Toys and Plastic?

[jonjpl]

Hi everyone,

While out looking for new safe toys for my Grey and Amazons, a question came to mind. Why is it that plastic is safe for birds to chew on? It seems like pieces of plastic being possibly ingested could be a bad thing. I've seen sites that say even bottlecaps off of soda bottles can be used as chew toys for birds. Is that true? What is the guide lines for plastic and the use of plastic for toys? What are some plastic no-nos?

Thanks for any input.
James

[The Outlaw]

Normal, healthy birds don't usually eat plastic or nut shells or things of that nature. Some will try paper, but usually that ends quickly. There are no bird safe toys, only safer options. Bottlecaps, paper cups, adding machine tape, phone books and many other household items work just fine. Don't use the foam toys made for babies. They have been know to be consumed and have caused impactation and even death in birds.

[jonjpl]

Originally Posted by The Outlaw

Normal, healthy birds don't usually eat plastic or nut shells or things of that nature. Some will try paper, but usually that ends quickly. There are no bird safe toys, only safer options. Bottlecaps, paper cups, adding machine tape, phone books and many other household items work just fine. Don't use the foam toys made for babies. They have been know to be consumed and have caused impactation and even death in birds.

Thanks for the reply. So, the Birds don't actually swallow the plastic that they break off, they just kinda chew it and spit it out? Sorry to sound stupid, just concerned.

Thanks again.

[bustersbuddy]

Personally, I don't allow any plastic toys for Buster anymore. We gave her a small plastic toy that had some little nubs on it that she promptly chewed off. I'm not sure that she swallowed any but I didn't want to take any chances. It would seem that large birds could easily break a lot of plastics, but I might be wrong. I provide only wooden toys, yarn, rope toys (single strand only, no loops, no v-shapes), palm toys, etc. now.

[The Outlaw]

Frankly, metals are a bigger problem, especially the clangers in bells. Plastic will pass through the gut, normally. Of course, freak accidents can happen. The thing that will kill your bird is to ingest toxic metals. They leach in the gut and ultimately will kill. Plastic is about as safe as most other things. Again, the size of the bird does need to be considered. For example, don't give birds larger than tiels those little cage balls with the jingle bells. They can break open the balls with one bite and get to the jingle bells. Between getting their tongues cut or ingesting the little ringer, jingle bells can really do any bird some serious damage.

Most plastics that are considered toddler safe are fine for birds. The reason plastic bottle caps from beverages are safe is because they are designed to cap liquids that humans will ingest.