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Feeling: pure joy. I ran to the business office at my apartment building immediately after my morning workout. I knew exactly how I would be spending my next hour…ooo-ing and ahh-ing over a box of new bird toys!

I don’t know if it’s the same with all pets, but there is a certain satisfaction in making or purchasing the right combination of toys for your parrot. Birds use each one of their toys, perches, and cage accessories for a unique purpose. The behaviors they exhibit when playing with their “toys” are meant to replicate their natural behaviors in the wild. So in addition to being fun, toys serve an important function to keep your bird content and healthy in its domestic setting.

As a human, I know I am attracted to shiny and colorful things (be honest, who isn’t?). On this point, parrot toys always deliver. I love inspecting the different textures and materials, thinking about how my bird will use it, and how it will enrich his life. At the end of the day, each parrot companion can be exceptionally picky. They have their own particularized opinions as to what is an adequate toy, what is useless,… aaaaand what is downright terrifying! Thus, when I get the validation from my birds that I’ve chosen something fun and worth using (or more often destroying!)…it makes me one happy camper.

Recently, while surfing the net for information on green cheek conures, I came across a website for a bird store that was new to me: My Safe Bird Store. I had decided to make perches and swings for Papaya myself, and was in need of cheap stainless steel hardware. My Safe Bird Store had this, very clearly marked for easy purchase. After adding numerous stainless steel washers, machine screws, and wingnuts to my cart, I perused the plethora of categories on the site for bird toys and food.

I must say, this bird store has to be my new favorite! I am a huge fan of businesses (and people) who take pride in what they do. This store has certainly shown its commitment to maintaining human-level interactions; it is not your typical mass production store focused on the sale alone! The owners took great care in wrapping each item individually in tissue paper and boxes, where appropriate, so the toys would not be damaged. When I was opening the box, I felt like I had received a care package from a friend, rather than a shipment from an online store.  The personalized thank you note on my invoice was the perfect touch. (Speaking of which…the invoice had full-sized pictures of each item in addition to the name of the product, facilitating future orders).

The sheer volume of available products is amazing. Anything I could possibly desire for Papaya could be found somewhere on the site. Better yet, everything was a reasonable price! They have great sales, daily deals, and options for reduced/free shipping.  I only wished Papaya could have been there to help me open everything – I’m sure he would have had a ball playing in all the wrappings!

The thing that meant the most to me about ordering from this store is that the items for sale are kept in a bird-free warehouse. As parrots often carry communicable diseases, it is imperative that pet birds not be exposed to other birds with unknown health status. As one can never be sure what illnesses another parrot has had, or diseases a bird has been exposed to, parrot owners must go to great lengths to avoid the risk of exposing their own bird to potential diseases. Knowing the storage procedures at My Safe Bird Store, my anxieties on this issue were alleviated.

Finally, here it is! Pictures from the haul – with added commentary of course! I apologize for any blurry images… I am a novice when it comes to photography, and am still learning about the features of my camera.

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I had to include pictures of how nicely everything was wrapped! From the first peak of colorful tissue paper, I knew this was going to be a fun package. I adored how every item was individually wrapped. It not only kept the toys safe, and free from entanglement, but also made it enjoyable for me to open. Additionally, note how efficiently the package was wrapped – just enough paper to protect the items, but not so much that there was excess (no one wants to pay shipping for packaging peanuts and bubble wrap!).

The first item I purchased was a Cozy Corner, size medium. You don’t get to choose the color you get, but I received purple – my favorite color! My sister’s parakeet and our cockatiels each have one and they all love it. It creates a little comfort in the cage, especially for babies who like to snuggle.

As there is a chance that Papaya may be a girl, I want to encourage her to have a hammock and Cozy Corner, rather than a tent or tunnel. Tents and tunnels can trigger the onset of nesting behaviors as a bird gets older. There are a lot of health issues associated with hens that lay eggs; in my attempts to avoid these issues, I’m addressing the potential problems head-on by not providing stimuli for mating behavior. I know that Papaya is a baby, and it would be alright for him/her to sleep in a tent right now without fear of mating behaviors developing. However, I don’t want to end up in a situation where he/she gets attached to a tent, and then gets mad at me for taking it away after 2-3 years when he/she reaches puberty. Trust is everything in a human-parrot relationship… I don’t think I’d have the heart to break that trust and remove the tent later on. So! We proceed with a hammock and Cozy Corner!

