Broken toy blues :(

[Vickiesbirds]

Decided to splurge on my birds again... yes AGAIN! Not like they don't have 50 toys in the cage already!!! I sold my old prom dress from high school and made 100 bucks... so of course 50 of that HAD to go to the birds I took a ride up to Petco... one of the only stores in my area that stocks bird toys... as much as I hate to support chains. I found this really awesome "babble ball"... it's a little red ball and when the bird hits it it makes a few animal sounds. Needless to say I brought it home and Remi and Tiki fell in love with it instantly... they were so fascinated by it! I was afraid they would be scared of it. Sadly, they played for about 5 minutes, and it stopped making sounds. It had a brand new battery, too. I think tomorrow I just might have to bring a VERY angry Remi to petco to file a complaint... I kept my receipt (luckily) and I'm gonna try to take it back. Does anyone else on here use the babble ball?

 

[nofearengineer]

Vickie, I'm going to try to be as nice as I can when I tell you to take that toy out and throw it in the trash.

Remember the parrot rule "if it's in my cage, I must destroy it."

Destroy means "chew to pieces."

I'm sure you wouldn't knowingly put any zinc items into your fids' cage, because it's poisonous.

The battery in that toy is about 1000X (at least) more toxic than zinc. Nickel-Cadmium, Nickel Metal Hydride, Lithium Ion...the list goes on. None of them belong in your mouth, and they definitely don't belong in your babies' cage.

The manufacturer's should be shot even for marketing such a toy. Parrots are not so lazy as human children that they need to be over-stimulated with an XBox. Parrots love simple things they can chew on, like a wood block, or a piece of cloth. Don't over-complicate things.

Consider the battery going bad to be an act of Providence, leading you to a higher wisdom.

 

[Vickiesbirds]

Thanks for the info! I was unaware how UNsafe this toy was, and as usual the was no warning on the package... of course not... they have to market it right?!?! I will say that I do know how poisonous zinc is though and know the dangerous effects. I have definitely read a lot of stories about that... and being the OCD person I am I even take metal hardware off my toys when I can, and go out to Lowe's and buy hardware I know for sure is 100% stainless steel... because any company could claim it was, when it often times isn't. I have heard waaaaay too many horror stories about birds dying from this, and it's a painful, horrible death. My guys really are not big on playing with chew/shred toys though... so I've been trying bunches of new things to find something that will stimulate them more. When I saw this one... I figured I'd try it out... thank you for warning me of the dangers, though. The battery thing honestly never occurred to me when I was purchasing and could have ended up making my babies very sick.

 

[Pheonix Rising]

Check out this website they stock premade toys and parts also

ParrotsPlay Bird Toys

good luck and don't let remi go to crazy on the petshop people when he tells them how deadly their product is lol

 

[Spiritbird]

I shall repeat this information because it is important for all bird people to know. Any product that says safe for animals does not include our birds. All it takes is one little slip with our birds and we have lost them. No one better here should kow than Norf.
Please be careful. Many of us make our own toys for a good reason.