Rat Safe Toy Materials

[Mizzely]

I make bird toys (for my own parrots as well as selling them online) and am trying to see what all I have already can be used for toys for the rats. Here is my list so far; please correct me anywhere I need it!


So far I think I know the following are safe:

Hardwood beads
Loofah
Vine
Apple
Cardboard
Paper
Popsicle Sticks
Seagrass
Cork
Coconut shell
Cottonwood
Cotton Rope
Fleece
Acrylic (Hard Plastic)
Cholla
Stainless Steel
Vegetable Tanned Leather
Yucca
Bamboo
Palm
Willow


And unsafe are:

Pine (fresh)
Soft Plastics
Rubber
Small Plastic beads (pony, etc)


What I am unclear on are:

Balsa
Pine (kiln dried) (I've heard it's okay if they can't pee on it?? I know that most bird toys in the pet aisle are usually pine and those are supposed to be fine)
Pinecones
Mahogany Fruit Pod slices


Anything else I am missing, or any corrections to this list? I know birds are really sensitive and there is a lot of overlap but not everything overlaps! I just want to be 100% sure before I add anything to the cage.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jorats]

Yeah, that seems like a good list. I would still stay away from kiln dried pine. In fact, I didn't like any wood chips for bedding with my rats. It all irritated my asthma so I didn't want my rats to go through that, just in case.

 

[Mizzely]

Oh yeah I don't use wood shavings or anything for the bedding. I was just confused about pine for toys specifically since pretty much all bird toys at the pet store have pine wood and I see those recommended for toys for rats all the time.

 

[SQ]

I have seen a number of those items in bird chew toys. Some people do buy bird toys and use them with rats ..... Personally I would only use items that I thought would be safe for them to chew and would be safe for rats to eat. Rats usually chew and do not swallow chew toys, but if they think something is food, they will eat it. Also consider if something might be a choking hazard.

If you have not already done so, make sure the items do not contain chemicals ....... leather contains toxic chemicals - no ideas about the content of vegan leather but hope it doesn't .......
..... assume the pine cones do not have sap and not a choking hazard

I am wondering if sea grass or some of the other items much be sharp and cut their mouths if chewed .....

sorry that I am not much help

 

[Mizzely]

Birds can't have chemicals either; even smelling some will kill them. They also will not eat non food items as a general rule but sone materials confuse them so they need to be monitored as well.

Vegetable tanned leather is still animal hide, but is tanned without chemicals and is instead tanned with tannins from various barks, leaves, and berries. Vegan leather is chemical ridden and is not safe for birds so I wouldn't use that regardless.

Seagrass I wouldn't call sharp; it's like a stiff rope and falls apart easily when cut or chewed.

I'll have to think about if anything else would be abrasive on the mouth. Maybe the loofah but that's the only one that pops out at me as a possibility.

 

[SQ]

I would omit the sea grass, anything that might be dusty or fine as it could cause breathing probs, and I would stay away from all leather. Are popsicle sticks sharp when broken etc?

good luck

 

[creative animal lover]

I wanted to mention that I have seen willow marked as unsafe on some unreliable websites, but it still concerns me. Although I have not heard of anyone having problems with it.

 

[Petunia]

I'd be careful with some of the hard plastics.... for example, I've bought those plastic easter eggs to fill for my rats, and they have chewed them up leaving sharp edges that did cut one of my girls right over her eye. Scarily close to her eye! I believe she got the cut when she was chewing on the plastic egg.
I think I'd be wary of acrylic for the same reason.......? not sure if maybe I'm confusing it with another material, though

I've not found a rat who would touch the loofah bits, but maybe there are some who like them lol


something I've found most of rats love is plastic drinking straws, cut in half and then tied tightly in a bundle. They love to shred them. No clue why.
I'm trying not to buy so much plastic stuff for environmental reasons, so I got paper straws but they have no interest in those, which surprised me, since most paper products are a huge hit.


but this is more about what they like than what is safe, sorry LOL
I get side tracked easily.

I'd love some new toys for my rats, please post a link to your store or website if you've got one.

 

[SQ]

one thing rats seem to like is a roll of toilet paper hung in their cage.
Makes a huge mess but I have had rats that love to unroll it, build nests and decorate their cages