View Full Version : Bird Kabob
spiritbird
09-19-2014, 12:56 PM
First of all may I suggest a new forum for Unsafe Toys with photos of them. It's really is important to know other peoples experiences so you can avoid purchasing them. Here is one that I read about in another forum that many birds love. The Bird Kabob. This person's bird was eating away at the soft wood and it got his wing caught in the rope. The bird struggled and the rope continued to wrap around the wing. Eventually the owner unwrapped the rope from the wing and it looks like the bird is OK. I dare say what you happen if she had not been home at the time. The suggestion was to remove the wood pieces from the string and put them on a skewer.
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Admin Note: The suggested subforum has been created. Accordingly, this thread has been renamed and moved to the new location (Dangerous Toys & Accessories). All dangerous bird toy and accessory warnings may be placed in the new subforum.
spiritbird
09-20-2014, 12:22 PM
Bump
Dianne, your idea about a forum for unsafe bird toys is a good one. If I create a new category for them it will be a subforum under this forum as its parent section. However, my concern is that a great many of the hanging toys that we all use on a consistent basis can reasonably be considered unsafe, in that the cords/ropes/strings/chains/etc. which are strung through the components can easily loop around the neck of a bird and strangle it. This risk becomes present when the toy components are progressively broken away by a bird causing a greater length of the cord/rope/string/chain/etc. to be thus exposed. Gravity holds the remaining components on the bottom portion of the ligature which makes it extra dangerous should it become wrapped around the bird. I'm fairly sure most of us use this type of toy in our bird cages at times. Each time I visit a parrot supply or pet store and look through their toy section (wall or rack) I see that a disturbingly large percentage of the toys are potentially dangerous. That's quite bothersome to me. Such toys typically don't come with warnings and the store clerks never say anything about the dangers when we make our purchases. Lots of folks don't think of this real risk and frequently leave their birds alone with this hanging style of toy. If we dedicate a subforum to this serious problem, I fear we may never keep up with posting about such toys since they are virtually everywhere :(
I'll give some serious thought to creating the new subforum, Dianne. But I'm unsure what to do about the ubiquitous nature of unsafe bird toys. If you have some ideas about this dilemma, I'd be glad to hear them.
Thanks
Well here is my 2 cents worth. Maybe if it is more like showing how certain toys have become unsafe and hopefully some suggestions on keeping an eye out for certain things as suggested. I also agree that most can become dangerous at some point. It is always a good idea to examine your babies toys everyday.
Hey guys,
Lady had an incident with a toy today but she didn't get hurt, we were real lucky. I was sitting with all the recent purchases from MSBS to once again update her current toy when she kept trying to take the strand I was working on away from me. I notice she kept after a particular toy so I gave her one that I was not using. She was content but still quite close to me and what I was working on so I kept looking up at her to keep a watchful eye.
Well, she put down the toy she had and started heading for what I had, she stepped onto the toy and her toe went into the hole on the toy. As she lifted her foot up to take another step the toy was still on her and she started making a strange noise as she begun to try to get it off. I reached for the toy to help but couldn't see it too well as her head and beak were all over it trying to get it off. Gratefully she did and then kept on walking right for the one I was fixing.
The purpose of this post it to let all of you know that even tho it is a safe toy and a foot toy at that, her little toes fit right into the hole on it. This is definitely a toy she will never have unsupervised or as a foot toy. I do however have it strung on the chain currently hanging in her cage, but I am a bit unsure if I want to keep in in there.
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From what you've described, Alice, it sound like the main concern may have been Lady panicking had she not been able to get the toy off of her toe. I'm glad she was able to free herself from it! I would think if those things are strung up and hanging she may still be able to poke her toes through them and get them stuck. But I'm sure you'll be watching her closely if you leave the toy hanging in her cage :)
Hi Tony,
Honestly, I was panicking as well. Even tho things happened so quickly, I knew I was in for a bite if I had to help her in any way. I don't see how she would get her toes into the toy now because she has never climbed about the cage, her feet are always on her perches unless of course she goes to the bottom on the grid.
