Is sisal safe for birds? Yes, with one thing to watch

Sisal is the only material we use that needs watching. Everything else either wears out or survives. Sisal changes as it is used, and that is worth understanding before you buy one.

What is sisal?

Sisal is a fibre taken from the leaves of Agave sisalana, a stiff succulent grown in East Africa, Brazil and parts of Asia. The leaves are crushed, the pulp washed away, and what remains is a long, coarse, cream-coloured fibre that is spun into rope.

It is a plant fibre, not a synthetic one, and it behaves like a plant fibre: stiff, slightly hairy, and inclined to fluff up rather than melt or stretch.

Is sisal safe for birds?

Sisal that is one hundred percent natural, un-oiled and free of pesticide is generally regarded as one of the better cordage choices for bird toys. It is notably stiffer and coarser than cotton, which means it frays far less readily, and that matters more than it sounds.

The hazard with any rope in a cage is loose strands. They can wrap around a toe or a leg and cut off circulation, and birds who pull threads out sometimes swallow them, which can cause a crop impaction or a blockage further down. Sisal is a better bet than cotton because it resists coming apart, but no rope is exempt from this.

So sisal is safe in the sense that the material is sound, and conditional in the sense that its condition changes. Both halves of that are true.

What to check, and when to retire one

• Oiling. Industrial sisal is often treated with oil to reduce dust. That is not what you want in a cage.
• Fraying. Check it when you change the water. A little surface fluff is normal, long loose strands are not.
• Retire it early. Once strands are long enough to loop a toe, cut them back or take the toy out. A sisal toy has a working life, and the end of it is visible.

Ours is natural and untreated, so there is no added oil to worry about. The fraying is still worth your eye, because that is a function of use rather than of the rope.

Why we use it

Sisal does something wood cannot. It is grippy, so a bird can hold it, and it unwinds under a beak in a way that rewards persistence without giving way all at once.

It also holds a knot, which is why it appears in toys as the thing binding other parts together rather than as the attraction itself. On the beads it is the whole point: a texture to work at, strung so it stays put.

Which of our toys use sisal

• Sisal Beads and Sisal Beads Medium, where the fibre is the toy
• Star Struck, where it sits alongside willow, sola and beech

If your bird is a chewer rather than a shredder, sisal is usually a slower burn than sola. It lasts longer, and it needs a look at more often.