Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

What glues are OK to use around birds?

Share ideas for making your own parrot toys. What are the best things for parrots to play with? Show pictures of parrots with toys.

What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby entrancedbymyGCC » Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:43 pm

Scooter's kabob thing needs repair and/or replacement. Actually, I have already ordered a new one, but I'd like to repair the original if I can safely. The metal nut that is embedded in the plastic which the long part screws into is no longer embedded in the plastic. I'd like to use a dab of glue to resecure it, but most glues are fume-y. Are some better than others? How long would you let it air out, or would you just toss and replace?
Scooter :gcc:
Death Valley Scotty :cape:
User avatar
entrancedbymyGCC
Cockatoo
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2106
Location: Southern California aka LALA land
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheek Conure
(Un)Cape Parrot
Flight: No

Re: What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby Michael » Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:52 pm

This is an excellent question to which I'm really curious about the answer. Perhaps we are just overly paranoid and toy manufacturers use all kinds of typical glues without us knowing. I have used super glues on stands/props I've made for Kili but she only uses those under my direct guidance so she doesn't even have a chance to start chewing on those and I try to keep the glue neat in the joints so none overflows where it can be easily reached. However, for toys I've avoided using glues all together (out of lack of knowledge) and just try to string everything together.
User avatar
Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby issy » Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:52 pm

I was also thinking the same thing.

I know for a fact that glue guns are toxic. I've searched around and parrot owners say that you can use non-toxic wood glue, but it is better to just tie it. If the parrot can't reach the glue I would think it would be ok to use a non-toxic wood glue.
Image- Sheldon

Image- Evey
User avatar
issy
Conure
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 152
Location: Australia, Sydney
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Rainbow Lorikeet
Sun Conure
Flight: Yes

Re: What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby Michael » Tue Apr 20, 2010 8:00 pm

Yeah but anything unsupervised, you cannot depend on them not being able to reach it because if there's a way to reach it, you can bet they'll find it. Anyone that has a suggestion, please explain your sources and experience. Please no guessing games here cause this is quite important. When in doubt, play it safe and don't use glue.
User avatar
Michael
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 6286
Location: New York
Number of Birds Owned: 3
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
Flight: Yes

Re: What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby TheNzJessie » Wed Apr 21, 2010 2:21 am

thats is a good question and i have been trying to find an answer since i started making some bird toys of my own but im still only tying and connecting with rope or clips.....

i would love to know if there is a glue that is safe...
Qwil-:budgie:
Jango-:rainbow:
Jessie-ME
:)
User avatar
TheNzJessie
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1066
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Rainbow lorikeet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby entrancedbymyGCC » Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:28 pm

I've done some crawling around on the web and I can't find anything that's definitive. The Cheeptoys website has links to some suggestions, but none really seem authoritative. The general consensus seems to be to not use glue where the bird might ingest it and to give plenty of opportunity for anything to out-gas if used in non-accessible place, but it seems to be pretty much up for grabs where there are real dangers and where there are not.
Scooter :gcc:
Death Valley Scotty :cape:
User avatar
entrancedbymyGCC
Cockatoo
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2106
Location: Southern California aka LALA land
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Green Cheek Conure
(Un)Cape Parrot
Flight: No

Re: What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby Desire Mercy » Wed Feb 19, 2014 10:58 pm

I don't mean to necro this post, but when looking for bird-safe adhesives this was one of the first hits on Google.

After some exploring, I found that food manufacturers in the United States must use "food safe" adhesives. The most popular one is a corn starch adhesive that is easily made with simple recipes that I believe contain bird safe materials.

This is the first recipe I found. I haven't used it, but it seems solid and safe. I can't attest to how well it adheres wood to wood, but I'm sure it would be of SOME use. I'll let you know how well it works.

Ingredients

30 ml corn starch

120-150 ml cold water

1 tbsp white vinegar

This is the ratio if you want to make more or less:

1 part corn starch

4-5 parts water

1 ml white vinegar for every 10 ml water (roughly)
Method:

Glue 2 Make your own GLUE

In a saucepan: make a paste with the corn starch and 30 ml of the water (to avoid lumps later on). Add the rest of the water and stir constantly over a low heat. When the mixture starts firming up, remove from the heat for a second and beat quite vigorously with a wooden spoon.

Return to the heat and heat (stir stir stir!) until the mixture is the consistency and colour of Vaseline.

Remove from the heat and add the vinegar. When it has cooled sufficiently, stir stir stir again before popping it into your airtight container. This will make it a bit more pastey again.

Note: A lot of recipes call for 3 parts water for every 1 part of corn starch ,but I find the resulting paste to be more bouncy ball than glue. Go with your gut. If you are concerned that the 1:5 ratio will be too liquid (IT WON’T), add 3 parts water to begin with and then add more if you need it (YOU WILL). You can always add more later. You can’t really add less later, hehe.
Uses:

Stick labels to glass jars semi-permanently
Make stickers by printing out pictures/cutting them from magazines and coating the back with this tacky glue. Let dry and lick when ready to use. (Takes about 24 hours to dry completely, but can be lick-and-sticked before then.)
Stick paper to paper/cardboard/wood quite thoroughly!!!


Source: http://www.lookatwhatimade.net/crafts/m ... -own-glue/
User avatar
Desire Mercy
Parrotlet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 17
Location: Michigan, USA
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Quaker Parrots
Flight: Yes

Re: What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby Wolf » Thu Feb 20, 2014 6:13 am

entrancedbymyGCC wrote:Scooter's kabob thing needs repair and/or replacement. Actually, I have already ordered a new one, but I'd like to repair the original if I can safely. The metal nut that is embedded in the plastic which the long part screws into is no longer embedded in the plastic. I'd like to use a dab of glue to resecure it, but most glues are fume-y. Are some better than others? How long would you let it air out, or would you just toss and replace?


While this will not address the glue issue it still may be helpful. You may be able to heat the nut up to the point that you can press it into the plastic and re embed it. You would want to do this outside or some place away from your birds, let it cool and then wash and rinse.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
Posts: 8679
Location: Lansing, NC
Number of Birds Owned: 6
Types of Birds Owned: Senegal
African Grey (CAG)
Yellow Naped Amazon
2Celestial Parrotlet
Budgie
Flight: Yes

Re: What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby Pajarita » Thu Feb 20, 2014 2:57 pm

I can't help with this because my birds hardly ever get any commercial toys and the ones I make (not that I really 'make' anything) are simple things like pieces of cardboard, balsa wood, dry yucca or pieces of an untreated 2x4 with a hole in the middle and strung together with a sisal rope, knotted ropes, little branches or pinecones tied together with rope, that kind of thing... so I don't use any glue. But I know of the glue that comes out of the recipe and that's only good for paper or light stuff like that, it doesn't 'hold' anything heavy.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18697
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: What glues are OK to use around birds?

Postby Taani_09 » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:45 pm

nice post
Taani_09
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 2
Number of Birds Owned: 0
Flight: Yes

Next

Return to Toys, Accessories, and DIY

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest

cron
Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store