Hi Tony,
Honestly, I was panicking as well. Even tho things happened so quickly, I knew I was in for a bite if I had to help her in any way.I understand. Sometimes it's the only way, though :(
I don't see how she would get her toes into the toy now because she has never climbed about the cage, her feet are always on her perches unless of course she goes to the bottom on the grid.But didn't you put it there in hopes that she'll go up and play with it? If she does, hopefully it will be when you're home.
Yes, I would of taken the bite or bites, whatever it took to get her toe out of the toy. And yes surely I added it to a chain strand of different textures of toys so she could play with it but it is within her reach on either of the perches that she uses near it. I will be home this week from work and if I even had the slightest doubt that she could get her toes into it believe me, I would not allow it in her cage.
spiritbird
09-22-2014, 01:18 PM
I think a sub forum would be fine. Most people will not post unless they have had an incident of injury to the bird. You could call it Bird Injuries from Toys or something like that.
I think a sub forum would be fine. Most people will not post unless they have had an incident of injury to the bird. You could call it Bird Injuries from Toys or something like that.Noted. And I'm thinking it over. I'll make a decision soon. Thanks, Dianne.
froggij
09-26-2014, 04:17 AM
Can I just say that those hanging bird tents some stores sell are quite dangerous? Had one for Dori when we first got her because she was a snuggle bug, she'd snuggle anything she could and she loved going in there and sleeping in it at night. Well we didn't see her chewing on it one day, apparently she'd gotten a strand of the material loose and she got caught in it. Luckily we were home and I rushed over at the first sign of her distress call, and luckily no harm was done, but she'd put her head through the thread and gotten a foot caught in it too by the time I'd gotten over there. She could've been in serious trouble, I'm so thankful it happened while we were home and could rush over to her.
Can I just say that those hanging bird tents some stores sell are quite dangerous? Had one for Dori when we first got her because she was a snuggle bug, she'd snuggle anything she could and she loved going in there and sleeping in it at night. Well we didn't see her chewing on it one day, apparently she'd gotten a strand of the material loose and she got caught in it. Luckily we were home and I rushed over at the first sign of her distress call, and luckily no harm was done, but she'd put her head through the thread and gotten a foot caught in it too by the time I'd gotten over there. She could've been in serious trouble, I'm so thankful it happened while we were home and could rush over to her.Thanks for the warning on the snuggle huts/bird tents, Jen. I'm so glad you were nearby to rescue Dori from her tangled predicament! I've read other terrible stories about those things as well. Some bird accessories really seem too dangerous to be worth the risk :(
Oh geez, I just watched a DIY on making one of those with a sock and cardboard. Other folks have also said the same. It sure is something we all need to watch, just because we never know and it's better to be safe than sorry.
What do you use now for Dori Jen, if anything.
I put a new hanging bird toy on Salsa's cage-mounted t-perch yesterday morning. It was a toy with lots of wooden pieces to tear apart. I hung it with a stainless steel quicklink, but stupidly missed that there was one of the cheap and flimsy, plated imitation quicklinks nestled between the wood chunks. The toy was new. It was actually two toys tied together (joined by the cheap quicklink). Yesterday evening, I noticed a glimmering point on the floor below Salsa's perch. It was part of the sleeve from the cheap qucklink that Sals had ripped off and split apart. I realized what it was and then found the hook portion of the cheap quicklink still nestled between the wood chunks of the toy. I found what was left of the sleeve on the floor (the remaining pieces).
