What a mess!!

During the summer, I wrote about how I found little pieces of balsa in Mika's cage.  After that, it didn't really happen again...  until recently!  This month I've been noticing bits of balsa every few days and I've been finding corners and edges of balsa pieces with itty bitty bite marks in them.  So cute!  He has now "damaged" three toys.  And here I thought my favorite toys were going to remain pristine as long as they were in his cage!  Well, no more!!  And I couldn't be more excited.  :)

With these balsa "mess sightings", I had never caught Mika in the act until today.  So I quickly jumped up from the bed and took a picture.  Very blurry but it's the best I could do because as soon as he saw me come to the cage he jumped to me and wouldn't leave me alone.  I tried placing him back at the toy but he was just too excited to come out.  This time around, he chewed a nice half-inch sliver out of the blue balsa block.  Good boy!!

What a mess (LOL)!!  Who is going to clean that up?!

See the chew marks in the balsa?  :D

Sorry for the blurry pic - I had to snap a pic quick!

I want to continue encouraging him to chew balsa so, even though I have a TON of other toys for him, I'm going to get him smaller toys that are primarily all balsa soon.  Things for Wings has come out with some adorable toys for the "littles" and they will soon be mine - er - I mean Mika's!  ;)  It's not like his bigger toys will go to waste...  I'm sure Raptor will have no problem destroying them. 

Surprise!!

I had received a package from Things for Wings a week ago.  I had bought another fantastic willow coin swing (thanks to Danita's generosity in letting the swing go!), so I could have one for each of my boys.  When I opened the box, I found a surprise in there!  There was a bag full of beautiful toys, along with a cryptic note from the gifter.  Come to find out, the gift was from Peggy (Sadieladie1994 on Avian Avenue).  It was a totally unexpected gift and so sweet of her!  

At the time, I had to thank Peggy in private because Danita wanted to hold a guessing game as to what theme her new toy collection is, and the toys I received were part of that new collection.  Now that the guessing game is over, she said I can post the pics of these super cute "Island Hopping" toys!  :D  I'm not sure what these toys are named, but they should all be named "Fun & Fabulous"!  Hehe.

The toys are so cute I really didn't want to give it to the birds, but I caved in and gave them ONE. LOL  I put the toy on the Java tree in the living room and shoved Nutriberries into the wicker ball to entice them.  I let Raptor go at it first.  He immediately started shredding feverishly to get to the treats.  He also took a few chunks out of the balsa blocks.  When he was done, there was about half the wicker ball left - ideal for my non-chewer/forager, Mika.  I put more Nutriberries in the half-destroyed wicker ball and Mika went to town!  I was quite surprised!  

This toy was a HUGE success!  As of today, there is nothing left of the toy except for a little bit of wicker and raffia.  Raptor has destroyed the rest of the balsa and yucca pieces.  Thank you, Peggy, for such a generous gift and thank you, Danita, for always coming out with adorable new toy collections!!  :)

Monumentous!

See this face here?  This little one did something yesterday or the day before that STILL has me speechless!!

I normally change Mika's (and Raptor's) cage liner every day or every other day.  His liner is never really dirty because he's not a messy eater, his poops are small, and he never chews any of his toys up except the occasional fingertrap and wicker part (and even those times are rare).  So when I woke up this morning to change liners I was in shock of what I saw down there.  

BALSA PIECES.

A small amount of shredded balsa was sitting on top of the newspaper.  At first I thought, "How did Raptor's shredding get into Mika's cage?!"  There was no way the wind could have blown it in there because the wind blows from Mika's cage to Raptor's.  So I looked at the toys Mika had in his cage.  He has the Things for Wings pine Palm Tree - no balsa on there.  He has the T4W Solo - no balsa on there.  He has the T4W Going to Market - no balsa on there.  Looked in his foot toy bowl - no balsa in there.  I stood back for a second and didn't understand... until I saw the open door staring me in the face.  The stainless steel Activity Bolt!!  It has two slim pieces of balsa on it!!  Sure enough, on the first slab, I saw the cutest little chew marks I've ever seen!  <3

Either yesterday or the day before, my almost 11 year old boy has chewed his FIRST piece of WOOD!!  I am so extremely proud of him!!  Now I need to see if I even have any more of these small slim balsa pieces left so I can continue to encourage him to chew.  I may be out, since Raptor really likes balsa... but I never mind making orders with T4W.  ;) 

Danita's balsa works miracles - first Raptor, now Mika!!

