oh my gosh. Nightmare!
Lady (10-21-2014)
Oh my, nightmare indeed~ How devastated this pet parent must be . How are we supposed to know what is safe if we need a lab to test the products that we import. Guess it goes to show that we need to buy local and be extra careful. Home made is looking better and better everyday.
He wanted to live. He was my Heaven... He's gone!
It is easy to make your own bird toys and have peace of mind.
I completely agree! This is why I usually make my own, they may not look as pretty but the birds do the same thing with them and I feel comfortable!
Lady (10-21-2014), plax (10-21-2014), spiritbird (10-21-2014)
I just re-found (thrown behind the couch by a bird) a new toy I'd bought for Orsino and noticed it had a lot of painted wood on it - checked the tag: Made in China. That one's going in the trash, I'm so scared I'm not even going to tempt fate...
spiritbird (10-26-2014)
Try to Google bird toys made in USA and see if you like the results. Here is one I found.http://www.birdtoysandparrottoys.com/
Last edited by spiritbird; 10-26-2014 at 03:27 AM.
froggij (10-26-2014)
It's not OK in my mind that a random company can make and advertise bird toys when they don't even care (or neglect to find out) that whatever is in the toy could harm or even kill a bird.
There once was an online parrot supply store called Persnickety Parrot, a really nice site. They used to donate one toy a month to my other bird forum's contest. (The one I am a staff member of.) The owner was wonderful, it's too bad they went out of business. I once bought a toy from there, one of those comfy hanging hut things (I can't remember specifically which one it was or the brand or anything) and a previous bird of mine (a sun conure by the name of Kiki) managed to get her foot badly caught up in thread that she pulled out. I don't know how long she was hanging from it, but as you can imagine, I was absolutely HORRIFIED when I walked into the room to her struggling. I unhooked the toy and frantically tried to untie Kiki's foot from the thread but it was somehow incredibly tight and wrapped around multiple times. It was digging into her skin and you could tell she was in pain. At that point I was crying and yelled for my mom to come help me, and we finally got her out. That toy was IN THE TRASH. I posted on the forum about this shortly after, and the owner of Persnickety was horrified as well and removed the product from her online store permanently. (In addition, she sent me another, much safer sleeping hut absolutely free in my next order...she was so kind!)
We can't change what toys are produced and sold in stores around us, at least not immediately. But what we can do as a bird-loving community is become knowledgeable ourselves on what is and isn't safe for birds, and warn each other when a certain toy turns out to be dangerous.
Lady (10-26-2014), PlaxMacaws (10-26-2014), spiritbird (10-26-2014)
Here is another US toy maker. http://www.parrotstreasure.com/parro....html#seasonal Canadian toy makers are good also. You will find the shipping cost not much different from US makers.