What dye to use?

[HRH Di]

Again, I have a little Alexandrine. He has been know, from time to time, as Destructo-Bird. I pretty much knew going into this that he needs toys to tear apart and that he'd go through them pretty quickly. However, I didn't realize that "quickly" meant a large wooden toy (think $30-ish) is gone in about 36 hours. And forget the wicker looking ones - they last a matter of minutes.

I don't really mind this, becuase it's who he is and keeps him happy and healthy. However, we all kinda want to save money where we can, right? We were told by a breeder and some web searching that untreated pine is safe for them. We found wooden door shims to be his favorite.

The breeder discourages using fruit/veggie based dyes like juices because some birds start to think of them as food. She also discourages synthetic dyes because it's just more chemicals. Since I keep forgetting to ask her, does anyone have some suggestions? He's okay with the natural color, but prefers bright colors.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Everything is "chemicals." Just that some are dangerous.

I'd recommend regular old food coloring from a grocery store. Cheap, easy, and safe.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

Just a pet peeve of mine "natural" usually doesn't mean safe, in fact often natural things are FAR more dangerous.

Almond flavor for example - the almond flavor that we notice comes from the chemical benzaldehyde. When synthesized in a lab we can get nearly pure benzaldehyde, and we are well aware of exactly what the 'impurities' are. This is artificial almond flavor. Natural almond flavor on the other hand does not come from almonds, it just comes from "nature." In fact it is extracted from peach pits which contain benzaldehyde. They also contain many other things, including cyanide.

It's similar with many (not all) natural/artificial flavors and colors. Artifiicial or synthetic just means that we used all this knowledge the human race has acquired over the millennia to make it safer, meanwhile nature has spent billions of years perfecting toxins for plants or animals to avoid being eaten.

It's a darn shame we humans discovered fire, pasteurization, antibiotics, vaccines, and the like. Surely living naturally would be better! :\

 

[HRH Di]

Thanks so much. I'll try that. We're trying to give him the safest, healthiest toys and foods.

I agree that natural doesn't mean safe. I work in the restaurant industry very close to (although not in) quality assurance so I know how packaging and media misconstrue - if not down right misrepresent - how safe and healthy something is.