Using leather in homemade toys - what type of leather best?

[Odysseus]

I am planning on making some of my own leather toys for my lovebird here in awhile. It will be great quality time with the wife crafting like she loves to do, and it will be the toy that MY buddy likes and not a generic setup from a store.

But, if I went to a craft store and bought some leather strips on a spool or even a flat leather piece to cut from...what type of leathers should I buy?

Are their any that it is imperative I avoid due to tanning processes or chemical finishes?

Thank you all for letting me learn from your experience!

[4HAND]

Any leather for a bird must be vegetably tanned.I don't think you'll find it at a craft store.The Chirp N Squawk website does sell leather that's safe for birds.
Tena

[birdsnreps]

yep, it has to be vegetable tanned leather. you can find a ton of it, whole large pieces, remnants of diff sizes, and long strips of the stuff at a local leather shop. i found all of our leather at Tandy Leather Store.

[ROYJOY]

WOW!, you still have a tandy? they closed all the ones in utah 4 or 5 years ago. said they were going online only.

[birdsnreps]

yep, i went like 2-3 months ago to the store, and im still using the rest of the pieces we bought, lol. they didnt say anything about closing

[Odysseus]

Vegetable tanned. Ok. Thanks all for the help! I had a feeling that the craft store leather would be unsafe. Too bad this Tandy store is gone from Utah.

[richm0nd]

We supply natural vegetable tanned leather for the bird toy trade: Vegetable Tanned Leather, Bird Toy Parts and Supplies, leather soles, meter washers, water meter gaskets: TWIN LEATHER COMPANY,INC.