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Sunday, October 26, 2014

Bird Toy Warning

This warning and photo came to us via Face Book. I cannot validate it, but do know that China has poisoned dogs and cats in the USA via pet food with Melamine in it. It tests like protein, but isn't. As my husband said, "If they'd put chicken droppings in the pet food, it would test as protein too and wouldn't poison pets. Dishonest and wouldn't provide any nutrition, but at least it wouldn't have killed them." Not just dishonest and greedy, but cruel.

It would not surprise me if Chinese bird toys are a risk too.


I have two bird ladders that are colored with dyes that run when wet. I'd have been happy to buy them as plain wood without the dyes, which look very much like those in the photo above. I've decided to remove the ladders from my cages. From now on, no painted or dyed wooden toys from China for any of my birds. Better safe than sorry.


One removed. One more to go.
This one was recently cleaned and dyes ran badly.

Zinc and lead are both dangerous for birds. How can we know if paint from outside the USA is lead free?
 

I almost hate to take this away from her. She likes it.


Fortunately Bourke Parakeets do very little chewing.
However, this ladder is coming out anyway.


All my cages have one or more of
these hard plastic mirror & bead toys.
All the birds use them to play with
the beads and even sleep on them.
 
It might be that hard plastic bird toys are safest, along with plain wooden dowels for perches. No dyed or painted things.

Peace & Blessings.
 
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4 comments:

  1. mpballetNovember 10, 2014 at 7:53 AM

    Thank for the warning, Gail! I lost my rosy Bourke's last May because she was ingesting the rope from the cotton rope perches. The autopsy showed it was in her crop, stomach and intestines. I still don't know why she would eat rope. Since I don't use cotton or rope bird perches or toys anymore, the cage is less colorful. But as you said, better safe than sorry.
    -Melissa

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  2. Gail A. LewisNovember 21, 2014 at 4:27 PM

    So Sorry, Melissa.

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  3. UnknownApril 26, 2015 at 11:19 AM

    Can someone tell me the difference between Rosey Bourke and Splendids? I'm not even sure if the Splendid is a Bourke. Are the names the same and refer to the same bird. If the names are to distinguish coloring, what are the coloring differences?

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  4. Gail (aka Rosie Bird) June 14, 2015 at 6:42 PM

    Cathy, If you look at the photos on this site, you can see the color differences. There are many Parakeet varieties of various sizes. Bourkes are beautiful, but they are not Splendids. Another name for Splendid Parakeets is Scarlet-chested Parakeets because the males have a scarlet red chest. Bourkes and Splendids are very different in personality and appearance. When I began this Blog, I was raising both of them and thought "Splendid Bourke" as a play on words was cute. I have since raised other small exotic birds as well. By the way, Bourkes cannot interbreed with any other variety of bird, not even Splendids.

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