Hazardous materials for bird toys?

Cotton rope works real good and it's bird safe. Sisal rope is also safe for birds, you can buy these at Home Depot it's cheaper the at a pet store. Also something called Paulie rope my little guys love it.

On the leather you need to be very careful, it all depends on how it was tanned. It get can get tanned with lots of bad chemicals, try to find naturally tanned leather. That way they don't use all them chemicals.

You also need to worry about the paint that is used, while in the USA we don't use lead based paint anymore a lot of toys come from overseas where they do.

On the wood we buy kiln dried pine, don't get the treated it's bad for the birds. We cut it up into strips and drill holes into it to hang from ropes for the birds. It's a softwood that even little birds can chew up.

For my larger bird I buy small dog toys like the Cuz, they like to chew on them. My large Cockatoo rips them apart, my goffin can't rip them apart but can chew them up over time. My Grey's favorite toy is an old tennis ball with a rope in the middle and tied in a knot, she loves swinging from it.

But if you buy from a good pet store then the toys should be, we just like making our own. It's cheaper and more fun to do with the birds.

Good luck with your project.

I use a piece of leather strap for my bird, and she has no problem with that. A pet store specializing in birds would have a good selection of non-hazardous materials. Get some ideas from there.