Salsa tends not to swallow the non-food items he breaks up, so I'm reasonably sure that he didn't ingest any of the pieces. But the potential for zinc intoxication from doing so is extremely frightening to consider :(. I immediately called and spoke with my vet and described the situation. We talked about zinc toxicity from ingested metal parts and about my careful and ongoing observation of Salsa over the next several days. Naturally, if he shows any signs at all of feeling ill I will bring him in for assessment and treatment. I really don't think he ingested any of the pieces at this point, though. The treatment for zinc intoxication involves a regimen of chelation therapy to remove the zinc from a bird's system, in conjunction with various digestive tract purging techniques. Salsa is himself and feeling great this morning, thankfully :)
So please be alerted concerning the cheap fasteners and chains that come on many retail bird accessories! A great number of them contain zinc. If your bird doesn't enjoy chewing on metal objects, you may have far less to worry about. And obviously it's the big guys who have the power and thus the greatest likelihood for crushing apart metal objects.
Note: I'm still deciding how to arrange a dangerous bird accessory forum category per Dianne's suggestion.
My goodness, we sure are finding issues. It's good to keep others aware of what we have been experiencing. Who knew? I am so very glad none of our birds have had any bad results.
Keep on your toes everyone so we don't have bad results!
froggij
09-26-2014, 06:13 PM
Oh geez, I just watched a DIY on making one of those with a sock and cardboard. Other folks have also said the same. It sure is something we all need to watch, just because we never know and it's better to be safe than sorry.
What do you use now for Dori Jen, if anything.
I have one of those obnoxiously neon yellow snuggle buddies in the corner for her that's thicker and I don't think she gets her beak around it, but we waited a while after that to get her anything else so she kind of forgot about chewing on them. The snuggle buddy ties right into the corner and she can't get at the ties if you do it right, and the walls of it are pretty thick and fluffy, so I think she gave up chewing it. This is, however, the same bird who is small enough and wiley enough that we now have to cut any (cleaned and glue-free) toilet paper tubes down the side for because she was smart enough to get stuck inside of one before. I'm sure if she decides to chew it, I will have to take the snuggle buddy out, but for now it's in good condition and she doesn't seem to want to nest in it.
If you have a smaller bird, cut your tp and paper towel tubes people. Not just shorten the length of the tube, cut it right up the side so that it's not a solid tube and they can push out of it if they have to. They WILL employ the "if I can put my beak in it, I'll get into it somehow" method of bird-ing. Again, I was home for that one, and while it could have been serious it wasn't, so I laugh about it. Her little feet were sticking out one end...
Those two are really the only toy mishaps we've had, the tent and the tube.
So please be alerted concerning the cheap fasteners and chains that come on many retail bird accessories! A great number of them contain zinc. If your bird doesn't enjoy chewing on metal objects, you may have far less to worry about. And obviously it's the big guys who have the power and thus the greatest likelihood for crushing apart metal objects.
I'm so glad Salsa's doing okay! That must have been so scary. Thankfully my birds aren't big enough to destroy the metal hooks, that had to be terrifying to find. I kind of want to go replace all my hooks now with rope. I have however noticed that a lot of toys I get from my favorite bird store in town (the one I got Dori from) has stopped using metal links on their toys - they now use chewable loops made out of the same fibrous rope-like stuff they make the majority of their toys out of, and I'm really thankful for that. Dori doesn't chew the hook we use to keep one of her cage doors shut, but she does flip it with her beak to make noise because she knows it aggravates me and she wants attention.
Has anyone had a mishap with a bell? I am always afraid to get bell toys because I'm worried my birds will pull out the clapper and either chew them or slice their feet on them if they get them loose in the cage...
I have one of those obnoxiously neon yellow snuggle buddies in the corner for her that's thicker and I don't think she gets her beak around it, but we waited a while after that to get her anything else so she kind of forgot about chewing on them. The snuggle buddy ties right into the corner and she can't get at the ties if you do it right, and the walls of it are pretty thick and fluffy, so I think she gave up chewing it. This is, however, the same bird who is small enough and wiley enough that we now have to cut any (cleaned and glue-free) toilet paper tubes down the side for because she was smart enough to get stuck inside of one before. I'm sure if she decides to chew it, I will have to take the snuggle buddy out, but for now it's in good condition and she doesn't seem to want to nest in it.
LOL, we have a green one :th_biggrin:.
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