The Coollapet Hide Ball is a solid dyed wooden ball on a chain, with a shade disc above it and a rope tassel and beads hanging below.

Key Features

• A round, solid ball is a hard chew - the sort that lasts a determined beak more than an afternoon.
• Rope tassel below for shredding and preening, which is a different activity from chewing wood.
• One clip at the top, so it spins freely and the bird keeps having to reposition.
• 22.5 cm overall - it suits a medium cage without filling it.
• Two textures on one hanger: hardwood above, soft fibre below.

Good To Know

• Rope and woven fibre fray. Trim loose strands as they appear and retire the toy once it goes stringy - a thread wrapped round a toe cuts off the blood supply, and a swallowed one can knot in the gut.
• Chain, quick-links and bells are the usual route to zinc and lead poisoning in parrots. Watch for a bird that strips the coating off metal, and if you ever replace the clip, use stainless steel rather than galvanised hardware from a hardware shop.
• The colours are dye on wood. Expect them to fade, and to stain a wet beak and the cage tray - that is the dye, not blood.
• Match the toy to the bird. Hardware built for a macaw will trap a budgie's foot, and a toy built for a budgie is destroyed in minutes by a large parrot, leaving pieces small enough to swallow.
• A bird that stops playing, sits fluffed on the cage floor or goes quiet is showing the first signs of illness - birds hide sickness until they can no longer manage it. That is an urgent avian vet visit, not a wait-and-see.