Homemade Play Gym... Any Ideas

**Mumble55** · 02-27-2011, 09:10 AM

I want to make my cockatiel some type of play gym(s) or play area... i have TONS of extra space in my room and theres a descent amount of space above his cage and i talked to my parents about hanging things and they have no problem. Any suggestions on what to do

. and my bird loves climbing and chewing. Thanks

**Marrie** · 02-27-2011, 10:36 AM

There are some pictures of home made play stands in the homemade toy section of general if you want to browse. You can also check out different play stands and a lot of the commercial ones can be made cheaper with wooden dowels or PVC piping. If you have trees in your yard that are of a safe variety for birds you can bake the branches and use them, for free materials.

**Mumble55** · 02-27-2011, 10:51 AM

OK thanks

**maya_exquisite** · 02-27-2011, 10:52 AM

We have homemade play gyms in each room, and each are totally different. The living room has the biggest play gym. The framing is a pvc rolling laundry cart, secured an extra plastic flight cage tray on top, and put toys and branches all over the place. Mika's personal play gym, in the bedroom, is made of a bunch of guava tree branches secured together with toys hanging all over the place. Raptor's play stand, in the office room, is made of gum tree branches and is one long vertical branch with a bunch of shorter branches crewed horizontally into that long branch, with toys hanging on it.

Pics of the living room play gym (I've added more things to the top tray and bottom since these pics):

Pics of Mika's guava play gym (I've added a lot more toys since these pics):

I can't find my pics for Raptor's play stand right now...

I would definitely love to hang stuff from the ceiling, but I won't be doing that until we buy a bigger house. We don't want to put any unnecessary holes into this house in case we sell it to buy the next... but I've already got extra Jolly Balls and a coffee tree 3-tiered hanging play gym (though it's REALLY heavy

) waiting to be hung!

I'd suggest just doing a search on here 'cause lots of people have posted pics of their play gyms and stands.

**Mumble55** · 02-27-2011, 05:58 PM

those are AMAZING thanks that helps alot too.

**Dan** · 03-27-2011, 01:15 PM

Is it just normal piping? One place I found it says furniture/food grade PVC, is that ok?

Also - what do you guys wrap around the piping for grip?

**Dally** · 03-27-2011, 09:30 PM

heres mine for my tiels and lovies

**Mumble55** · 03-28-2011, 05:44 PM

Those are very nice thank you I have soo many ideas flowing now from all of you guys' pictures. Thanks again

**donavin410** · 09-17-2011, 02:20 PM

When using natural wood, (tree branches ect) what solution should I use to clean the wood to make sure there are not bugs ect in the wood? I have read 1 part bleach to 10 parts water... is this safe?

**Janene** · 09-25-2011, 05:35 PM

My gosh they are awesome playgyms!! Got all my ideas flowing

**glenna** · 03-22-2015, 10:11 AM

Did you ever find out what the colored wrappings were?

**glenna** · 03-22-2015, 10:12 AM

What are the colored wrappings on the pvc pipes

**boomer girl** · 03-22-2015, 08:25 PM

I think it might be the tape they use on horses on their legs. I see it at our feed store here. They have two kinds of it and one brand is rather expensive and the other brand is only 2.00 for a roll that might just be big enough for a entire play gym. I buy it for my ankle to wrap it up when I go hiking and it works great and sticks to itself so it would work great for a play gym as well.

These Gyms are super nice and it gave me some ideas to make one for my daughters conure.

**BirdLover3** · 02-11-2016, 08:40 AM

The colored wrap is called vet wrap. I wouldn't use it if you have a bird who picks at their perches. It is a gel solution that could be dangerous if injested. I used Jute twin for all my perches.