If you have pet birds at home, you may have seen how these creatures can become picky with their toys. You may have experienced buying a pricey toy for them and then the birds will simply prefer to chew paper. Bird owners like you can become frustrated as you don’t know how your pets can become stimulated and interested with the toys that you get for them. If you opt to make your own bird toys, make sure that you use safe materials. You should also strive to incorporate into the toy the favorite things of your pet birds. There are some birds which love to chew on cardboard or play with a rope. Each bird is actually different; find time to determine your bird’s likes and dislikes.
The things that you need in making a bird toy can be easily found at home. You will need the following materials: cardboard, straws, unscented toilet paper, and cotton rope of shoelace.
Follow these very easy steps in creating your own bird toys:
- Cut and put holes. Get the cardboard and then cut it into several squares. Put one hole in each square’s middle portion.
- Cut the straws. Get the straws and then cut them in varying sizes.
- Cut the toilet paper. Cut into different shapes the toilet paper. You can make circles, triangles, or rectangles, depending on your preference. Then put a hole in each shape’s middle part. See to it that the toilet paper is unscented, as some birds could be sensitive to fragrances.
- Customize. There are many designs that you can choose from in making your own bird toy, and one of the interesting form is the spider. This is very easy to do. All you need to do is get the cotton rope or unused shoelace and then fold it into half. After this, get one more strip and then do the similar procedure. With this, you have already made four legs of a spider. You can also put in more legs if you want.
- String all the parts. String together the toilet paper, cardboard, and straws. Create a pattern that you prefer. You can also choose to do random stringing. Then tie all the ends of the cotton rope or shoelace. You are now finished with your spider-designed bird toy. You can finally let your bird play with it.
- Add color. You can choose to color your toy. You can use unsweetened drink mixture or vegetable dyes as these are safe for the birds. Other dyes can cause harm to the birds if digested.
Making a home-made bird toy is easy and fun to do. You just need safe materials with your imagination and creativity. Be extra sensitive when designing bird toys because what is very beautiful for you may be uninteresting to your pets. Here are some bird toy designs that you can also explore: bead toy, pear swing, toilet paper circles toy, sandal toy, and Popsicle ladder toys. You can invite your friends to come over and help you design the toys. Remember also that it is important to replace your bird toys once in a while due to wear and tear. With amazing bird toys that suit the bird’s needs and preference, your pet bird is sure to feel good. As a bird owner, this will also ease your worries on how to effectively take care of your pet.