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DANGEROUS TOY: Habitat Defined Enrichment Pod: Millet Muncher

1754 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Jess
At the bird show in Richmond Hill this weekend I bought one of Super Pet's newest toys in the Habitat Defined Enrichment Collection. It is called the Millet Muncher.

I loved it because it has decent sized holes that I could easily put shreddable material in and hide goodies for my birds in. I LOVE providing foraging opportunities for my birds and this toy seemed perfect.

Here is what it looks like:


http://www.superpetusa.com/product-list/habitat-defined-enrichment-pod-millet-muncher.htm

I had it in Jack's age for about a week... but now it is in the garbage. I suggest all of you with smaller birds like budgies, parrotlets, lovebirds, linnies, etc stay away from this toy. I thought the holes were big enough, but obviously not.

About an hour ago I was sitting, watching some tv, and observing Jack ripping and shredding with this new toy.... when suddenly he got really quiet. Up until this moment, he had been chirping and going on with excited noises as he usually does when foraging and shredding through newspaper and other materials for goodies. When I looked over at his cage, I saw that his head was stuck in one of the holes to his new toy and he was frantically trying to pull his head out. I jumped up to see him slip off the perch he had been standing on, and dangle with his head still stuck. With a scream, and near tears, I ran over to his cage, reached my hand in to hold his body. He was alive, heart beating quickly, and thankfully he remained still in my hand. With my free hand I ripped off the top of his cage, and went to grab the toy. As I wondered how I would get his head out, Jack gave a frantic pull and out came his head. With relief, I watched as he flew to the playstand behind me, then back to my shoulder. Asking him to step up onto my finger, I observed no wounds on his neck, only a few ruffled feathers. My boy is safe.

And the new toy is in the garbage!

Please do not buy this toy for your birds and pass this message along to other small bird owners. This might be more suitable for a conure, but not the cockatiels and budgies that it is suggested for.

I am so thankful that I was around to see this happen. Had I not been, I may have found a hung parrotlet. I would have been devastated to lose my boy to a toy I had purposely bought to enrich his life

Once again, please pass this story along to fellow bird owners.
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I'm so happy that Jack is OK and you were there to save him. I think the toy should be recalled. I don't know where but there should be a place that you could make an official complaint so the toy would be taken off the market or at least advertised that is only for large birds.
wow what a terrible experience.:(poor jack.thank you for taking the time to warn us.was the bird show in toronto?
Ya. In Richmond Hill actually
i'm happy that Jack is ok! That must have really scared you! :(
WOW that's really scary! TG he's ok!
Oh, Shandi, that must have been horrible! Poor Jack! I was actually excited to see those toys and bring them into our shop, and now I hesitate to do so :frown: Thank you so much for sharing and warning the rest of us! I would write Super Pet and share your story - while the odds aren't high, it might help change their labels on the toy!
update:

I did indeed send an email to the company.

Then later they called me after a week of trying to get a hold of me (they always called me when I was at work). and with no free long distance I wasn't calling them back. I just kept emailing them telling them when I was free to talk.

Anyways, in that week when the guy finally got a hold of me he said that the toy hadn't been recalled... but they had had other bird parents have similar stories, so they decided to make the holes smaller and do more testing, this time with parrotlets in addition to budgies, cockatiels and conures. He said in about 5 or 6 months they should have the new toys with the new size on the shelves.

And he asked for my address to send me a new revised toy.

As to whether this is the truth... we shall see.
I'm glad they got in touch with you, Shandi. It seems odd that parrotlets specifically seem to have a problem with it, but then again they have abouts the smallest head of any common pet parrot. I hope they correct the problem soon, 6 months seems like a long time with a lot more unhappy parrot owners :frown:
that was scary just readingh it because i pictured that happening to my birds:eek::yikes::sosad::sad:
Glad Jack is okay, you buy these toys in good faith thinking they are safe.
Do you have such a thing as trading standards? If so report them, maybe also seek a law suit, it might make them think more carefully about selling dangerous toys in future!
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