Hello Everybody

Welcome to the very first My Parrot Shop Newsletter! We've been open for 6 months now, and there's been so much happening lately we just had to share some of it with you. In this newsletter you'll find information on how we've recently improved the website, and some great new products.

New Aviator Products – take your parrot on an adventure!

At My Parrot Shop we're very excited to present the Aviator Harness & Leash and Aviator Flightline, from The Parrot University! These remarkable products are the "best of breed" and will help you enhance your parrot's life, health and behaviour.

Take your parrot out on adventures - a walk at the beach, a picnic or to meet people out and about. Safely teach your bird recall, to fetch, to forage for treats, exercise, and more.

More info here

Payment Methods – boring but important

We’ve recently added to our checkout process the ability to choose payment by cheque or bank transfer (i.e. direct deposit via internet banking or at a bank). By clicking this option a printable order form will appear with the details necessary to make your payment. We still receive the order via our website with this method so we know to look out for your mail or transfer, but a quick email when you’ve sent the payment will ensure there are no extra delays. We will put aside the order immediately and post it when the payment has cleared.

PayPal is the way you can pay online instantly using your credit card. For those of you unfamiliar with PayPal we have explanations about it on our website, but to summarise; it is simply a way for us to offer you safe internet credit card transactions. You do not have to sign up with PayPal to use your credit card, however doing so makes the checkout process a little quicker next time.

More info here

Photo Call – send us your parrot pix

Over the next few months we plan to add a photo gallery to the website for your viewing pleasure. So if you'd like to show off your beloved bird on our website just email us a photo (as many as you like) and we'll get the gallery going soon!

We're also interested in photos of your bird playing with one of our toys so we'd love you to email us these photos too. We hope to eventually have at least one photo of every product with a bird, preferably more, as it really helps people understand quickly what size the toy is and whether it's appropriate for their bird.

Big Boy Toy Parts – for big munchers

As most of you know the bigger the bird the pricier the toy. We’ve been well aware of this problem right from the beginning when we started hunting for parts suitable for these monster chewers. So you’ll be pleased to know that we have now produced our very own large wood beads which are fun for the big chewers but economical for you. These toys and parts have begun going up on the site.

Rough Chunks

Munch Buster

Information Pages - reorganised

Our information pages have expanded and we've rearranged them in a way which is hopefully more intuitive. We invite submissions (even one liner tips), and accompanying photo’s are always welcome. We hope to continue expanding this section as time goes by and eventually build up a real library of parrot-related information

Our new information index is here

You may also have noticed that we've changed the layout of the menus at the top of our homepage. This is to accommodate the new Photo Gallery (as mentioned above) and a new Sitemap (coming soon).

Books & DVDs – for you and your parrot to watch!

Books and a couple of DVDs have also been added to our site under their own category, and we have every intention to really pad this section out as time goes by. We have a list of nearly 100 books and DVDs that we want to stock eventually!

Books & DVDs

 Our new favourite DVD!

Our Very Special Refill Category – waste not want not!

A new category has been added to our website called Refills. The idea behind the toys currently stocking this category is that you only need to purchase one toy with a certain chain attachment (or purchase the chain attachment separately from our Toy Parts & Hardware section) and when the original toy is done you just switch the chain over to a new one.

By re-using your old chain, a fair sum of money is saved and wastage is reduced. Have a look, there are some toy designs in there we are really proud of, even for the big birds, and more are coming!

Our new Refill Category

Phone Calls

We’ve simply had the worst luck with our phone. Our first phone number didn’t work for a variety of reasons and after many attempts with the phone company to fix it we gave up and got a new one. And now we can’t seem to get voice mail set up, and not for lack of trying! And we also get the occasional report that upon calling the number a fax answers (this will be our fax, but it has a life of its own and will answer when its not meant to). The point of this is to apologise to anyone that has tried and failed to contact us this way and to promise that we are trying to sort it out and that email or our website contact form is still the best way to get a hold of us.

Birds and Bathing

Caroline and Keiko have put together this lovely article on Birds and Bathing. This is part of our new information section called 'Living with Parrots'.

Birds & Bathing

Living with Parrots

Featured Products

The Kabob is a fantastic multipurpose bird product (available in three different lengths) and stands out from the crowd because of it extreme durability and unique hanging system.

This parrot toy has been designed to hang from the acrylic ball. You simply poke the metal rod up through the cage ceiling from the inside, and screw the ball on from the outside. Made of stainless steel this toy makes an excellent feeder system for outdoor aviary birds.

Cage Accessories

Baby Disco – so cute! A baby wiffle ball measuring 4cm in diameter, with mini pacifiers sticking out of every available hole in a multitude of colour. This hanging parrot toy will tickle your little bird pink when it hears the stainless steel bell at the bottom ring at its manipulations. This is a delightful long lasting parrot toy for the little guys and its dishwasher safe.

 
Baby Disco

That's all, hope you enjoyed our first newsletter!

The My Parrot Team.