Small Pet Birds - How to Make Good Use of Everyday Things to Give Your Pet Birds Variety

To give your pet birds variety to enhance their lives you can make good use of everyday stuff that you find in your own environment. Some household items and human foods can help your birds to live a more interesting life. What's more, watching your pet birds when their curiosity gets the better of them and they decide to investigate the new intrusion into their environment can be a rather entertaining experience. Many everyday things can help your pet birds to live a more natural existence.

They are very curious individuals by nature so anything you give them will undoubtedly be investigated thoroughly once your pet birds are aware of its existence. With this in mind you must be certain that anything you give to them will not cause any harm.

Also you will find that many so-called 'human' foods can be eaten by your birds as long as you determine beforehand what is good or bad for them. This coupled with everyday stuff you find lying around in your home or your local area can be incorporated into their lives to add variety for them and sometimes entertainment for yourself.

For example my birds love toast, so if I am having toast for breakfast (or any other meal for that matter) I often also do a slice especially for my aviary birds. However I do have a lot of them in my aviary so one slice of toast soon gets eaten up quickly, but if you have just one pet bird or just a few then a little bit of toast from your own meal or snack would be more suitable. Of course it will do no harm as it is mainly composed of wheat flour and little else.

Of course this is not the only 'human' food they can eat; your birds can eat many everyday foods as long as the food will be suitable for their digestive systems and general health. Try them with carrots, my parrot type birds (budgerigars and cockatiels) love them, however the finches are not that interested but do love almost any type of seed or fruit (sesame seed and melon for example).

However you should not give them coffee, chocolate, meat or any food with a high fat content. Common sense should play a big part in deciding what to give them, if it's not very good for you it certainly will not be good for your pet birds. If you are unsure what foods they can or cannot eat then it is advisable to consult the internet or an avian professional beforehand.

On the other matter I would advise you not to go out and pay a lot of money for toys for your birds as this can considerably increase the cost of their upkeep. However many things in your everyday life can and will be used to keep your birds entertained and encourage them to be more active.

For example a basic swing made up from a piece of scrap timber and a bit of rope will be an adequate alternative to a shop bought swing. Your pet birds will not know the difference and as long as you give the materials a good scrub down (no detergents please) first and they contain no paints or varnishes they will be fine.

Any old bits of twigs, broken plastic children's toys (as long as they're safe, no small bits to fall off etc.), and just about anything else you can think of will be suitable for your birds to play with as long as they are cleaned thoroughly first and are safe. Pet birds, especially parrot type species, love to chew so be sure that anything they do chew will cause them no harm, and could save a fortune in the long run.

As always, if you are unsure then the advice of an avian professional should be sought.

In summary you should feed your birds a wide variety of different foods which will help their health, and offer a variety of other stimulants to enhance their lifestyles.



Article By Pete Etheridge