T4W "Garage Sale"!

Things for Wings, one of my favorite bird toy vendors, was having a "garage sale" a couple of weekends ago to sell off overstock of toy parts and items she had only a few left of.  I wasn't planning on participating because I wasn't in need of toy parts, but was still very curious as to what Danita (owner) would actually list on her site.  

Danita said that she would be putting items up throughout the whole weekend, at various times.  I imagined bird lovers around the world sitting at their computers and cell phones, refreshing the website every few minutes to see what else she's put up for sale. LOL  Heck, I was one of them!!  >_<  The entire first day, Saturday, I was able to restrain myself from buying anything.  I was quite proud of myself!  Then Sunday rolled around and that was a different story. LOL  At one point, I hit "refresh" and a BEAUTIFUL Pet Products by Nature willow coin/fleece snuggly swing popped up at an incredible price!  Without even giving it a second to sink in, I bought it hoping no one else snatched it up before I could finish pressing buttons.  Well, there went my non-participation in the sale!  

Since I bought the swing, I figured I might as well add a little more to the order - you know, to get the shipping's worth.  (I'm sure that is what all of us who bought during the sale thought.)  The next items I got were 80' of coconut rope and two loofah loaves.  After that, a limited number of 12" aspen platform perches popped up so I grabbed two of them for Raptor.  He sometimes enjoys chewing the bark off his willow platform perch, so I thought these would be nice for him after he's done with the willow.  To complete the order, I got two willow coin snugglies. Pretty much everything from this order, except the coco rope and loofah for toy making, is for Raptor.  Mika has zero interest in wood.  

I received the package yesterday and it was heavy due to all the wood items!  The first thing that took me aback was the sheer size of the willow swing!  Danita had said it's 12"x12" but the thing just looks massive.  I anticipated Raptor being afraid of the swing (he hasn't reacted well to fleece so far) by getting the willow toys, a small and a medium.  I'll introduce those to him - first the small then the medium - to get him used to what it looks like.  I'm hoping he'll get used to them - and like them - so that when I give him the swing he won't freak out.  I don't plan on giving him the swing until we've moved to the house next year anyway so I've got plenty of time.  Either that, or I may decide it'll be a communal swing and put it up on the bird room ceiling.  We'll have to see when the time comes.  ;) 

The aspen platform perches are also huge and thick!  Very nice!  I am very pleased with everything I got.  Thank you so much for having such a fantastic sale, Danita!  :D 

Pics from the day before.

I had other things going on so I didn't get to post these pictures the same day I took them. 

Every time I wash the dishes, I have to put Mika away (and Raptor if the bf isn't home to watch him) because he will get all up in my business, trying to bathe in the running water.  With all the suds flying around, I'm not willing to risk anything so he and Raptor had to occupy themselves in their cages while I got my cleaning on!

I'm so cute!

Looking up at mommy.

Look at that face! *melt*

Time for a nap (see him gripping the left chain).

One of my favorite hang out spots.

Wanna play a game, mommy?

It's called hide-and-seek.  Now count to 10.

She'll never find me behind this toy...

Rats!  She found me!

You're not as bad at this game as I thought you'd be.  :P

Recent orders.

Sometime last week I received my small Grey Feather Toys order and, today, both my Things for Wings and My Safe Bird Store orders came in.  

Normally when I order from GFT I get their noisy, mostly indestructible stainless steel toys.  This time I decided to try an all-destructible order with a couple of foot toys.  So far, I have a foot toy in each cage (neither of them have touched it so far) and the Lil Hearts hanging from the boing on the Java tree.  The others will be saved for a later toy rotation.  Thank you so much, Rebecca!

