I'm faced with what I assume is one of the most common new bird owner dilemmas.
Now that my QP is home and adjusting well, I'm educating myself through this forum, books, and online resources to plan and implement appropriate care for the long term health and safety of this special family member.
How can I evaluate what is safe and what isn't of the items I have already purchased as a major newbie? (who really thought she had done her homework in advance) I want make sure that I purchase wisely to ensure a long and healthy bird life.

So many of the health issues that are discussed seem symptomatic of possible environmental issues like ingesting toxins and that is really frightening.

The feeding part is easy. Getting the birdies to co operate a bit of a challenge, but the guidelines are pretty clear... especially with the methods and tips shared on this forum.

We can throw away the non stick items and avoid the aerosol irritants. They aren't grey areas either.

The short and long term safety elements of environment like cages, toys, and all of the non food stuffs we surround our birds with is my greatest cause of concern. It is not so easy to discern that the components are indeed safe.

For example:

My particular bird chews on everything (except himself, thank goodness). He has plenty of toys, natural perches, a calcium perch, even the wood dowel perches that came with the cage. There are rope toys with plastic accessories, toys with bells that he loves SO much to ring like crazy...but here we go... even if I make sure they are secure, they aren't stainless so they could be a danger... He chews on his food dishes... especially as we are transitioning to pellets ( the original plastic that fit in the sliding doors most of all) Toys and the clasps that hold them...all latches...he even runs his beak up and down the bars of his cage when he is excited ( testing to see if they may slide it appears) I move things around, change toys weekly, he gets lots of one on one play time...seems to be very well adjusted and happy.

But the more I read the more I worry. At around 100 grams there isn't much margin for error on this one.

My FID just really loves to chew...He especially likes to slide his notched end dowel perches down and then fuss for me to put them back. I carefully secured one with a fine but sturdy piece of electricians coated wire twisted snug and carefully tucked into the notched end. That was a joke and I immediately realized that could be a real hazard as he started picking the coating off the wire in seconds.

I think he'd enjoy some type of loose materials to "nest" with...but even paper poses hazards... I wonder how much of what I have acquired up to this point is actually safe.

I read that many folks attach toys and cage accessories with zip ties...he chews them like crazy and I worry that the plastic is toxic.

How do we know which clasps aren't zinc...All of mine came with toys labeled "safe", but I'm not confident that they actually are.

I took a quick release clasp to the hardware store that was identified on the toy package as stainless. They told me it probably wasn't because it doesn't say SS on the product. None of my clasps say SS...AAARGH!

I bought a ladder the first week I owned R3boot of "safe" wood specially designated for small birds that noted Quakers on the list as size appropriate. When the ladder arrived, Immediately I could see that the rungs were too close together for him to fit through and he could conceivably get hung up.

A stainless cage is ideal I realize, and was my goal, but has been vetoed by husband when he saw the price. I saw it as a lifetime investment, but he feels it is going overboard...

So how to buy a safe cage and furnish with safe toys?

If some of you who have been doing this for years can share your personal experiences for peace of mind as a Quaker "parront" I think it would benefit all of the newbies like myself.

Ideally, preferred sources, model numbers, and brands of specific items would be most helpful. Thanks so much for your expert input.

(At this time, I'm waiting for my first months set of 3 "guaranteed safe, breed specific" bird toys to arrive, and I'll gladly share pictures and r3boot's review when they do...)

Both of mine run their beaks around their bars and Clyde likes to hang on the side of his cage in a specific spot and just chew on the bars. Sort of like that's his pacifier or something. He's always done that and this is his third (and hopefully last) cage.

Jade chews more than Clyde does on her toys and the things that connect the toys to the cage and they're all bird toys, from various sources but mostly the local pet shop. Both have ladders. Clyde's is natural colored and Jade's is multicolored, but it's vegetable-based dye. Nearly all bird toys are colored with that.

