Household Toys

Birds are notorious for being destructive... So in our family we give our birds household items to play with as toys because going to petsmart or where ever can get expensive when bird toys are 10$ a pop.

>Toilet paper tubes
--These are great! They can destroy these and they are fun for the birds to play with... if you want to get really creative:
                  * Take 5-7 tubes depending on the size of your birds (or more, depending on how many you have ;) ) and poke holes in the body of the tubes, different sizes of holes and in different places. (This allows the toy to look fun for the birds because of the design) Place a shoelace, chain, yarn or whatever you have through the hole and tie to the top of the birds cage so it hangs down. Your birds will love this, unless they are afraid of the tubes...
Before making this: check to see if your bird even likes the tubes... sometimes they are afraid of certain things, so it may take awhile to show them that it is OK to play with things.

>Socks
-- We always have mismatched socks laying around in our laundry room. Take them and tie knots in them and use them as out of the cage toys. My Too loves these. It may look like she is afraid of them, but she is just displaying her dominance over the socks. Both of our birds love the "drop game" with these socks. Just spend some time getting the birds used to the socks before letting them play with them! Watch your hands!

>Egg Cartons
--I saw a trick online about using an egg carton as a toy! You just take the egg carton and in the egg holes put little treats in it and then using a shoe lace, string or whatever you have hang it from the birds' cage or use it as an outside toy. They will destroy the cardboard part and find a little surprise on the inside! Personally my Too is afraid of it, but it might be a good toy for other birds!

>Dishrags
-- similar with the socks, just make sure there are no strings hanging off: that can be dangerous if you arent watching your bird closely

>Boxes
-- If you shop at costco or similar places that give you boxes, or use any household boxes that had food in them or whatever it may be, and just place in the bottom of your birds' cage! Our African Grey LOVES boxes. She goes through a big box a week and just chews it up and plays inside of it. *Make sure there is NO residue from food or anything in the box before you give it to them, because if you dont know what was in it, it could have been anything!

>Plastic water bottles/tupperware/washed out food containers
-- These are great! These should be used when you can supervise your bird because sometimes (especially with tupperware) these can become sharp and cut your babies toes, and sometimes they may eat them, Which is BAD. don't let them do that! We use water bottles as outside toys that our Too roles around and "attacks" then loves on them. She is silly.

>Dog Toys
-- Any dog toys or baby toys that you may have laying around the house usually work as bird toys too. We get tennis balls and let them have at it with the tennis balls. We also have given them old stuffed animals to love on, specially if they are super soft.

>Newspaper/Magazines
-- If you have the ads of a newspaper (the shiny papers) or magazines, sometimes birds will love to shred those! I know our birds love it! If youre doing a magazine, make sure all of the perfume pages are out and anything that could cause harm to your bird. Split the magazine in half and bunch some of the papers, fold others, and leave some.... Same with newspapers... This can be a little messy in the bottom of your birds house but they LOVE it. Make sure you clean the paper out often.

>Blankets
-- We use blankets as a cuddling time thing. Both of our birds love to cuddle in the blanket and play inside of it.... make sure the blanket isnt bunched up too much and there are no strings hanging off as that can be dangerous to your bird.

*Anything you do not want destroyed... KEEP AWAY FROM YOUR BIRDS, because they will destroy anything and everything... like windowsills, doors, latches, GLASS (big no-no... very dangerous), plants (also a no-no... could be poisonous!), and basically anything!*