Will she swallow it...?

[Chris&Akilah]

So, after years of having pet dogs, reptiles, ferrets and other critters that will typically swallow anything that fits into their mouth I find I am a little paranoid about bird toys...there are so many with parts that looks just perfect to get stuck in a throat, does that ever happen? Is choking/impaction an issue with birds when it comes to toys?

[captwest]

The only problems i've had have been with nestlings ingesting nest materials when they're starting to explore with feeding themselfs. I did lose a longtime pet amazon because a GF insisted on covering her cage with a towel, she did chew the towel either to remove it or line the nest with i'm not sure, however she managed to ingest part of the towel and stopped up her crop and basicly starved to death before i realized what was happening, this is the only case i've seen or heard of. Parrots are natural chewers and seem to handle toys and small parts OK,

[Becco Lunatico]

Wow I didnt realize towels could be a problem! Jimmy loves anything cotton esp tee shirts I have been doing towel play, draping a hand towel over my shoulders and the bird when he is on my shoulder, covering the bird, playing peek a boo and then rolling/gathering him up in the towel, bringing him to the front and also treating him for 'rolling over'. He enjoys it but often when I am at the computer he picks at the towel...

I cut the sleeves out of an old denim coat, sewed buttons and misc items around the shoulders, including a couple of natural palm leaf woven napkin holders and run a large scarf thru each napkin holder on both sides so that it drapes behind me and catches poop. Jimmy loves it and chews and plays with the buttons. They are plastic...but I am now rethinking the tassels....yes I am quite a site with this vest on and threaten to put bicycle mirrors on my eyeglasses hehe

[Jenny]

omg, that jacket sounds great! Send us a picture, if you can. & seriously consider marketing it!!

[tacotaco]

omg, that jacket sounds great! Send us a picture, if you can. & seriously consider marketing it!!

haha, i agree with this whole statement.

[captwest]

I didn't mean to imply towels are bad, i use them with young birds when feeding them basicly because i don't want them to be afraid of a towel when their new owners take them to the vet'.Playing with a towel is a good idea incase your bird needs to be restrained in an emergency.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I know what the OP means... with other critters we are sort of conditioned to worry about what might get eaten, yet we give birds shreddable toys all the time. I still have to stop myself every now and again and remind myself that it is OK that Scotty is making splinters out of his "clothespin", that is what it is there for....

[ptuga72]

I know what the OP means... with other critters we are sort of conditioned to worry about what might get eaten, yet we give birds shreddable toys all the time. I still have to stop myself every now and again and remind myself that it is OK that Scotty is making splinters out of his "clothespin", that is what it is there for....

I have to stop myself as well. Birds are surprisingly good at knowing what not to eat, not that I don't take precautions still. I worry more about loose strings catching toes...

[lotus15]

This is actually why I stopped giving Lola plastic toys. Because of how destructive she is I was monitoring very carefully how she plays with plastics, and I noticed she loves to chew on them for long periods of time and grind them down in her mouth and just sort of harbor them in her beak somewhere. I would give her a plastic foot toy and then for the next 24 hours I'd be finding her spit out little plastic bits. It freaked me out that she kept them in her beak for so long-- I'm not just worried about ingestion but also the breakdown / off-gassing of plastic parts due to the stress of being in her beak for so long. We don't do plastics for her anymore. With wood, she chips and spits, chips and spits, etc. and there never keeps them in her mouth at all whatsoever.

[Becco Lunatico]

Sure is fun to...ahem...watch the UPS guy...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33119610@N ... otostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33119610@N ... otostream/