Corks for toys!!

[meganma1994]

I’ve been putting small natural corks that I got off amazon in some foraging toys and on skewers and stuff for my eclectus to shred, and he will go down to the bottom of his cage (I have a bowl to catch his food) and pick up the corks and I’ll find him just sitting there chewing on them. How do I know he’s not ingesting them? Should I stop giving them in his toys?

 

[Ellie777Australia]

Hi Meganma, just spotted your post. There are lots of natural and coloured corks for sale under 'parrot toys'. Here is some info to help you make the decision to keep or remove corks:

This link of safe/unsafe wood list has cork listed on the right, in the safe column, as the cork comes from the bark of the cork oak not from the wood.
Bird; Birds: Safe, Toxic Trees, Woods. Safe Tree Wood. Parrots. Parrot cages.

In this same link you will note that Oak - Quercus- all parts/tannins is unsafe for parrots.

The making of a natural cork (using the bark of a Cork Oak) usually involves boiling then punching out the cork. However, the left over pieces will be reused using glue to make agglomerate cork, cork floor tiles etc.