Graphite?

[usamimi]

So Kevin has decided that none of her toys are fun when she sees a pencil. Since i'm an art student, this is pretty frequently. She can literally shred them down to the graphite and then shred that to pieces.

I know she's not eating it, but more tearing the wood to shreds but I do want to make sure its not harmful for her. I tried giving her chopsticks to shred instead but no, only pencils cut it with her. Obviously i'm not going to just sit and feed her pencils, but I want to make sure the times they're stolen and not retrieved won't be terribly harmful.

 

[cnyguy]

The "lead" in pencils is mainly graphite and clay, not necessarily harmful in themselves-- but not especially good for a parrot to chew on either. A bigger risk could be the coating of paint on the outside of the pencil, which may contain actual lead. I'd suggest getting some wooden dowels the same diameter as a pencil, and cutting them down to pencil size-- but Kevin may not like those any better than the chopsticks.

 

[PetoftheDay]

As long as you stick to good pencils (being a former art student, I'm guessing you're getting good ones, not the cheap #2 pencils made in China) it should be okay. It's not great for her, but if you have any friends with a sander or lathe, you could buy a few dowels and ask them to flatten the sides more like a pencil, which is likely what Kevin likes! Or make sure any pencils around have lead-free paint, which if they are American-made, and approved for children to use, they probably do.

 

[usamimi]

thanks guys, I didn't even think about the paint!

 

[roxynoodle]

And maybe if you "make" rods that look like pencils and color them with food dye she will like them more.

My conure will try to take everything she sees. Pens, pencils, my keys, the furbuster for the cat.

 

[usamimi]

i think its the soft shreddable wood that's the kicker because she's destroying some soft wood blocks right now. I guess i need to find a cheap balsa wood rod.

 

[PetoftheDay]

i think its the soft shreddable wood that's the kicker because she's destroying some soft wood blocks right now. I guess i need to find a cheap balsa wood rod.

If you call around, local carpenters or woodworkers may have some wood scrap they can set aside for you for free, just tell them what kinds of wood are bird safe. Most are pretty nice about it, as the small scraps are not good for much, and don't even burn for long in the woodstove!

 

[usamimi]

If you call around, local carpenters or woodworkers may have some wood scrap they can set aside for you for free, just tell them what kinds of wood are bird safe. Most are pretty nice about it, as the small scraps are not good for much, and don't even burn for long in the woodstove!

That's a great idea, I may go raid the scrap pile in the woodshop at school, there's usually a bunch of dowels.