Please show me your wiffle ball toys?

[MomtoPercy]

I was very excited to find a pack of golf training balls during a business trip earlier this week. I thought I could at last also make some wiffle ball toys for my fids.

However, everything I've tried looks like poop (and not good poop either!)

I need some tips and ideas. Anyone care to share?

The balls I have are just over 5 centimetres wide and the holes are about 5 millimetres wide.

Inspire me!

 

[Betrisher]

You could stick chopsticks in the holes and make a chewy hedgehog.

You could poke food treats through and/or into the holes and make a foraging toy (peanut, almond, dried fruit, carrot stix etc).

You could use a very large crochet hook and pull loops of shredded paper through the holes and make a foot toy.

You could do the same thing with (clean) grass or shredded lettuce, kale or other green leafy veg.

You could string a few of the balls onto coathanger wire or paulie rope and fix the ends so the toy hangs horizontally. Birdies can move the balls back and forth along the wire/thread.

You could hang them vertically instead to make a peck-toy.

You could get some long, skinny SS bolts, poke one right through each ball and add a nut (preferably a wing-nut - not the bird, the hardware! LOL!) at the other end. Birds like wiggling nuts off. This could be a foot toy, or you could hang it so the bolt is opposite where birdie sits and he can worry at it to his heart's content. If he manages to winkle the nuts off, use a magnet to find them at the bottom of the cage (my eyesight is not that good - it takes me a while to find them just by looking).

PS. If you make a foraging toy, hang the ball by a string or bit of paulie rope from the perch. It doesn't take long for a bird to learn how to 'fish' the ball up to his foot, where he has the job of holding it while he winkles the food treats out.

PPS. I haven't tried this yet, but here's another idea. Drop the whiffle balls in boiling water and let them heat up for a few minutes. When they're soft and pliable, see if you can't force two or three pony beads in through one of the holes: I'm sure you can get 5mm pony beads. When the balls cool down, the beads should be firmly (safely) stuck inside and make a jingly toy to hang or to use as a foot toy.

Hope this helps?

 

[khaiqha]

I put sunflower seeds in the balls and taught my bird to roll them around till one falls out. It's awesome, he looks like he's playing soccer when he does it.

 

[MomtoPercy]

Ooooh!!!! What GREAT ideas!! Thanks guys!

 

[Birdman666]

I take preening rope, and tie it through the holes and let it dangle. The result is something I call "fuzzy balls"

I cut one of the holes with a sheer, so that I can stuff treats and foot toys, inside the balls, and this turns them into cheap foraging toys.

Then I take those old fashioned, obsolete wooden clothes pins, and jam them into the holes so that they are tough to take out. Those become foot toys and chew toys.

I run sisal rope through the center, and just knot it at both ends with a big knot, and then hang it up with a quick link on the line under the knot.

 

[getwozzy]

I love all these ideas!!!! Especially Trish's with the chopsticks!!!!

 

[DallyTsuka]

you can use them as a lid for foraging cups...




stuff pony beads into them to rattle (can do this as a foot toy as well)





or if you get some big ones too you can make a snow man, pack them with shredders and timothy hay and such

 

[MomtoPercy]

Wow!! So many great ideas!! Thanks a ton, everyone!!

 

[getwozzy]

Ok, I didn't have any chopsticks, but I have plenty of Popsicle sticks!!

So here's my wiffle ball toy- chili is currently destroying it at great speed lol

 

[MomtoPercy]

That is super, Shirre!! Thanks for the pic

 

[Terry57]

Shirre, I am making that tomorrow. I think I can do this one Where do y'all get your wiffle balls? Walmart or somewhere like that?

 

[getwozzy]

Shirre, I am making that tomorrow. I think I can do this one Where do y'all get your wiffle balls? Walmart or somewhere like that?

Walmart most likely has them in the sports section, I've also gotten some medium ones at the dollar store, but this big green one was from a toy I bought from Petco a year ago, and nobody seems to care for it- so it got dissected!!!! Hahha

 

[Birdman666]

Shirre, I am making that tomorrow. I think I can do this one Where do y'all get your wiffle balls? Walmart or somewhere like that?

Dollar store. Five for a dollar.

They even have the multi colored ones...

Clothes pins too. Those are two dozen for a dollar.

 

[Gizmomania]

What a great new way to utilize my kids' old Pokemon cards! Awesome!!!!!

 

[Anansi]

Ok, I didn't have any chopsticks, but I have plenty of Popsicle sticks!!

So here's my wiffle ball toy- chili is currently destroying it at great speed lol

Is it just me, or does Shirre's galah look like it is actually laughing with delight? Quite the endorsement!

@Trish: Impressive! You are a one woman creative think tank! Sweet ideas!

 

[MomtoPercy]

LOL!! You're right!!! So cute!!

 

[getwozzy]

LOL! You should've seen her while I was trying to make it!

Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you done yet?!!?

 

[MomtoPercy]

LOL! You should've seen her while I was trying to make it!

Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you done yet?!!?

LoL!!! So funny! Percy is like that when I'm attaching foraging toys to his cage. Sometimes he rips the rope I want to tie it on with, from my hand and just goes for it.

 

[Starlit_Night]

I've pulled apart the wiffle ball and stuffed with shredded paper, pony beads and treats. Then I thread some thin rope through the ball and fed beads on either side of the string (knotting so they don't fall out). Then repeat. Kind of looks like a giant spider. I've hung the toys on Aleta's boing and she loves pulling the paper bits out of there and throwing them down on the dogs. No pics at work, but if I remember tonight, I'll try to post one.

 

[Terry57]

Starlit Night, where did you find your whiffle balls? I looked at the Dollar store and Walmart today and could only find the little golf ball sized ones. I am really wanting some larger ones as well but am stumped as to where to look. I guess I will try Toys R Us tomorrow, but I think they will probably be expensive there