Cavity nesting birds, including many parrot species, have a natural desire to chew wood. This behavior is encoded into their very DNA, and it's not a behavior that can be trained out of them. For this reason, companion birds of the cavity nesting variety must be provided with ample opportunities to chew on acceptable items.
This chew stick won't last much longer.
Not only that, but the items they chew must be destructible. If not, they will become anxious, and will search out unacceptable items to chew that they CAN destroy. This can include furniture, wood trim, and cabinets.
As seen, beaks can be regular buzzsaws.
In addition to being sustainable and environmentally friendly, sola (or shola) is an excellent material for bird toys. It's lightweight, so birds of all sizes can enjoy it. It shreds without splintering, unlike balsa wood, and is a safe, all-natural material. Birds find it very satisfying to chew.
5500 Natural Sola Log
The 5500 Natural Sola Log comes in 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 12 pack quantities. Each log measures 4.75" to 5" (12.06cm to 12.7cm) and has a diameter of approximately .75" to 1.125" (1.9cm to 2.85cm). They weigh less than .1 Ounce (2.8g). Each of these Sola logs has been inspected for quality in the M&M Bird Toys small shop. The bark has been removed from each 5500 Natural Sola Log, and the natural bright, white pith color can be seen. This provides an intriguing and attractive visual for your pet bird and is sure to attract their attention.
Sola is taken from the stems of sola or shola pith plants. These stems naturally have a hollow center. Using this natural feature, several sola logs can be strung together using natural twine or bird-safe wire to form a large, shredding and foraging toy. In addition, holes can easily be made through the sola log laterally to string together multiple elements of sola material in bright and interesting shapes that your companion bird will find irresistible.
5504 Natural Sola Skin Log
The 5504 Natural Sola Skin Log is similar to the 5500 Natural Sola Log, but with the skin intact. This means that rather than being a bright white color, these sola logs are a light to medium brown. Since the skin is intact, the 5504 Natural Sola Skin Logs can have more rough, bumpy features on the surface that are missing from the 5500 Natural Sola Log. Both types of sola logs can be tied together to provide your companion bird with a wondrous variety of visual, tactical, and beak enrichment.
Logs can be strung together end-to-end, with other logs being added laterally at various points. In this way, you could make a sola ladder with logs that have both skin on, and skin off. There's really no end to the geometric shapes you could come up with. The 5504 Natural Sola Skin Logs come in 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 12 pack quantities. Each log is about 5" (12.7cm) in length, and about 1" (2.54cm) in diameter. These are all-natural sola logs, so sizes are approximate. Each log weighs about 1 Ounce (28.3g).
Having the skin on the 5504 Natural Sola Skin Logs is particularly good for foot health. Companion birds spend the better part of their lives standing, and they need a variety of perch textures and sizes. The natural skin on these sola logs will provide great enrichment for your bird to grasp and stand on, to help prevent foot sores and to help keep toenails trimmed naturally.
5510 Skinny Sola Logs
Now for the little guys and gals! At about .5" (1.27cm) the 5510 Skinny Sola Logs are perfect for the smaller bird in your life. Although all sola material is very lightweight, the larger logs may have too large a diameter for smaller birds like the Finch, Love Bird, or Budgie to comfortably grasp. The larger 1" (2.54cm) diameter logs are more suitable for such birds as the Eclectus, Small Macaw or Amazon Parrot, Congo African Grey, and similar sized birds.
The 5510 Skinny Sola Logs come in 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 pack quantities. These smaller logs are about the same length as the others in this post, about 4.75" (120cm) but with only about 1/2 the diameter. These sola logs could easily be configured in a pattern with some of the larger logs to make an excellent perch/chew toy/play area for your feathered friend. Because they can easily be destroyed without any danger of splinters, they provide your companion bird with a great sense of satisfaction when they need to scratch that nesting itch. Providing the proper enrichment can help to avoid many unpleasant behaviors including feather plucking.
When it comes to companion birds, the biggest challenge is to provide an environment where your bird can perform the tasks and behaviors they have evolved over millions of years to perform, in a way that allows them to be content without destroying the wrong items, or making themselves or you and your family stressed and unhappy. Sola bird toys are one excellent way to facilitate a happy feathered family.