Which of your birds is most destructive?

[StellaBlue]

Three macaws - a greenwing, a B&G, and a severe, 2 timneh grays, and a cherryhead conure.

Most folks would see the massive macaw beaks, and the active, playful nature of the big guys, and pick them as the most detructive. The conure, with his stocky build and mock-ferociousness, would probably come second. The greybirds - ethereal, delicate, dignified and aloof, would likely be the last pick.

Most folks would be wrong

Proportionally sized toys of the same materials (hardwood and sisal, mostly) are destroyed in 2-3 weeks or less by the greys. The conure and macaws take up to 2 months. In the case of sisal perches and boings (which the greys destroy in under a month) I take them away from the macaws while they are still largely intact because of concerns about their cleanliness. I don't know how long it would take for the macaws to completely destroy one, as it has never happened.

The South American birds chew for play, and also like other forms of play - disaasembling, tossing and catching, chasing, etc. They are casual in their chewing, although the bites can be pretty big!

The greys do NOT chew for play - it is a JOB and they approach it with seriousness, persistance, and determination. They start to chew something, and do not stop until it is DEAD. They are singleminded and industrious. They remind me of little terriers with their drive to conquer at all costs!

Anyone else with both African and South American species? Do you notice the same thngs? As for Australian species, I recall huge damage inflicted on my home by cockatoos I had many years ago, but as Australian birds were the only large parrots I had at the time, I don't have a good comparison, and I didn't keep good enough records to recall how long their toys lasted.

Which of the species you keep chew things up the fastest?

[2horse]

I have suns, my sister has a grey. Item for item the grey can destroy quicker but the number of items, the pet suns destroy or damage more. (cell, remote, wires etc)

The grey shows more determination to kill the one item and does not rest untill he has finished his job, whereas the suns attention span does not seem to last that long so they make a smaller holes in many items.

Sun wood toys are mostly thrown out about 1/2 - 3/4 chewed, they lost interest, or I worry about the bacteria count.

Of the breeding birds the ringnecks also don't rest until they have a pile of toothpicks where the toy was. They also destroy perches. They seem to have a big need to chew. The breeding suns dont destroy perches and do very little chewing on toys. Budgies have never chewed a toy and only sometimes chew paper, very non destructive birds.

[GreetingCardReligion]

My grey is a big chewer. It's funny, he has a toy that is a series of small cotton ropes tied with colorful wooden rectangles between. He'll systematically untie pieces of cotton (with the wood still wraped around) and then use it as a foot toy to destroy the wood XD

Anything else is just demolished, however. I've started giving him empty boxes with nutriberries inside and he'll not only get the berries, but he'll start putting oter things inside the box to hide them (like old chewed wood that I always remove)

[StellaBlue]

Originally Posted by GreetingCardReligion

I've started giving him empty boxes with nutriberries inside and he'll not only get the berries, but he'll start putting oter things inside the box to hide them (like old chewed wood that I always remove)

HA! Now that's funny! Greys are so *sneaky* !!!!

They seem to be getting past it, but for a long time ours would not chew or play in front of us. They would wait until we had gone to work, or left the room, and then shred like demons. We would come in to a pile of shredded toy and innocent, serene greys-on-perches. "No mom, we don't KNOW who killed the toy." Lately it seems that the toys have been too dangerous and they have killed them while we were watching.

I LOVE those guys.

[jimpierce7]

Benji won't destroy anything. Zoey and Sophie? Run neck and neck as natures destruction crew!!

[grandma]

My Cag will tear up anything given to him.

[Monica]

The cockatiel family... through and through... they've destroyed toys that all the other birds have pecked at, played with, or swung... they've even completely demolished some!

Next? Budgies probably... but then again they hardly chew a thing normally...

After that? My cherry head... a lot of her toys go unused, or just barely... I've only found her interested in bird kabobs (cactus root) and will destroy those pretty well... otherwise she norm ignores most other things.

Casey would probably be next cause she likes to chew on things here and there... not really much at all but still...

I'm sure Charlie would probably destroy things too... if not for his beak. But he still likes to play with some toys and bang them around!

The bourkes and Tomi girl would be last, cause neither one play with toys let alone chew them...

[Yondo]

My meyers would never touch a wooden toy, (altough the wooden frame of the budgies cage seems very nice to her) but my 'too would destroy anything... anything and everything. He truly is a cockatoo!

[stepht25]

Kirby is definitley my destructo bird. He can through toys pretty fast and has a thing for the wood trim around the doorways and a wooden shelf made my Grandfather ( - we take it down and hide it when Grandpa comes for a visit! ).

Next would be SKittles, followed by the tiels and the conures.

[Lungfish]

Baby, the U2, followed by Paulie the Blue Crowned Conure. No wooden toy lasts long with the U2. Paulie is forever curious about any new toy or anything new for that matter.