New Member, first post, so lets see how we go. Got a budgie for my daughter x-mass 06 - Santa was very much loved for that one. My sister who has had budgies before but no longer provided several toys for us. This included a rope toy. This rope toy had one end which attatched to the cage, was thick and sturdy enough for our budgie to sit on and had a frayed end which he loved chewing on. Well, hardly 10 weeks after we got him and he suddenly took sick at about 9pm one night. I was at work, so it was a distressed text message from my wife that alerted me to the problem. 2 hours later and I arrived home just in time to cradle the little fella in my hands as he died. Since then I have spoken to lots of people about his sudden death and several have pointed to the rope toy as the culprit, stating that these toys are chewed on by budgies, with small pieces of rope being swallowed which then get caught in the digestive system, leading to death for the unfortunate bird.

We have since gotten another budgie and the rope toy is no longer. I was wondering if anybody else had any thoughts or stories regarding these rope toys and how appropriate they might be for budgies.

well, i never had any rope perch problems but on some brands, if you buy the rope toy it says to take it out if visible parts are swallowed.. So if you did see your budgie bite of a piece of the rope toy or if on the rope toy has a little piece is off then it must have been the rope toy. If not other things may have caused death, someone else will have to tell you about that or you can google it.

Accidents happen and I have preening toys that and even frays on the edges of ropes that hold up the swings. Rope perches are woven pretty tight, I know mine is and has never frayed but then I don't have over zealous chewers either you know. You can cut any frayed ends on all rope toys is best and if you still don't feel comfortable there are so many toys on the market you can provide him .

 

Welcome to BBC, look forward to seeing pictures :ausb:

Hiya Thomas. Sorry to hear about the loss of your first budgie. It could have died for many different reasons, and unless your rope toy was particularly frayed, I don't think it would have been the culprit.

 

I have many rope toys and perches. The budgies love them as they are softer on their feet. I don't think I have ever looked in my aviary or a cage and seen a rope perch or toy that didn't have at least one budgie on it. However, I do check them over and would fix or get rid of any that looked damaged or frayed. So far, though, they are all fine.

 

 

Feathers.