Safe Wood for Perches

Avoid making perches from wood that might be toxic. How can you tell? Well, it's easier said than done, but the following list includes wood that’s definitely safe for parakeet perches:

Almond
Apple
Ash
Bamboo
Beech
Birch
Cottonwood
Crab apple
Date
Douglas fir
Dracaena
Elm
Eucalyptus
Fig
Ginkgo
Grape vines
Hawthorn
Hibiscus
Hickory
Larch
Lemon
Lilac
Lime
Maple
Mountain ash (rowan)
Mulberry
Orange
Palm
Poplar
Rose
Rubber plant
Spruce
Sycamore
Tree fern
Willow
Yucca

Make sure your parakeet perches are made from non-toxic wood

Lots of other woods are probably perfectly safe to use, but why risk it? The list above includes species that most parakeet owners will be able to source easily.

Most shop-bought perches are made from untreated pine, of the kind used in dowels, and this is fine. But avoid fresh pine, which has a sticky resin. Balsa wood is safe, but won’t last very long as a perch: an industrious parakeet will chew through in a few days!

Unsafe Wood for Parakeets

The following species have been implicated in parakeet health problems, so don’t use any of these as perches:

Alder
Apricot
Azalea
Box elder
Boxwood
Buckthorn
Burdock
Cedar
Elder
Heather
Holly
Horse chestnut
Huckleberry
Hydrangea
Jasmine
Juniper
Laburnum
Laurel
Mango
Myrtle
Nectarine
Nutmeg
Oak
Mistletoe
Oleander
Peach
Plum
Privet
Rhododendron
Sage
Tobacco
Walnut
Witch hazel
Wisteria
Yew

Avoid any treated woods unless obtained from a reputable pet dealer. Driftwood found on a beach will always be tempting as a cage ornament, but because you can’t always tell which species the wood came from, nor the toxic things it might have been in contact with, it’s best to avoid introducing it to cages.