This Bird Toy Is Too Big for My African Grey, I Need to Return It!

Last Updated on February 16, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

A woman just called to say she wanted to return the Bell Tower bird toy pictured above. I asked her what kind of bird it was for and she said it was for an African Grey. I told her that there was no problem returning the toy but was curious as to why?

She said it was too big for her African Grey – something that I disagreed with, but I kept my opinion silent for the moment.

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We try to identify what bird toys are appropriate for which parrots birds throughout the website but at the end of the day, there are really no hard and fast rules. Lovebirds can like much larger toys than their own body. Conversely, some larger birds might seem a little scared of a new large toy in their cage.

And thinking like a bird it’s important to remember sometimes it’s not the toy itself. It could be a certain shape or a color that the bird is reacting to not necessarily the size of the overall toy. If it’s late in the afternoon early evening, just the shadows from the new item in the bird cage can make any bird a little skittish.

Arranging Your Bird’s Cage: the Cage Canopy Concept

After speaking to her for a few minutes, I gave the woman a couple of ideas. Rather than returning the toy why not just modify the toy? Cut off some of the toy parts that were on the toy and use them as individual bird toys, attach them to other toys in the cage or save these spare bird toy parts for once the original toy starts to lose other bird toy parts.

You could almost see the light bulb go off over her head while on the phone. It’s important to remember we feel the bird toys are like the leaves of a tree to a bird. They not only provide foraging activity but help provide privacy in their cage. So by possibly modifying this big bird toy into a couple of smaller ones, the bird and its owner can move on their happy way.

Written and approved by the Windy City Parrot content team