Today at PetSmart, I bought this in the small animal section (I think it's for holding hay for a guinea pig or something?):



and then crammed it full of shredded paper, a couple of half chewed up sprays of millet, some Nutriberries, toys of various types, a bamboo skewer with chew stuff speared on it and voila! They're all fighting over it.

It's all natural wood, no finish to it and is so light, it must be pine or maybe balsa? I doubt it's balsa, it must be pine. Anyways, it's definitely light weight enough to serve as a chew toy in and of itself. It was $4.99 which is a total steal considering a small lame toy that would undoubtedly get ignored costs at a minimum of $7.99 there... easily up to $14.99 for a medium sized toy. $4.99 filled with stuff I already have on hand is my kind of deal.

Edit: and the shredded paper was from this huge bag I bought on sale at My Safe Bird Store for like 2 bucks. That bag has lasted me months and I'm not even half way through it.

Good toy... makes the birds work and think...
Excellent price

Great idea!! Cockatiels aren't the most toy-oriented bird in the world, but this kind of activity is exactly the sort of thing that they LOVE to do.

I thought the shredded paper was grass at first, and if you have access to chemical-free lawn grass you can throw some of that in there. Cockatiels primarily eat grass seed in the wild so it's a good match for their natural instincts, and unripe seed heads are greatly appreciated. Budgies have similar feeding habits. Grass snacking is a major activity at my house during grass season. Here are a couple of Coyote's siblings munching on grass, and I think Coyote himself is the head on the left side of the picture.

Actually, that pic I posted was a stock photo of the actual little hay thingy I bought, not the toy I actually made with it. Mine is much messier with multi colored paper strips, odds and ends of toy pieces, the bamboo skewer with yucca chips and other chewy things on it speared down through it, etc. It's not a very pretty toy, lol.

The shredded paper I'm using is multi colored stuff I bought from MSBS that is just colored paper sent through a shredder. We don't have a shredder at work, otherwise I'd just make my own. They don't like it as much as the actual crinkle cut shredded paper you buy for easter baskets and stuff but whatever, they like it fine enough and it's so much cheaper (when you don't have access to your own shredder).

I love seeing pics of my little Coyote when he was a baby!

Very neat ill have to look into one.

Do they really chew on the wood of the hay holder? I know if the wood is too hard, they won't.

Tielfan, what do you use for connecting greens to the cage? Do treat clips work pretty well? I am using regular wooden cloth pins to pin greens to the small flat plates, but this stands on the table surface. Also, what about that mineral block (?) with the nail thru it? How is it held in place? Is it a bolt maybe?

Very good questions Chipper. I use pegs too but they are not the best, stuff breaks or falls too easily.

This "toy" is the best idea I have seen for a long time (since the mirror toy which I still can't find).
I will make /buy one for my guys, I am sure that they will go nuts!
I hope I can find one on the UK market somewhere.

The wood doesn't seem too hard but they don't chew on it much, they mainly forage and pull out the paper and bits of millet or nutriberry or whatever.

Barbara, I'm glad you like the idea! I hope you can find one. Remember, I found it in the small animal section of PetSmart, it's supposed to be for guinea pigs or hamsters and whatnot and supposed to be filled with hay. In fact, it is called a hay holder or something like that.

I swear, half of my best toys have come from the small animals section of the pet store rather than the bird section. And the stuff there is cheaper too, it seems. Like maybe they think bird people are willing to spend more on stuff made from dried out vines than rat people?

I use plastic clips from the dollar store to hold greens on the cage. If a mineral block has a hole drilled through it, you can attach it to the cage with using a bolt, nut, and flat disc washer that's wide enough to go across two cage bars.

I have been a rat person for a long time, and although I spent LOADS in food and habitat material (lining etc) I have never been willing to pay for toys.
First of all rats play with everything, and the stores know it. Second, rats and other rodents live a very short life.
I hope you don't think me callous when I say that spending 30£ for my rats who would probably not even look at the toy in his two-year life span was just out of the question... But i used to build them cardboard houses for them to destroy
That's why rodent stuff is so cheap, they really have to entice you... And they know that you owner can make funnier stuff lol. I eventually (after ten years) gave up because the heartache of losing a beloved pet every two years was driving me insane.
The twig balls for rats cost TEN times less than the ones for birds!!!!!