Im looking for some CHEAP macaw toys to make my macaw. He chews up his playstand perch and takes the screws out of it. Any ideas of good toys .. I was thinking of using a paper bag and putting shredded up news paper in it for him to tare apart. Would that be ok to give him? I dont have any rope or string to string things from cage. Im looking for things i can put at the bottom of his cage.
Empty paper bags look rather like a potential nest cavity so I wouldn't give them to a broody bird, but they're otherwise OK. Some large parrots enjoy shredding phone books. Dollar Tree sells a three-pack of wooden cooking spoons (for a dollar) which we often buy as bird toys. We have one bird who likes taking nuts off of bolts. Some birds love shredding styrofoam cups. Some foods also work as toys; various nuts (type depending on the size of your macaw, but if it's too easy it's not much of a toy), bones with marrow, etc. Hiding treats inside things is good. Pretty much anything that's safe to chew on and comes apart can be a toy. And for a large macaw, most things will come apart.
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But remember not to encourage bad habits. For instance, many parrots enjoy taking the keys off an old keyboard, but if you have a computer anywhere the parrot might reach, that's not a habit you'd want to encourage.
Cute notes:
The bird knows how to put nuts back on the bolt, too, but can't physically do it - she holds the nut in her beak and the bolt in her foot, and tries to thread them together but her ankle doesn't rotate far enough to get it started - so she throws them on the ground and yells for us to put them back together.
We used to have an amazon that would methodically peel even layers off the rim of a styrofoam cup and deposit all the pieces inside until the pile inside was as high as the remaining cup. Then he'd tip the whole thing over.
A small box filled with shredded paper, brazil nuts, a quarter of an apple, a walnut and those rabbit chew sticks would be completely safe. Close the box (not with tape) by interweaving the top folding area and let him have fun.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Always play safe, don't let him chew anything rubber or anything that can break and hurt him.
If you can stand the mess, you can even put a regular cantalope in his cage.
Fruit tree branches. Wonderful as long as they have not been treated with a pesticide. You can use the size branch that fits your bird. I also used to make toys with untreated pine cut into different shapes and then soaked in cool aid. it gives the wood color and flavor and it is much cheaper then the rodent sticks that also work but are much to small for a parrot. I would buy some cheap thick rope and ty it in knots. I have heard to soak it in flour and water and then to bake it in your oven to make it very hard but i have never done it and am not sure if it is safe. the cool aid is though and i have done that with rodents and birds. I never use newspaper with birds because I heard at one time that if they chew on enough of it they can get poisoned from the ink. I take a lot of chances with my animals but that is not one i'm willing to take. Maybe as a treat but i would do it a lot. Turkey leg bones are great fun. I have never had a bird as big as a macaw but iv had amazons and fed them hard boiled eggs which they loved. How about a whole hard boiled egg. I always bought children's toys for my big birds cause they are much cheaper. my Senegal loved baby rattles. she would hold it in her hand and shake it. go to garage sales and buy baby toys. Anything that makes noise or a mess your bird will love