You can try Birdy Boredom Busters (they're online) for plastic things to connect toys to the cage rather than metal things, or Drs. Foster and Smith (online and once you order, you start getting catalogs regularly) and both of them have bird-safe toys and parts to make your own toys. I think you're worrying about some things that you don't have to worry about. Paper, for example. Paper towels or adding machine tape or coffee filters could make good shredding toys and they won't hurt him. You can go to your local newspaper office and they'll have end rolls of newsprint (these come in HUGE rolls for printing the paper, but once it gets down to a certain point, they have to replace it, and there's still lots and lots of paper left for household use like bird cage liner and for kids to color and so forth, and it's cheap because they just want to be rid of it).

Zip ties won't hurt him and it's MUCH better for him than electrician's wire. The bells attached to bird toys, if you bought them from a reputable pet shop, are safe for him to chew on and he's probably beaking them rather than chewing -- that is, just messing with them, not trying to chew them up. Their beaks are like an extra hand and they explore stuff with them. Unless he's Super Bird, he won't be able to do much damage to his food and water cups even if he does chew on them. I have a budgie who is Mr. Destructo and he chews on everything that doesn't run from him, and he's fine. I buy toys for him just so he has something to destroy! His favorite swing has all kinds of marks on it from him chewing on it.

Monica is wonderful at grey Featherd Toys....
They sell stainless steel stuf and all safe toy parts ..
Tell her I recommended you if you contact her..she is very helpful and I am downunder in Australia and she is my favorite toy supplier regardless of cost I feel safe buying from her...

http://www.greyfeathertoys.com/cgi-bin/qui...p;affiliate_id=

I use hobby cord to tie my boys things to the cage rather than the plastic ties...
Its so great that you are being vigilant ..metal poisoning freaks me out as I have lost a bird to this in the past... I`ll post a few links you can see what toys/items may cause problems....
Best of luck..

http://www.multiscope.com/hotspot/metals.htm

http://www.avianweb.com/heavymetalpoisoningbirds.html

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww14eiii.htm

ok, first step. stop, take a breath, and RELAX. we all do our best to provide the best and safest environment for our feathered babies. it sounds to me like you are well on your way to a wonderful, long life with your fid. you get big props from me on doing research and learning as much as you can. but i also think sometimes we get bombarded with too much information and we start to overthink things, and then we start to question EVERYthing we are doing, right or wrong. if you look long/hard enough, you will find information supporting or against anything. i think we all went thru a period where we were positive what we were doing wasn't enough, or safe, or we were sure we were gonna do something that would harm our beloved fids. or our human kids too.

my birds are not lacking for toys or toy options, trust me. i am overloaded with toys for them. the most popular items in our house are hard plastic baby keys or rattles (the quakers don't like the rattles too much, but the CAG loves them). i loaded up on them, and still do, at garage sales. i run them thru the dishwasher before using them, of course. and link a doos. i connect toys with the link a doos, and the quakers like to chew on the links too. hard plastic chain from the hardware store is something we use too, and you can tie fleece thru the links for him to chew on. i got some dog ropes at target for $1 each, zipped 2 of them together, and had an instant and cheap perch, with loose rope on the end to use as a preening area. toy batons wrapped in vet wrap for a perch. bottle caps from milk or soda bottles. legos. you can get little plastic baskets and attach them to the cage with a zip tie and make a toy box. i don't see the birds playing with their toy box items much, but know they do because they empty the boxes daily lol. finger traps to shred and chew up. plastic baby shower things - little hard plastic pacifier things. plastic practice golf balls (mini wiffle balls). you get the idea.

SS is the best metal to get, but it's a pricey investment at the outset of getting set up with supplies. our hardware store has color coded tags to differentiate between zinc plated and SS and nickel plated. the price difference will tell you also. if you purchase supplies from a bird toy business you can probably be assured that the materials are all bird safe, but those tend to be a bit pricier. you can find suitable supplies at the hardware or craft store also, usually at a cost savings. just become a rabid label reader and you should be ok.

have fun with this, because letting your creativity loose to make toys is really relaxing once you get going. bird man also makes a lot of toys, you could ask him where he gets his supplies from.

kris