Making Toys for Lories
By Michael Baker
Like me, you have probably noticed the lack of suitable and economical parrot toys in pet shops. Because of their specialist, often handmade nature they tend to cost the equivalent of the GDP of Thailand to buy. In terms of variety, there are the large toys made of acrylic and primarily designed for the larger parrot species. These are more often than not too big for lories and lorikeets ( and too dear ! ) and in my experience, too uninteresting for the gregarious and full-on lories and lorikeets. I have seen prices of over $50 for some of these toys.
Then there are the smaller toys. These are often designed for lovebirds, cockatiels and budgies, these also are unsuitable, being easily destroyed, and some parts a possibility of swallowing. Some pet shops carry a few toys within these extremes, however the prices for these are astronomical. When you finally buy one of these toys you may find that your bird is scared of it and it has to be removed, goodbye $30.
At a pet shop I visited recently, I saw a toy made from nothing but a couple of twigs, some leather string and a few beads; the price was $30. This sparked off an idea in my head, and I soon purchased a few metres of leather string, a few bells, and a packet of flavoured coloured wooden beads (packet stated they are safe for birds).
I soon made a few toys myself that were easily as good as, if not better than, those commanding colossal prices in pet shops. The total cost of all this equipment, which I have made 4 or so toys from so far with still a fair bit left, was $20. You don’t need to be a brain surgeon to figure out this is a huge reduction in price.
Hopefully by now you are interested in making toys for your own birds, if you are I suggest you visit your local crafts shop, buy some leather string, some bells, beads and whatever else looks interesting (making sure it is all safe for birds). String it all together and you will have much cheaper, more interesting toys for your birds.
Pricing for all these items:
For specific designs to make toys visit
Also, please visit my website while you are at it, on the Scaly-breasted Lorikeet and other Australian Lories….
Have fun making your own interesting, economical and fun parrot toys for your lories and lorikeets.