Lil Hearts

Crunch & Munch

Polly Wolly Doodle (small)

Something Amiss (medium)

Flick Fleck

I always have a hard time resisting toys from Danita at Things for Wings.  Not only are ALL of her toys incredibly unique and beautiful, she comes out with collection after collection and you can't help but at least get a little from here and a little from there!!  In the past, I used to make HUGE orders with her but I've been much better at quantity control - mainly because I still have a LOT of toys that haven't gone through a single rotation yet.  Hehe.  Anyway, the most recent collections to come out are Grandma's Strawberry Patch and Pine Only.  Absolutely adorable!  The Fresh Picked Strawberries have been put on the office Java stand and the rest will be saved for a later toy rotation.  As always, thank you, Danita!!

Fresh Picked Strawberries (x2)

My Little Pine Pony

Palm Tree (x2)

Wonderful freebies!

Last, but not least, the order of supplies from My Safe Bird Store.  Normally I order one pound bags of the Totally Organic Pellets (TOPS) but, this time, I decided to finally just get the large four pound bag.  I also got some more Avitech probiotics, and decided to try some of Avitech's new Herbal Extracts.  I got Immune Booster and Pau D'Arco primarily for Mika, and Relaxation/Calming primarily for Raptor.  Other than that, I got some Bountiful Harvest, Goldenfeast Asian Medley and Bean Supreme.  As usual, Kathie (and Kara) have sent a bunch of freebie goodies - both for bird and human.  Thank you guys!

Good stuff!  ;)

 

Pinelisious!

I took some pictures of Raptor with his new toy today.  The Pinelisious is my favorite of the toys I ordered from Birds Favorites Toys.  I was going to wait until next toy rotation to put all the toys in his cage, but I just couldn't wait with this one.  Hehe.  So I put it on the Java stand in the office.  Raptor is chipping and nibbling away at the toy as I type!  :D

Seeing how nice it looks on the playgym, it makes me wish I had ordered multiples...  >_<

Oooooh...  what's that new thing down there??

It looks delightful!

Let me take a little nibble here...

A bigger nibble there...

Time to chomp!!

I love chipping pine into toothpicks all over the carpet for mommy to vacuum!

Thanks, mom!  This new toy is awesome!!

Birds Favorites Toys.

I recently received my order of toys from Birds Favorites Toys.  This is another vendor on a parrot forum I belong to, but she happens to be closing up shop.  She got herself a full-time job (YAY!) and won't have time to dedicate to her toy business anymore so she had a huge 40% blowout sale.  Well, 40% is rather hard to resist so I browsed through her site and found several items that caught my eye.  ;)  

Raptor has recently been getting into chipping wood that isn't balsa or yucca (very soft woods) so I got these toys to further challenge his beak.  I won't be putting them in his cage until later but I hope he likes them!  They are very cute and quite LARGE!  On top of the wood toys, there was a cute paper flower toy I couldn't resist (and hope Raptor can't resist shredding) and I got a bunch of Paulie Rope for when I make some toys myself.

Margaret was SO generous and gave us a bunch of extras - wicker pieces, different woods, and other natural toy parts.  Thank you so much!!  :D

Blooming Flowers

Pinelisious

Working Horse

Escape

Paulie Rope and extras!!

BIRDYlicious Creations review.

I put the BIRDYlicious Creations new toys I got for Mika in his cage this past weekend.  He has taken a liking to the Big Squeak and Chime N' Tug, most likely because they both have long chains and bells, which he really likes, and they are strategically placed in spots he likes to hang out.  I often hear him shoving and clanging the bells on the Big Squeak and I always find him napping between the chains of the Chime N' Tug (just like he does with his Grey Feather Toys Groovaliscious).

I also saw him shove the Pond Life, placed by his water dish, for the first time yesterday but by the time I grabbed my phone to take a picture he had moved away.  I haven't seen him go to the Garden Cup, which is placed by his boing, yet but I'm sure he'll shove it eventually.  Hehe.  I am very happy with the purchase and it's pretty safe to say Mika is too!  :D

Big Squeak

"You can't see me..."

Chime N' Tug