Please forgive me if i am out of line here but i heard bout tooth brushes are bad for birds ... i heard bout this at one of the bird club meetings here in tulsa has anyone else heard this i heard about metal or something in the brushes or something like this

I have never heard this. I have a toothbrush in my quakers and little green cheek conure cage. Althought they don't do much with them!

I know I've seen a lot of toys made with toothbrushes but I have read on two different sites that they aren't safe...

-QP Society

-It's a Grey World

Hope that helps!

I read several articles about toothbrushes, and what I came away with was...

- "SOME" toothbrushes have metal rings, or wedges that hold the bristles in place.

So, I would say go shopping, and find a toothbrush that is clear, so you can verify that it does not contain metal. I actually bought a couple, and there were quite a few that had metal in them (that i could see), so the warning is not unfounded, but does not apply to "all" toothbrushes.

oH THANKYOU CASEYS MOM SO MUCH I KNEW I HAD HEARD IT SOME PLACE AND IT WAS AT THE BIRD CLUB NOW THAT I HAVE HAD TIME TO THINK BOUT IT ... BUT THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR STATING AND GIVING ME THOSE FACTS WHICH I KNOW WAS GIVEN TO ME A WHILE BACK... WE HAVE A LOT OF NEWBIES COMING IN HERE ALL THE TIME AND THEY HAVE NO IDEA... TY AGAIN

EEEK - I guess I'll take Harleys toothbrush from him...Thanks Casey's Mom....but I sure can't see any metal....guess it must be there somewhere......

it was is a Bird Talk magazine article a few months ago and said not to give them to birds...better safe than sorry. I thought is said because of lead but i dont remember

I never gave Charlie a toothbrush because I was always worried about the bristles coming loose. I didn't want him to swallow them or even possibly choke on them. I'm not sure if he would but I wanted to be safe than sorry.

NO!! Toothbrushes are not safe! One of my avian vets, Dr. David Kersting, just published a paper last year releasing the findings of studies done on over thirty brands of toothbrushes. Of these thirty brands, twenty-seven of them contained small metal "staples" which held the bristles in place. These "staples" were anazlyed and found to be made of zinc. They are not bird safe. Dr. Kersting went on to discuss how he personally attended to three heavy metal toxicity cases involving these small pieces from toothbrushes, which resulted in two deaths.

I urge you to take any tootbrush away from your fids at once! I wish the timing could have been better in the release of Dr. Kersting's study, because just before he published the paper, Mattie Sue Athan released a book with a bird chewing on a toothbrush on the back cover.

What if you buy one of the 100% organic tooth brushes (they are clear - no metal) and are made from corn?

I can't answer about the organic toothbrushes ... sorry.

I was just wondering since the threat doesn't seem to come from the bristles, just possible toxins which a tooth brush like that wouldn't have.

so sorry here but like someone said earlier better safe than sorry ... there is plenty of bird safe toys at the birdfairs and i just want everyones birds to be safe here ...