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An Amazon.com Box Worthy of An Amazon

© Mary Wilson

Okay, so the bird in the pictures isn't an Amazon, it's a white-capped pionus by the name of Sam. Sammy-Bazammy when he's being a goof. However, the theory is still the same regardless of the type of bird in the photos.

I love cardboard boxes. Amazon.com boxes especially. Why? They fold out, making nice little flaps that I can cut off, slip through the bars of the cage, and give my pionus the thrill of rivaling a beaver in the chewing race.

Boxes are great for several reasons. First, they're easy to come by. No taking trips to the pet store in pouring rain for your bird's favorite toy. No purchasing a horrendously expensive bird toy only to have your bird turn up its beak in distaste. Secondly, they're easy to destroy, which reinforces your parrot's belief that he is the master of the universe.

A cage "packed" with cardboard (meaning many pieces affixed to or stuck through the cage bars) helps to distract a feather picking bird.

Cardboard boxes are wonderful things.

Sammy knows when I'm about to give him a new piece of cardboard. He sees me holding it up, then fluffs the feathers on his head and fans out his tail, and then does the "bad boy pionus strut" across the top of his cage. He squawks with delight when I loop a piece of cardboard through one of the handles of the cage, and then he immediately begins to show it who is boss.

For smaller birds, cardboard won't seem as intimidating as a wooden toy, and the same idea of "stuffing" the cage applies for smaller birds that also feather pick. In fact, Lafeber uses cardboard instead of wood in its small hookbill version of the Jungle Joy toy.

I must confess though that it was a bunch of finches that gave me the idea of using cardboard as a toy. In a friend's aviary, an amazon.com box makes the perfect nest for grass finches and orange-cheeked waxbills. I thought it was too funny and vowed to abuse my boxes in the same manner; only Sam shreds them.

A note about safety: I do not use the printed part of the box for Sam to chew on, as I do not know what kinds of inks were used in the printing. I cut off the flaps, using only new, clean cardboard. Corrugated cardboard works better than food boxes. And above all else, mind your bird's safety over fun.

The copyright of the article An Amazon.com Box Worthy of An Amazon in Small Hookbills is owned by Mary Wilson. Permission to republish An Amazon.com Box Worthy of An Amazon in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.