Where to start: places that sell parts to make toys

[nifty]

Hi all!

I am really inspired by what I've seen in this forum and I want to try to maybe make a play gym and/or cage toys. Since I am a newbie at this and after doing some googling/searching, I am not quite sure where to buy the parts to make these toys.

I know that I can get dowel to make perches at a store like Home Depot. I assume I can find ropes made of sisal or hemp or polyester at these kinds of home improvement stores as well (I am not very handy so I really only go to HD to buy paint). I've read that the Dollar Store and craft stores may have some good stuff that can be used. Any other ideas for places to look that I'm missing?

I'm personally trying to find places that have liberty bells as my budgie lovesssssss liberty bells.

I found a few places online that have things to make toys but the shipping is usually really high to Canada and don't offer a cheaper USPS air mail option, or just don't ship here at all.

I love the stuff they have at Grey Feather Toys (i.e. something like this http://www.greyfeathertoys.com/cgi-bin/quikstore.cgi?store=&search=yes&detail=yes&product=323&category=Toy_Chest_-_Small_Bird_Toys&keywords=&hits_seen=&page=search.html would make my bird go nuts, with all those bells). :S

[atvchick95]

I wouldn't get anything from a dollar store except maybe a dog toy rope

I bought a flower pot holder from our dollar tree, Thought it was safe, it was covered the same way the birds cages are.

Well one of my baby budgies chewed on it and ended up dying So it was removed and I don't get anything but cat/dog toys at the dollar store


You can go to a craft store and get all kinds of beads, I've gotten colored (from the childrens section they're colored with food coloring) plain "raw" (not colored, stained etc) and poney (plastic) beads from ours.

you can also go to www.drsfosterandsmith.com and go to the toy section for birds and they sell "buckets" of toy parts to make your own, you get ropes, leather pieces, wooden pieces to make your own toys.

[Ann]

I wouldn't buy stuff from a dollar store either....

Here is a couple places online:

http://www.parrotdiseperch.com/parrot/shop.php?cat=48

http://www.birdyboredombusters.com/ As I mentioned in another thread.

So far I've just ordered toy parts from Birdy Boredom Busters, but I did deal with Parrotdise Perch too and they were also fine as far as I can tell.

There is another website called Healthy Bird but I've never dealt with them.

It's better to buy in quantity, at least that saves on shipping in the long run. Good luck and have fun.

[nifty]

Thanks for the links/recommendations! I'll check out those places and try to use my "crafty skills" to work up something awesome ;)

[aliahz]

hey,
this is a canadian bird toy store, has plenty of good stuff. I have never personally shopped from here, just found the site online :http://www.canadianbirdtoys.com/index.htm
I would recommend buying hemp, twine and rope. I have often reused beads and parts from my birds old, worn out toys.

[tessysoo]

Dollar Tree and $1 shops are just like any other store. You have to be careful what you buy. I don't buy anything colored or painted there but they do have "raw" wood beads, craft sticks, wooden spoons, and other wood shapes (as long as you don't get pressed wood shapes the ones that have several layers of wood "glued" together). They also have as said above dog rope toys that work well. Ours even has pony beads and shaped beads (but again don't used painted ones!). Some will have unwaxed paper cups which work good as foraging toys, shredded paper, muffin cups (the paper ones unwaxed but may be different colors), coffee filters etc.

Hobby stores also have lots of good things but be careful there as well, their leather lacing is usually chemically tanned instead of vegetable tanned which is the only way safe, in our hobby store nearest they do not have any "colored" wood beads only painted ones but they do have many shapes and sizes of plastic ones. They have many wood shapes but again watch for glues if made outside US and pressed wood pieces only get actual cut outs that are not glossy(stained or waxy). Vine and willow wreaths may be okay but ask to make sure they don't use a pesticide on them as some hobby stores use pesticides on their natural wood/plant products because they aren't for consumption, others don't use them.

Home depot, Lowe's etc can also be very good but watch your wire and chain as most are galvanized and you should only use either stainless steel or nickel plated. Pine boards etc you can cut yourself should be fine. One person reported that they spoke to a salesman that said the even "untreated" wood was sprayed with chemicals but both of our lumber stores say only treated lumber is of course treated the others have no chemical treatment so maybe you need to check at each individual store.

We actually make and even sell our own toys but you just have to check and be careful about what you do purchase. It is definitely possible to make nice safe and fun toys at home on a low budget.

[aliahz]

Here's another great Canadian website : http://www.birdyboredombusters.com/ that Ann posted in a recent thread (http://talkbudgies.com/showthread.php?t=32655) . You can see some of the toys she made are so creative and great.
Just thought I'd let you know in case you didnt see the other thread.

[Gilraen Took]

www.cabirdnerds.com also has a lot of stuff for sale at pretty good prices! I'm going to be going through them to get some stuff to add onto my conure's play gym. Found the site through another bird forum where a few people recommended it.

[jessica]

Dog rope toys are a no-no.

I get some great stuff from the dollar store, I got a 4 pack of colored 'practice baseball balls' which are large wiffle balls. I also got colored zip ties, and craft pom poms to put inside of the wiffle balls.

[Vickie]

A lot of the stuff they use in bird toys can be found in the party favors section of the dollar store, like the tiny maracas, tambourines, clappers, or the tiny ring toss game.

Have a look at this and see if you can find the exact same items in your dollar store: http://www.birdyboredombusters.com/plastic.html

Parts that I like in the craft section are the little decorative pacifiers, baby carriages, rattles, and tiny plastic mugs (great for foraging).
http://www.katspuppies.com/1.75_pacifier.jpg

Just be careful that any plastic parts are colored, not painted, i.e. the color can't be scratched off, similar to pony beads.


As for craft stores and other stores, you have to be careful there too! Don't just get sisal rope or hemp twine because it says sisal or hemp! It has to be unpolished, not waxed or chemically treated in any way. That goes for wood parts too.

I managed to find some untreated wood beads at a local bead shop. My birds are crazy about them, as well as the tiny decorative pacifiers, and these tiny untreated wooden pots with a hole in the bottom (easy to string up for a foraging toy). I've also heard of people using toy legos and K'NEX.