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Next is a chew toy! The Firecracker Explosion by Bagel Toy Creations! This is an exceptionally fun toy for all sized birds. Papaya is small enough that he should be able to use this as a swing as well. The toy is stuffed with shredded paper for chewing, and almonds (Papaya’s favorite!). The small rings holding the finger traps on are called “bird bagels”; they can be shredded by parrots by peeling, like a roll of tape. The large ring to which everything is attached is also a bird bagel… so you’re getting the bang for your buck here. Keep in mind, while a bird is chewing and using its beak, it’s generally not making loud noises… so if noise control is an issue for you, this is a great toy for your bird! Hours of fun!

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I will be writing a full post about Papaya’s diet as soon as I have consulted with my avian vet for final approval next week. I will reserve my comments about Harrison’s pelleted bird food until then. However, I was extremely pleased to see that My Safe Bird Store carries this food. Furthermore, the price is around $4-5 cheaper than how much it sells for at Amazon. That’s the cost of another toy or two there! I’m always interested in reading the back of food bags, so I’ve included pictures so you can see what Harrison’s suggests for feeding.

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Stainless steel coop cups are a must for food and water! Note again the individual wrapping. These were not the best cups I’ve ever seen… if you look closely at the rims, you’ll see that they are a bit rough. Also, I got the 5 oz. size and they were much smaller than I was expecting. This is okay for now because I have some other food dishes for Papaya, and I know he likes to eat vegetables on a flat surface. However, if I had to go back, I’d probably get a larger size, and spring the extra few dollars for a better brand. Three dishes is often a safe bet, if you have a larger size (e.g. 10 oz). This allows one for water, one for pelleted and dry food, and one for vegetables/fruits.

Plastic dishes can leach compounds into the birds food and water, can harbor harmful bacteria, and will need to be replaced over time. Ceramic crocks can crack and chip, becoming dangerous if your bird is exposed to a sharp edge or possibly decides to eat the chipped pieces. Stainless steel dishes do not have these problems – they are easy to clean, dishwasher safe, non-toxic, indestructible by your parrot, and in my opinion, look nicer. Make the investment on stainless steel!

Vet wrap in assorted colors! They were running a BOGO deal on this, and I knew I could use it. Vet tape or wrap only sticks to itself…not to birds’ feathers or your skin. It is ideal for wrapping around slippery perches (like manzanita branches or PVC playgyms), and provides cushion on wooden dowel perches, which can cause stress on your bird’s feet when bare. I found that it fixes securely, is easy to work with, and was very useful when making a lot of the bird toys. (I even covered the rougher portions of the coop cups with it!)

This is a Sola Ball. It is made of Sola wood peels. I had wanted something that was softer to chew, almost like vegetable tanned leather strips, because baby birds love that. Birds are especially tactile at a young age. This was an amazing find, and super cheap! The texture is almost like foam, if that makes sense, but I like it better because it is a natural product.

And now we proceed to my favorite part of the haul: THE BONUS BAG!

Totally unexpected, and very much appreciated! This little bag came full of little various wooden pieces that are perfect for toy making or simply as foot toys for your birds! I was hoping to buy some for Papaya, but had opted out at the last minute. Boy, was I pleased when I saw they had sent some anyways as an added gift! The cutest part was that they recognized all members of the family. In addition to these bird treats were treats for our “furry family members”: a package of dog biscuits. I shall be saving these for Quinn the corgi. Finally, I opened the last bag. It was a popcorn bag, and after seeing the dog biscuits, I assumed it contained edible parrot treats.

I was wrong! All alone, I literally exclaimed, “Shut up!” when I saw what was in the bag. It was filled with chocolate for the household humans… and they only gave the good stuff!!! That silver wrapper is a York Peppermint Patty! Needless to say, I gobbled all of this up in about ten minutes. Nom, nom 🙂

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Here’s a final view of everything that will be going into Papaya’s cage! I’ve included the items from the My Safe Bird Store haul, as well as some other items I had made/purchased separately. You can see that some of the toys (e.g. the boing) are only half complete. Papaya is definitely going to be one spoiled baby!

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Stay tuned for our next post which will be all about Papaya’s new flight cage. I’m hoping to include a tutorial or two…and maybe even a video! Also, in the coming week as I am getting the house ready for Papaya, I will be adding a page to the Parrot Info tab on how to parrot-proof your home!

Thanks for reading!