Recycling old toys

[StellaBlue]

We've just made a huge hit with our macaws. We get these sisal rope twisters for all our birds:

Sisal Twister

All the birds love 'em. The greys demolish one a month; the macaws are (surprisingly) a bit easier on their toys and take about 2 months to render one into need of replacement. We got the conure his first one this week, so we'll see how he does.

I replace them when they have chewed through to the wire in spots, but I always feel a little wasteful throwing the whole thing out. Today we rebuilt one! We unwrapped the remaining soiled and frayed sisal and discarded it, then disassembled the frame and reassembled it after threading it with these:

wood toy parts

and these:

acrylic bits

The birds are LOVING them - boing-shaped but with toy parts! We should be able to use the frames repeatedly, and since we get new frames regularly, we can experiment with various toy parts. I'm thinking about rewinding the rope on some of these, too.

Do you reuse your old toy components as parts of new toys?

[AmandaB]

I do, as much as possible! Sometimes a couple of tired old toys make a nice interesting new one.

[bb100]

I'm lazy with old toy parts I either throw them into their toy buckets or put them into those little foraging hanging cage things. Works for the lazy (lol)..

[stepht25]

I have a whole big plastic tub that I throw toys into when they need to be retouched etc. If it's a part that's partially chewed - I usually save a lot of those to throw into their foot toy boxes. I also keep a tub for toys that I"ve changed out, but don't look too used. Then it's easier to grab the tub when I'm rearanging cages and toys (I do it about 1x a week) and put different ones in.

[stepht25]

Originally Posted by StellaBlue

We've just made a huge hit with our macaws. We get these sisal rope twisters for all our birds:

Sisal Twister


I replace them when they have chewed through to the wire in spots, but I always feel a little wasteful throwing the whole thing out. Today we rebuilt one! We unwrapped the remaining soiled and frayed sisal and discarded it, then disassembled the frame and reassembled it The birds are LOVING them - boing-shaped but with toy parts! We should be able to use the frames repeatedly, and since we get new frames regularly, we can experiment with various toy parts. I'm thinking about rewinding the rope on some of these, too.

Sorry - forgot I was going to say - I bought a ss wire bungee kit :http://www.windycityparrot.com/Merch...roduct_Count=3 to use and the birds love it! I never would have thought to use one of their boings that they've destroyed.(maybe because my fids are smaller and haven't destroyed one yet?! ) It's a great idea though - so thanks for sharing!! I've also made several of my own boings - so you could easily keep the wire that came from your boings the fids have destroyed and remake it yourself. I would think in the long run it would be cheaper for you to buy the cotton or sisal in bulk and remake your own! I also keep some extra ss kabobs around for throwing some toy parts on for a quick and easy toy.