a homemade parrot toy expert and has been caring for parrots for over 18 years.. For more great information on homemade parrot toys visit http://www.parrotadviceguide.com.
