FAQ: Toys for birds

Yes, budgies love climbing and playing on ladders. Wooden ladders for small birds, with small gaps between the rungs, suit them.

Yes, ladders from the cage top to a perch stand, or from a table to a play gym, help a bird move about safely without flying. They must be fixed securely at both ends.

Scrub the ladder with a brush in hot water, removing droppings from between the rungs, then dry it thoroughly. If the wood has gone mouldy or split, it is better to replace the ladder.

Many small parrots, especially budgies, enjoy mirrors, but opinions on them differ. Some birds treat their reflection like a mate, so it is worth offering a mirror in moderation and watching the bird’s behaviour.

Feeding the reflection, that is regurgitating food to the mirror, is mating behaviour: the bird sees the reflection as a partner. If it happens often, remove or limit the mirror for a while so a strong attachment does not form and hormonal behaviour is not reinforced.

No, a reflection does not respond to the bird as a real bird or person would, and it can cause frustration or excessive attachment. For social birds, real interaction matters most, and a mirror can only be one toy among many.

Some owners find that a bird spending a lot of time at a mirror takes less interest in people. When taming a new bird, it is often suggested to remove the mirror for a while or offer it only occasionally.

The safest are shatterproof acrylic or metal mirrors made for birds, with a sturdy frame and secure fixing. Glass mirrors can injure if they break, and a cracked or sharp-edged mirror should be thrown away.

Some birds see the reflection as a rival, so they attack it, scream or become more irritable. If you notice this behaviour, remove the mirror and offer other activities.

For large parrots, mirrors usually matter less than chew toys and puzzles, and their strong beaks can damage a mirror. If you do offer one, choose a large, shatterproof, firmly fixed model.

Wipe the mirror with a damp cloth or warm water, without aerosol glass cleaners, whose fumes are harmful to birds. Clean acrylic mirrors with a soft cloth so they do not scratch.

Many parrots love bells, because they ring when the bird pushes or taps them with its beak. The sound works like a reward, so a bell often becomes a favourite toy, especially for budgies and cockatiels.

Choose bells made for birds, of stainless steel or another safe metal, with a firmly fixed clapper that cannot be removed. The bell size should suit the bird, so it cannot put its head inside or crush the bell.

Ringing a bell is fun for birds and sometimes a way to get attention. If the sound wears you down, you can remove the bell for a while and offer quieter toys, such as foraging or shredding toys.

If the bird tries to pull out the clapper or has already loosened it, it is better to take out the whole bell and replace it with a sturdier model made for a larger bird. A loose clapper can be swallowed.

Large parrots need large, thick-metal bells, because they can crush, bend or pull the clapper out of small ones. Do not give bells made for small birds to large parrots.

These are toys in which seed or treats are hidden, and the bird has to unwrap, pull out or shred them to get the food. They mimic the food searching that is normal in the wild, which takes up time and exercises the mind.

In the wild parrots spend a large part of the day looking for food, while in a cage food is available instantly and a lot of free time is left. Foraging toys help fill that time meaningfully and reduce boredom-related behaviour problems.

Start with very easy tasks: put a favourite treat in an open toy or somewhere visible so the bird finds it easily. Once it understands, gradually make it harder, for example by wrapping the treat in paper or covering it.

The most common are fillable balls and boxes, paper or cardboard parcels, drawers, rotating discs, skewers for fruit and vegetables, shreddable cubes and foraging trays. It is worth rotating them so the bird does not get used to one solution.