Safe Toys?

[Scarpath]

Hi Guys. I bought a toy for my GCCs the other day. My birds have been waiting to get this for awhile. So I buy the toy and put it in their cage. Later that night I heard the bell on the bottom of the toy ringing! I thought that they were having fun with the toy so I went downstairs to video tape it. When I got down I found out that Glinda's toe was caught on the bell and it was weaved through and over the other side. She was pulling really hard and I didn't want her to get hurt so I unhooked the toy, pulled her out, toweled her, got my mom, and my mom push the toe out a bit and the bird did the rest by pulling. Now I am afraid to buy any toy for my birds because of that....can anybody help?

[zazanomore]

That's awful!

Accidents are bound to happen though. As birds just love to get into everything.

Maybe in the future you can remove the bell before you give the toy to them.

[Dave]

You just do the best you can. Things like that will always happen somewhere to somebody. Sometimes it is really hard to predict what trouble they can get into.

[Scarpath]

Thanks guys. I think I'll take the bell off before I give it to them again. BUt I don't think I will give it to them any time soon because Glinda is still afraid of it and as for Elphaba he hisses and trys to attacking...probably for hurting his sister.
So funny!
Thanks guys! I was afraid it was something that happened a lot! Not just a once in awhile thing. FHEW!!!!

[rebeccaturpeinen]

I've been wondering about the 'safe toy' question too... a lot of toys have chains with bells on them and I have just figured that it should be kind of safe as they are selling these are bird toys. Joey loves bells so I dont really wanna take the chains with the bells off. I guess accidents can always happen. A couple of days ago he got his toe stuck in a foraging basket wich made me consider taking the basket out but he loves it so I decided against.

[Scarpath]

Ya...I was wondering the same with the other bell in their cage but they loved it too much!

[TheNzJessie]

by any chance was the bell the jingle bell type?

[kaylayuh]

Were the bells the round type or the traditonal looking bell type? I only buy the bells that look like a traditional bell and it seems to stop this problem. You can find them in most craft stores for like, $2 USD for a dozen.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Jingle bells (meaning the round kind with slits in them) are kind of notorious for trapping toes and beaks. Traditional clapper-style bells are safe IF they are robust enough to not have the clapper bitten through/pulled off AND they are made of bird-safe metal.

With GCCs toys can be a little tricky. The ones made for small birds are size-appropriate but they are not typically strong enough to be safe for a GCC which plays hard and has a more powerful beak than a budgie or even a 'tiel. OTOH, toys for medium birds may be too scaled-up. Some things Scooter really loves are acrylic rattle-y toys (make sure there are no small-scale pieces hanging off that could be dangerous), a rubber geodesic ball with a bell suspended inside and homemade chew toys using balsa wood and often a clapper-style bell (quite large and robust). I also look for small spaces that could trap a toe, but these can be hard to completely eliminate (almost any chain has some potential for this). In general you either want openings too small for a claw to get into or quite large, but not so large the head could get stuck.

[TheNzJessie]

Jingle bells (meaning the round kind with slits in them) are kind of notorious for trapping toes and beaks. Traditional clapper-style bells are safe IF they are robust enough to not have the clapper bitten through/pulled off AND they are made of bird-safe metal.

With GCCs toys can be a little tricky. The ones made for small birds are size-appropriate but they are not typically strong enough to be safe for a GCC which plays hard and has a more powerful beak than a budgie or even a 'tiel. OTOH, toys for medium birds may be too scaled-up. Some things Scooter really loves are acrylic rattle-y toys (make sure there are no small-scale pieces hanging off that could be dangerous), a rubber geodesic ball with a bell suspended inside and homemade chew toys using balsa wood and often a clapper-style bell (quite large and robust). I also look for small spaces that could trap a toe, but these can be hard to completely eliminate (almost any chain has some potential for this). In general you either want openings too small for a claw to get into or quite large, but not so large the head could get stuck.

thats exactly why i asked if they were the jingle type, i ahve heard many many horror stories they are extremly dangerous for birds especially budgies and small conures,

even the normal bell types you have to look and see if the have the 2 slits in the top where the ring is attached, make sure to buy bells that dont have these because nails get caught in them