Hello Everybody

Hi and welcome to the My Parrot Shop Newsletter for October 2009!  This time we're featuring the wonderful Molly's Bird Toys, Parrot Toy Survey follow-up, the My Parrot Shop Open Day, and more. Read on...

New: Molly's Bird Toys!

Good golly Miss Molly!! We’re extremely excited to present a new range of toys we’ve brought over from America. Miss Molly Bird Toys are just the cutest! Made from a variety of raffia palm species, the occasional piece of seagrass and a mixture of delectable balsa wood pieces and colourful plastic trinkets these toys are absolutely fantastic shreddable delights for the small birds (and a couple of them are good for medium birds too). What can we say, we adore them!

» All the new Molly's Bird Toys . . .

Coco Clusters, Dancing Balsa, Double the Fun, Falling Beads, Kissing Hats, Sweeper, and Twisted!

My Parrot Shop - Open Day !

Over the past couple of weeks My Parrot Shop has been moving its stock and packing facilities out of the spare bedrooms and into premises! Its an exciting time for the MPS team and we’d like to celebrate it with an open day!

Come and see where we process your orders and pack up your goodies! Come meet the MPS team: the owners Jen & Caroline, their partners John & Richard, their children; Leo, Henry & Esme, the MPS helpers Vicki & Meriem and others!

Nikki Arkinstall, Avian Vet Nurse and proprietor of Bird Boarding, will also be there and will be happy to discuss parrot care, health checkups, Clicker Training Courses, and more.

There’ll be tipples, a toy-making station and friendly faces all round. Everything on the website will be available for viewing and purchasing, including some Open Day Specials. This will not be a regular occurance so don't miss it!

Sunday 22nd November 10am – 4pm
32-34 Sussex Street (corner of Francis Street), Pascoe Vale South 3044, Melbourne, Victoria
Melway Ref 17D11

Parking: Mainly a residential area, there is parking scattered around the various side streets.

Etiquette: We regretfully ask that you leave your parrot companions at home for safety and hygiene reasons.

Please note that the Open Day is a special day! We're still an online business only. We are not open to the public and order ‘pick ups’ are not possible.

Foraging Carousel

This new parrot toy is a great addition to your foraging system. Made of clear plastic this carousel can be turned around and around by a curious beak wanting to access the four different compartments, each with a slightly different way of opening. Fill up the compartments with pellets, fruit, treats or beads. The clearness allows your bird to see what he or she is after and provides great mental stimulation and way to forage for food.

» Foraging Carousel . . .

Building an Aviary?

A few of you have enquired over time about where you can get stainless steel aviary mesh so you can build the safest and most weather resistant aviary you can for your flock. Well we’re delighted to announce that we now have access to great quality 304 (great for most back yards) or 316 (perfect if you live by the sea) stainless steel mesh in a variety of sizes. It’s not on the website yet but will be in the next month or so. In the mean time, if any of you are contemplating stainless steel for your aviary attire give us a call if you’d like to know more!

Parrot Toy Survey Results

We were absolutely delighted with the response we got to our survey and just want to wish you all a very big THANK YOU! Most of the replies have been sorted according to species and thoughts have been put into how our 'Parrot Profiles' will be presented.

Certainly we’ve had a great deal of fun reading about some of the antics your feathered treasures get up to, and we can’t wait to get some of what we’ve learnt from you up on our website so everyone new and old can learn a little more about the tastes and playing style of our cherished parrots.

But until the first profile is published we just wanted to remind you all of a few things...

1) Your goal and obligation as a caregiver is to provide your parrot with an environment that is safe, healthy and happy as possible. Toys are simply a tool you use to reach this goal.

2) If you have a bird who ‘doesn’t like toys’ we ask you to consider that it simply might have different tastes to you and just not like the toy you picked for it – try something different!

3) Most of you understand this but we just can’t stop ourselves from reminding you that a toy that only lasted a half a day was not ‘unsuccessful’. Expensive maybe, but you can bet your parrot had a great deal of fun destroying it! Try to be inspired by your parrot’s destructive abilities and look for ways around the expense if its an issue (we will write about this another time – as there are lots of ways to cater to this behaviour without spending much at all!).

4) And finally sometimes you just need to twist your perspective a little. A bird that ignores the pretty toys you bought buts spends hours every day foraging for food, chewing up its perches and ripping bark and leaves off fresh foliage so fast you can’t keep up with it is a HAPPY bird. Seriously. It’s a well cared for bird, playing with ‘nature’s’ toys and you’re doing a great job!