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Entertain your parrot today with our HUGE selection! We stock over 300 bird toys unique to the avian market! With the best prices on the best toys, they're sure to keep your parrot enthralled while you're away.
Browse all of our toys below, or narrow your search by using the subcategory links above:
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Providing Proper Toys & Enrichment
By Angie Johnson, Certified Avian Specialist
Toys are essential for a bird's well being, mentally and physically. They provide them with exercise and mental stimulation. Parrots are widely known for their intelligence and are thought to have the intelligence of a two year old human. Therefore, they require a bit of extra work to keep their minds occupied.
There are different toy groups that appeal to different senses for your bird. Some of them may entice their natural instinct to search for their food, while others provide them with an outlet for their pent-up energy:
1.) Destructive Toys: It's common knowledge that parrots chew, a lot. As the owner, you are responsible to provide for them toys that are meant to be destroyed. Soft Woods, Hard Woods, Rawhide (Dog bones), Leather, & weaved Palm Fronds are great examples of Destructive Toys. Not only do these toys help your bird express his natural urge to chew, but they also encourage & teach your bird to chew on acceptable items, which can save your furniture, woodwork & body quite a bit of pain.
2.) Sound Toys: Parrots love noise. They love hearing it and they love making it. These toys appeal to a bird's instinct to communicate as well as a toy to have fun with. Bells are a great noise making toy for birds. However, special care should be taken if your bird likes to rip the clinker out of the bell as small pieces may become ingested. If your bird is a clinker-ripper-outter, you should instead try the metal pipe bells that look like a wind chime. The clinker is enclosed inside the bell so the bird cannot get to it. Music boxes hung to the side of the cage can also teach your bird noises and other things that can keep your parrot entertained for hours.
3.) Interactive Toys: Interactive puzzle toys are most commonly seen in the form of acrylic or polycarbonate. They are usually indestructible, and feature many gears, pumps, and links for your bird to figure out. These puzzles are very important for parrots, since they stimulate the mind and prevent boredom. Beads are mainly featured on interactive toys for small birds. Parrots love to manipulate objects, and there are many great enrichment toys that offer the psychological benefits of the puzzle toys.
4.) Foraging Toys: Foraging is a crucial activity for captive parrots since wild parrots spend 50% of their day foraging. It is a very natural behavior, and provides them with not only the maximum amount of Mental Stimulation than any other activity, but also an interactive way to feed your birds versus throwing their food in a dish. I would like to highlight the importance of replicating these natural behaviors in captivity to improve the quality of life for companion parrots, and illuminate the importance of implementing these behaviors to occupy your bird's time with a productive activity.
5.) Snuggly Toys: Snuggly toys satisfy your bird's cuddly side. Any toy with a significant amount of fabric will fall into this category. Many birds who "over preen" themselves or pluck out their own feathers will appreciate having an outlet in which to exert their destructive tendencies on rather than on themselves.
6.) Exercise Toys: Boings, climbing nets, swings and foot toys would all fall into this category. Birds often seem fascinated with things they can do with their feet. Offer them an acrylic "toy box" that can be screwed onto the cage bars and fill it with interesting foot toys. The bird then has to open the toy box to play with its toys. Things like knotted ropes with beads and rings strung onto them, plastic balls with bells inside, and putting plastic rings onto straight wooden dowel perches, or wooden shapes will all satisfy your bird's various play needs. Also, birds typically like to hang out in the upper area of the cage, so its nice to provide something to do on the bottom for them to increase the cage space used by the bird.
7.) Play Gyms: Play gyms offer a wide variety of exploration and fun from a bird's perspective. It's a good idea to have at least 3 play areas outside of the cage for your bird to play on while you're home to supervise. Providing ambient attention is just as important as one-on-one time with your bird, and is strikingly easy to achieve. Ambient attention is when your bird is with you, but not on you. Having multiple designated play areas throughout your home where you usually hang out offer you and your bird the chance to bond through ambient attention.
When there is a toy that your bird does not seem to enjoy, temporarily remove the toy and re-introduce in a few weeks. Many birds will ignore a certain toy, but after is is removed for a short time and re-introduced, it becomes a new favorite that they never knew they had! A weekly rotation of toys can also spark renewed interest.
To ensure maximum usage from your bird and to make the most of your cage space, keep toys accessible at "beak height." Many toys incorporate a short chain with a link on the end to hang the toy from the ceiling of the cage. Hanging all your toys this way will result in all the toys being hung right at the top. Try buying long chains or ropes to help you decide the height that the toy will be hung at.
Boredom in parrots is often the root cause of destructive behavior such as feather plucking, mutilation, biting and screaming. A key to living happily with parrots is to keep your beloved pet entertained.
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