Thursday, November 29, 2012

Pet Toy Projects: Trash Toys, Home Made Bird Toys, and Home Made Tunnel Toy for Ferrets

Pets provide ample opportunity for reusing household waste. Like small children, pets can be entertained for a long time with just product packaging. They are also more than happy to play with your trash; but, only allow them to do so if it is safe for your particular pet(s). My dog (a black lab mix), for instance, loved plastic bottles: unscrewing the lid, getting treats out of them, playing fetch with them, tearing the label off, etc. Cats seem to love playing with boxes, packing paper, plastic bags, and milk jug rings are toys. Any pet-safe trash your pet shows interest in is a potential toy. Check out these YouTube videos for more complex reuse ideas: Bird Care: How to Make Bird Toys and Ferret Toys: Homemade Toys for Pet Ferrets.

Bird Toys


Bird Care: How to Make Bird Toys is an approximately 5 minute video by expertvillage in which Madeline Franco looks at how to use household items and waste to make foraging toys for pet parrots. Reuse ideas include creating a foraging toy from a used plastic bottle, offering the lid of a used plastic bottle as a foot toy, and using a paper bag filled with shredded paper and other things to make a foraging toy. Anything bird safe can be used to create a variety of bird toys. Be careful that the toy cannot accidentally harm your bird and supervise play time if need be.

Ferret Tunnel Toy


Ferret Toys: Homemade Toys for Pet Ferrets is a 1:30 video from expertvillage that features Fran Freedman discussing a home made tunnel toy for ferrets. Instructions are not given; but, it is an easy to make toy if you have a bit of sewing skill. Just cut up some old clothes (particularly pants) and stitch them together to make a complex tunnel system for the furry critters to explore. Be sure to leave plenty openings so they don't end up trapped. This toy could probably be adapted for use with any pets that like to burrow and run through tunnels, just be sure that what you make is safe for you pet.

About 

expertvillage and eHow

expertvillage appears to be a posting channel for eHow. According to the About eHow page, on eHow "professionals in every field come together to offer expert advice, backed by the additional support of a can-do eHow community."

Madeline Franco

According to the video description, she "has been working with birds since age 7, and is a work-at-home "Bird Mom" for approximately 30 birds."

Fran Freedman

According to the video description, she "has been an animal lover all her life, She is a president and co-founder of the Morning Starr Animal Sanctuary, an all volunteer, non-profit organization in Cornville, Arizona."

Critique

Both women have ample experience working with animals. They are both in positions that indicate them to have a pretty large knowledge base about what they respectively discuss. Their videos are reliable sources for pet toy ideas. Franco's video does a good job of showing and describing. Freedman's video could use some more information, for those that know little about sewing.

2 comments:

  1. Well they say one man's trash is another man's treasure...guess that old saying applies to birds and animals too.

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    Replies
    1. It's a saying with a lot of truth to it. For just about anything you don't want, there is someone that would be more than happy to have it.

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