The Coollapet Blueberry is a purple berry-shaped acrylic panel hung above a stack of dyed wood slats and beads, for birds that go for colour and movement as much as for chewing.

Key Features

• The acrylic panel is the part that survives - it is still there when the wood below has been chewed away.
• Dyed wood slats and beads underneath give the bird something it can genuinely take apart.
• Slats hang loose and clatter when pushed, which is half the appeal for a young bird.
• Narrow enough to hang in a small or medium cage without blocking the flight path.
• Hangs from a chain and clip that fits standard cage bars.

Good To Know

• 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.
• Check the toy over every few days. Retire it once parts are chewed through, frayed or splintered - worn toys are where beaks and toes get caught.
• 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.